Since its inception over three decades ago, Horizons of Friendship has gone through significant changes as it has adapted to the Mesoamerican context and needs of the times. We have evolved from providing humanitarian and disaster relief assistance via child sponsorship to our present day focus on capacity building among local organizations to combine service provision, knowledge acquisition and advocacy. We have also grown significantly from a small, locally based organization to a national organization that receives support from thousands of individual Canadian supporters and private organizations from coast to coast to coast.
Phase 1: Humanitarian Assistance – 1973 to 1979
Horizons’ initial work focused primarily on child sponsorship, with secondary emphasis on community development. In 1974, following hurricane Fifi, Horizons provided funding for community reconstruction in Honduras and gained a measure of national recognition.
Our child sponsorship program increased in scope during the 1970s to include support for children’s programming in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and its mandate was broadened to include housing projects. By 1975, Horizons had channelled approximately $3 million to Central American projects.
Phase 2: Transition towards community development – 1979 to 1989
For approximately a decade, Horizons combined child sponsorship programs with an increasing focus on community development. As it witnessed the consequences of war, deterioration in the quality of life, the worsening of poverty and political conflict, Horizons saw the need to dedicate its resources to work with grassroots organizations in sectors such as agriculture, health, and education and to rethink its conception of community development as one requiring organization and training by the beneficiary population. By the mid-1980s, Horizons had redefined its role as that of contributing to reducing the causes of poverty and injustice in Mesoamerica. The concept of partnership further developed to achieve a more horizontal relationship between Horizons in the North and partners in the South. The child sponsorship program was phased out, requiring Horizons to develop new sources of support. Strategies were developed to approach the Canadian donor public and the relationship with CIDA, to this point based largely on short-term emergency and other humanitarian initiatives, now focused on support for longer-term community development.
By the end of the 1980s, Horizons had developed its first strategic plan and had contracted personnel with experience in the South. Its approach to the Canadian public – both for fundraising and for raising awareness about global issues – became more systematic and goal-oriented. The first regional consultations with partner organizations in Mesoamerica were held to share contextual analysis and debate programming directions. As part of its new strategies, Horizons became more active in inter-agency work and carried out joint analysis with other Canadian NGOs working in Mesoamerica and to contribute to policy formation and advocacy. This in turn led to Horizons’ joint work with Canadian NGOs around the multi-year initiatives that supported the return of Guatemalans from Mexico to their homeland.
Phase 3: Capacity building and the construction of a learning network – 1990 to 1999
The decade of the nineties was marked by an emphasis on building partner relationships with non-governmental organizations and other civil society actors in Mesoamerica. Regional meetings continued to provide a space for information sharing and debate. Capacity building became an integral part of our work through training and mutual learning on gender and the environment. Workshops on Results Based Management (RBM) were initiated to improve Horizons’ and partners’ planning and reporting. Evaluations, audits and input on administrative systems became part of an ongoing process.
During the same decade, there was increased interest from groups in Canada connected to Horizons to have personal exposure to people in the South. In response, the organization’s Community Outreach program placed a growing emphasis on direct North/South contact through partner visits to Canada and delegations to the South. These experiences served to raise awareness of global issues and increase understanding of Canada’s role in developing countries.
Phase 4: Capacity building and the construction of a learning network – 2000 to date
During the past ten years, Horizons incorporated a strong emergency response into its program to assist those affected by the earthquake in Costa Rica and later Hurricane Mitch and the earthquakes in El Salvador. This led to even greater awareness of the need to incorporate environment into our work, to strengthen partners’ capacity to meet societal needs and to increase their interconnectedness for mutual learning and support.
At the regional meeting held in Guatemala in July 2004, the concept of a learning network underwent further revision and became a reality in the form of identified needs and possible initiatives that will contribute to partners’ individual and networking capacities in the ever-changing context of Mesoamerica.
Horizons’ current Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded program is the fifth three-year program for our institution since 1991.
