AID grant to the American Institute for Free Labor Development to improve the capability of Honduran democratic trade unions

AIFLD will implement the project through a subgrant to the General Confederation of Workers (CGT). Grant funds will be used to provide training to new CEC members in the following subjects: political theory, voter education techniques, the Honduran political system, political organization, and the relationship between economic and political development. Courses will be conducted in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Santa Rosa de Copan, and Danli. It is expected that 300 citizens will complete the full curriculum, while 1,700 will participate in one course. Trained CEC"s will be responsible for developing voter education campaigns, training poll watchers to assure accurate vote counts, building linkages with other democratic institutions through discussion groups and cooperative voter education programs, and conducting meetings with national and local political leaders. Amendment of 4/17/90 reprograms remaining grant resources for economic training. Nineteen courses, each to last 5 days and include 30 participants, are planned. The courses will cover basic economic issues, such as the philosophy behind market-based systems, the impacts of fiscal and trade imbalances, the relationship between inflation and wages, and the impacts of interest rate and credit policies. Alternative economic development strategies will be analyzed within the concrete Honduran institutional context. (PD-ABB-125)