Grant from AID to the Honduran Council for Private Enterprise to analyze economic policies, lead the private sector in establishing more effective policy dialogue with the government and increase public awareness about the importance of private enterprise for Honduran development

The SP will support COHEP in the areas of: policy analysis; policy dialogue and consensus-building; and institutional consolidation. COHEP"s Economic and Policy Analysis Division will conduct (or contract out) detailed technical analyses (3-4 a year) of problems affecting the private sector; a senior local economist will be hired to manage this effort. The studies will deal exclusively with cross-cutting issues in regard to which structural and policy reform would benefit the economy at large. Likely topics include: the competitiveness of Honduran exports; incentives and constraints to private investment; trade and tariff policies; and employment. COHEP will expand efforts to build a public-private sector ecomomic consensus and engage in policy dialogue. To this end, COHEP will: (1) make its annual assembly a forum in which the private sector, in dialogue with representatives from labor and the GOH, will assess the national economy and adopt resolutions in its regard; (2) host three major conferences on specific themes for leading private sector representatives from the Central American region; and (3) conduct seminars to disseminate the results of its economic policy studies. COHEP will also: expand its publications to include a monthly newsletter, the economic studies, legal and administrative analyses, and an expanded Annual Report; establish a communications division to conduct a multi-media public education and consciousness-raising campaign based on a national survey of opinions on the free enterprise system; and expand its dialogue/lobbying with the legislature through structured meetings with congressional representatives. Finally, the SP will strengthen COHEP as an organization by helping it: (1) conduct a major donation campaign aimed at raising $1 million by SP end (A.I.D. will match the amount collected); (2) establish a small grant fund for its member organizations; (3) create a division responsible for membership drives, fund-raising, and relations with members. A policy statement redefining COHEP"s scope and purpose and organizational changes are also targeted.