Honduras

Community Conflict Mediation and Reconciliation Unit

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 2009 – ongoing
Name of organization in charge: Gobiernos Municipales
Type of organization in charge: government
Level: local

Impact

?

Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: yes
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: partial
Output: yes
Policy Outcome: unknown

The Community Conflict Mediation and Reconciliation Unit (Span. UMC) of each municipality is an office of the Municipal Justice Department that promotes a culture of peaceful coexistence as the best approach to solve conflicts between the residents of the municipality. The Units have the Network of Volunteer Stakeholders in Community Coexistence (AVCC) which is a group of citizens trained and certified to practice as Community Mediators and Co-Promoters in the areas of citizen coexistence. The Units can provide support for family, neighborhood, school, couple conflicts, among others. This mediation contributes to the prevention of violence and allows both parties to find alternative solutions without turning to legal proceedings. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Secretariat of Security, the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH), and the municipalities are all involved in this initiative. By 2016 there were 10 Mediation and Conciliation Units and approximately 400 people trained to be mediators.

Institutional design

?

Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: only backed by a governmental program or policy
Frequency: regular
Mode of selection of participants: restricted
Type of participants: citizens
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation