María Antonieta Guillén and World Bank resident representative in Honduras, Giuseppe Zampaglione.

The World Bank (WB) and the Government of Honduras announced a credit for Honduras from the
WB of 12.3 million dollars as additional funding to strengthen the Honduran Government’s Bono 10 Mil program, which has benefited more than 350,000 poor households, or approximately 1.5 million people.

The announcement was made by the Presidential Designee and Minister of the Presidency, María Antonieta Guillén and the World Bank resident representative in Honduras, Giuseppe Zampaglione.

The signing took place earlier, on August 26th, at the World Bank headquarters in Washington by the representative of Honduras before the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Marlon Tabora, representing the Honduran Government, and WB director for Central America, Felipe Jaramillo.

The credit of $12.3 million is provided through the International Development Agency (IDA) for a term of 25 years at an interest rate below two percent per year, including a grace period of five years.

“The extension and additional funding for the social protection project will continue generating human capital in thousands of households of poverty, and extreme poverty, in Honduras, through providing opportunities for education, health, and nutrition. The project will also help strengthen and increase the transparency and effectiveness of implementation of the Bono 10 Mil program,” said Guillén.

Since 2010, the presidential program Bono 10 Mil, supported by the WB, IDB, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE), has come to benefit 350,000 poor households in Honduras so far. These households receive a cash bonus of up to 10,000 Lempiras for registering and ensuring their children’s attendance at school, and health checkups for pregnant women and children under five years old.

The project has also contributed to the institutional strengthening of the Ministry of the Presidency and the Ministry of Social Development and Family Allowance Program (PRAF) agencies in charge of implementing the Bono 10 Mil program. The project seeks to consolidate and expand the Bono 10 Mil, which has become the mainstay of the social protection system in Honduras. The social protection project will continue to develop the capacities of the institutions responsibility for the implementation of the Bond 10 Mil, including strengthening the transparency and effectiveness of the mechanisms for targeting, monitoring responsibility, and transfer of payments. The funding of $12.3 million for the project includes 9.89 million dollars to fund cash transfers to households receiving the Bono 10 Mil, and 2.41 million for this institutional strengthening.

The World Bank’s executive board approved the extension and additional financing of the social protection project on August 8, 2013, and its implementation will run until December 31, 2015. The WB reiterated its commitment to national efforts to “break the inter-generational cycle of poverty, reducing extreme poverty, and promoting shared prosperity for all Hondurans,” said the WB representative Giuseppe Zampaglione.