Our team

I wanted to share a picture of our research team. I named our organization "Proyecto Para El Desarrollo Communitario."

From left to right we have:
Selvin, Yuny, Luis, Mario, Jessica, Nahun, Santiago and I, and Carlos.

I am so proud of the work they are doing conducting surveys and gathering information for me about the communities. I could not do this work without them.

Santiago and Ryan on the Fulbright website

Santiago and I were recently featured on the Fulbright website. You can check it out at the link below:

http://usfulbrightstudent.blogspot.com/

Update on my research

The contacts I made a year ago (and originally three years before then) have come through in an amazing way. My wife, six-month-old son, and I were permitted to stay in the center of Divina Providencia (the focus of my investigation) and only a few miles from my other site, Ciudad España. Although living in the center of town sounds ideal for ethnographic research, the loud honking buses, the kindergarten in the backyard, and adult night classes all contributed to a crabby baby and cranky parents. Fortunately, we were able to move four hundred yards down the road to a small home where four Catholic nuns had lived. Tranquilo would be about the best word to describe the new place and we all sleep better hearing the lapping of the river rather than the roaring of engines. Fundación Cristo del Picacho, the organization that is sponsoring our stay, has been extremely supportive of my work, especially after I presented a PowerPoint presentation to the board of directors. They have given me full access to all of their documents, their phone numbers for future interviews, and an open timeframe to stay. However, to be clear about my role and personal boundaries I have explained to them that my investigation will illustrate the positive and negative of their organization and their community development efforts in comparison to that of two or three other non-governmental organizations and communities. I am very aware how living in one community and being supported in this way by one NGO could affect my objectivity. I plan to continually be self-reflexive on how these factors influence my judgment. As a show of respect both for the community and the Fundación I volunteered to put on a soccer tournament for the community children as well as present my initial conclusions to the Fundación board before I leave.
Two other institutions (The Red Cross of Honduras and CESAL[a Spanish development NGO]) have also been extremely generous with their time and their documents as I continue to learn about the trajectory of each post-disaster community as well as their role in shaping (or not) the culture, politics, and social control mechanisms within the community. I have interviewed a number of major actors within each organization and have gathered a number of their documents including previous studies which will enable me to highlight changes over time. Similar to my promise to the Fundación, I have discussed with the Red Cross staff and CESAL about putting on a second valley-wide tournament for adults. I also committed to presenting to both organizations my findings at the end of my stay.
The support I have received from these organizations has encouraged me to expand my study from two to four communities. This is an exciting prospect as it will give greater depth and variance to my initial project. With funds given by the SSRC, I have hired one assistant and will hire three university students who will help me conduct an ambitious 600 surveys across three communities. Currently, my assistant is compiling a dataset of all of the crimes in each community, the first of its kind in the valley. This will help me compare delinquency across communities over time as well as benefit law enforcement by illustrating when and where the most common crimes occur. The surveys will cover attitudes, opinions, and important demographics enabling me to make causal inferences about the effects of NGO practices.
Outside of my research agenda I have engaged with the community on different levels and in different ways. Most prominently, having a six month-old child has offered excellent entrée into the lives of families in Divina Providencia. A child provides instant rapport providing something significant to talk, complain, laugh, and joke about. In addition, participating in community events, playing soccer with the kids and adults, eating at the local street stalls and being visible in all of the neighborhoods has gained me the trust of many community members. I have also been interviewed for a national TV show about my experience in Divina Providencia as well as my research.
The difficulties I have run into have been on the national level, especially the political drama surrounding the ousting and return of President Mel Zelaya. A strict curfew, a closed embassy, major strikes, protests, highways that are shut down, and a highly divided populace have created some hurdles to connecting with interviewees and obtaining necessary documents. It has also put me in an awkward position vis a vis my opinion about the current situation. When asked I usually respond with a white lie about not knowing enough about each side’s argument to judge. While this protects my position in the community, I am not used to hiding my political opinion.
In contrast to the difficulties I have found that my project will be both practically and theoretically useful. Practically, as I compare four post-disaster communities I am learning about best practices by NGOs and how organizations and communities work together. My investigation also shows how trauma must be dealt with by the NGO and the critical “moment” of the first year in creating a new community culture. Theoretically, many of the common development strategies useful in non-disaster settings are not applicable or have the opposite effect in post-disaster communities. In addition, my initial impression is that particular relationships between NGOs and communities have counter-intuitive relationships. Paternalistic NGOs rather than more “solidarity” oriented NGOs seemed to have more success in creating social control mechanisms. However, these are still preliminary assertions.
On a different note, a last second goal by the U.S. national soccer team against Costa Rica promoted Honduras to the World Cup for only the second time in the country’s history. I became a local hero with pats on the back and handshakes for this even though I had nothing to do with it. I have taken the opportunity to celebrate with the country—indeed, a nation that is in need of some hope and optimism with the political crisis, economic recession, and increasing social problems, especially crime.

Hey everyone,
First, I have received more than a few concerned emails about our safety under the current political situation. We are safe and content in our little community about 35 kilometers from the capital. The political problems do not really affect us other than the concerns I mentioned already (although there was a recent decree passed that if 5 or more people were meeting and discussing politics they could be arrested even in your own home). Yet, the two governments are finally starting to dialogue--a good sign for the country. Please do not worry about us...I will keep you updated as we have internet access.

Second, all is well here. We are visited by kids on average four times a day for any number of reasons: to see Santi, to take a walk with Elizabeth, to pick fruit from our trees, to ask us to speak english, and to ask me to play soccer. It has been fun but at times a little too much. As part of our noise and privacy reduction program, we are moving from the center of the community to one of the outskirts (about four hundred yards). It was a building originally built for religious congregations and had been the home of a small group of nuns who ran the daycare and some workshops. It has a beautiful view and is super tranquilo. I will send photos next time.

Third, our family. Santiago now has his first tooth, is sitting up on his own and loves to take baths. He has also earned the name Bam-Bam from some of our friends due to his high energy and love of making noise.

Elizabeth is doing well and is excited about the move. She has made a number of friends, especially other mothers, with whom she is learning to cook Honduran style. She is also thinking about how to volunteer at the clinic.

As for me, I am playing 4-aside soccer almost everyday, working on putting on a tournament with the help of The Futbol Project, and enjoying taking an hour long walk with Santiago every morning. My research is also going very well--indeed, I have been so successful at gaining access that I will adding a third community into my study.

In addition, two days ago I gave a presentation to the Fundacion Cristo del Picacho, my primary sponsoring organization in Honduras. They were so excited about my project that they have offered to let us stay as long as we want and have given their full support of what I am doing. As of now I am tempted to stay longer but that is a family decision to be made next spring.

Un fuerte abazo (a big hug),
The Alaniz Family

Honduras Political Situation

I thought I should keep you updated on the dramatic turn of events in Honduran politics. Yesterday the ousted president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya of the Liberal party, returned early in the morning under threat of arrest. He is now staying at the Brazilian embassy as he tries to re-gain his former position. Micheletti, the current de facto president, upon learning of his return had all of the phone lines and TV stations shut down for a number of hours to avoid Mel supporters from overrunning the capitol, Tegucigalpa. In addition, Micheletti placed a curfew on the entire country announcing that everyone must stay in their homes from 4pm on Monday until 6pm today (Wednesday) or be arrested. The military and police are currently carrying out this mandate in the major cities though, as far as I can tell, not in the rural areas. All flights have been cancelled and the highways are shut down.

Here is an up-to-date news article

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8269073.stm

As for us, all is tranquilo in Divina Providencia. People are out and about and perhaps for the only day there are no buses honking. We were recently introduced at the community mass and at a community meeting so people now know us and say hello. Santiago is doing great, just recovered from his first cold, and Elizabeth is beginning to make some friends. I got my butt kicked on the soccer field last night for being out of shape and work is going really well. The political situation really does not affect our family and unless things get really really bad, we will continue on our merry way. Plus, as a Fulbrighter, we have the support of the U.S. state department and embassy.

Let us hope that this situation is resolved in the best way possible for Honduras.

Honduras description 1

Hola a todos,

Community—Ciudad Divina Providencia

Drive north from Tegucigalpa on the highway for about 35 minutes and soon you will descend into a beautiful and mountainous valley called the Valle de Amarateca. You will notice thousands of pine trees, green scrub brush, and pockets of identical houses scattered about the valley. Billows of smoke rise from the Café Indo coffee processing plant on the right and the Café Maya plant on the left. The smell is inviting on a calm day. Soon you are in the lowest part of the valley where streaks of brown illustrate the dirt roads that wind their way up into the mountains well worn by foot, tire, and hoof. Take the last road on the left--the one before you head up the mountain on the other side of the valley. That’s it. Remember to hold onto the seat in front of you to avoid hitting your head on the roof due to the dips and bumps. Climb around the cow pastures, honk on the corners so that oncoming traffic knows you are there, and follow the sign up the hill to Divina Providencia. There, workers cutting grass will stop and wave or nod wondering who is entering their community. If they know you they will shout with a raised hand “compa” or “tio” endearing names that remind you of the friendship you maintain. Be careful of the skinny dogs and roaming cattle on the road and as you enter the community you will notice a microcosm of the glory and sadness that is Honduras. People laughing alongside burning trash, kids playing barefoot with a flat soccer ball on a dirt field, abandoned cars alongside beautiful gardens, and gentle smiles that turn into growls when talking about politics. In this country, the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere by some standards, life is both simpler and more complicated than in the U.S.

As you enter the center of town just past the central park, notice the Catholic Church on the right. It is the biggest building in town by far but is simply built with a red roof and about a dozen trees surrounding the cement structure. Now look left—the brick building, the length of two cars is the old pre-school that was run by Capuchin nuns. They left about two years ago and the place has been closed, to the great dismay of the community, ever since. Holler at the gate so that we can let you in. Would you like some coffee? It happens to be out nicest amenity alongside our refrigerator and stove. However, both only work when there is electricity which is most of the time—just like our water. No, I am not complaining, just noting how life is here. No, that sound is not a train—it is the bus. The drivers believe that laying on the horn will bring more customers. Though good for them, it tends to wake up the babies in the community including our own Santiago. Now relax. You are in the company of friends, out of the heat of the sun, tasting some sweet bread and laughing at our stories.

The maps below highlight both where the orphanage is (the black star) and where we will be staying (black star in a red bubble on the far left). Please ignore the red box on bigger map as well as the misspelling of Central.

Long-term Development in Post Disaster Communities

This is my current Dissertation research project

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch swept out of the north and smashed directly into Honduras. Torrential rains deforested hills and caused landslides that buried villages. Two dams exploded, filling the capital Tegucigalpa’s downtown with eighteen feet of mud. The immediate human toll was immense: 5,273 dead, 11,085 missing, and 427,138 people in shelters. The international community responded to President Carlos Flores’s “SOS” with a large relief effort involving substantial long-term development programs. Ten years later, these programs present fascinating evidence of successful and unsuccessful development projects.
Two communities in particular, Ciudad Divina Providencia (CDP) and Ciudad España (CE), offer a strategic opportunity for a comparative analysis of community development, given their similarities immediately after the hurricane in contrast to their dramatically different situations today. In response to Hurricane Mitch, NGOs built CDP and CE to accommodate citizens from different parts of Tegucigalpa who had lost their homes. Members of each community maintained comparable working and lower-middle class socio-economic statuses and racial homogeneity, and their communities had similar local infrastructure. Both CDP and CE were resettled in the Amarateca Valley, eighteen miles northwest of the capital.
But re-settlement in the communities has been remarkably different. CDP thrives economically, sustains a low crime rate, and maintains high civic participation. There is a general sense of well-being and safety for vulnerable populations such as women and children. In contrast, gang problems, crime, and other social ills such as drug and alcohol abuse plague CE. This “natural experiment” of two similar communities beginning anew but experiencing drastically different outcomes offers a unique occasion for advancing understanding of community development and the mechanisms that shape developmental trajectories.
This research will address two theoretical and practical questions. First, why did each community experience such different trajectories? More specifically, how did each community mobilize resources, internal and external, to rebuild? Second, what role did external agencies play in each community’s development outcome, and how did these facilitate or inhibit effective community development? Within this second question I will pay particular attention to the efforts of the two NGOs involved, Fundación Cristo de El Picacho, which developed CDP, and the Red Cross, which developed CE, and examine how development philosophies and practices within each organization shaped the rebuilding process.
Theoretically, my study will speak to debates in the development and political and economic sociology literatures concerning how communities mobilize resources in processes of long-term development against a backdrop of community and organizational philosophies. Moreover, the research contributes to cross-disciplinary debates about the effectiveness of organizational development philosophies (Fundación’s focus on building community versus the Red Cross’ greater emphasis on individual self-improvement). Practically, my research will be relevant to policy makers, NGOs, and community leaders interested in long-term development.