Midterm evaluation of rural housing improvement, Honduras

Special evaluation covers the period 12/81-12/83 and is based on document review and interviews with personnel from USAID/H, the Honduran National Housing Institute (INVA), the Professional Formation Institute of Honduras (INFOP), and financial intermediaries and with project beneficiaries. This well-designed project could serve as a model in the use of existing public and private institutions to provide financial and even technical assistance to rural families for home improvements. Twelve private, nonprofit institutions (or intermediaries) have signed contracts with INVA and made a total of 2,109 home improvement loans as of 9/30/83, benefiting some 12,000 people. A Rural House Improvement Unit (RHIU) has been established within INVA"s Rural Housing Department and has prepared manuals for management and bookkeeping systems and offered courses in these areas to intermediaries. INFOP has made some 15 presentations (vs. 1,000 targeted) on construction techniques to an unknown number of intermediary promoters and beneficiaries, but it appears unlikely that the targeted 150 promoters will be trained; none of the 3 planned Materials Production Teams have been formed. INVA, which has been lax in supervising the INFOP contract, should determine how best to use the resources of that institution. Also, additional training should be provided to RHIU staff so they can offer more TA to intermediaries and INVA should develop a written policy for its rural housing program. Unplanned effects are: some beneficiaries have organized into workers" associations and marketed their services locally; some intermediaries have required that beneficiaries provide as a loan guarantee a certificate of title to property and others have used private banks to handle the recuperation of loans; beneficiaries have made a greater contribution than had been expected; the use of private institutions as intermediaries has had positive effects; and a spread effect in which the neighbors of beneficiaries make their own home improvements is very likely.