“This is an innovative approach to raising the quality of life and improving social equity in downtown Tegucigalpa,” said IDB project team leader Martha Preece. “There’s no single factor that is going to change the city’s image in the eyes of the public. Success must be achieved on several fronts for citizens to feel that things are really looking better. There’s more to urban revitalization than refurbishing old buildings. There must also be a sense of inclusion and collective ownership, a common cause for all the people who live and work there.”

While the project’s goals were lofty, neighbors were not immediately sold on the proposal. “When we started we sensed a lot of skepticism,” said the program’s coordinator, Daysi Mejía. “People were wary of being used for political purposes. So we had to go virtually door-to-door to persuade them. But when they started to believe in the project, they began to offer our work crews water, electricity and anything else they could to assist us….” Read complete IDB News Article here.