Programs / Public Health / Communities / El Encinal «

About Joyas de Carballo

Joyas de Carballo is a region in the mountainous municipality of

San Juande Flores that is comprised of two communities: El Encinal

and El Junco y Joyas. Global Brigades' Public Health Program worked

in both communities simultaneously from December 2009 -

October 2010. Thus, all statistics and university information contained

on this webpage regarding the public health projects is aggregate for

both communities. 

About El Encinal

El Encinal is a small community with a population of 251 people in a

region known as Joyas de Caballo within  the municipality of San Juan

de Flores. Prior to Global Brigades' arrival, community members in

El Encinal  suffered from a lack of  proper water, hygiene and sanitation

infrastructure, healthcare, and education. Diarrhea, dengue fever, and

asthma were common. Few homes had concrete floors, properly

functioning latrines, proper water storage, or efficient stoves with

chimneys, which further exacerbated their health problems. There is no

health center in El Encinal, but community members can access one in

the nearby community of El Junco. School is only offered until sixth
grade,at which point most children begin to work in agriculture to
support their families or walk to the nearby community of El Junco to
continue their education. Most families work in agriculture and the
cultivate corn, beans, coffee, and plantains. Families then sell the
crops that they do not use in their home for an average monthly
income of 2,000 Lempiras ($100.00).

El Encinal's Public Health Challenge

Many community members in El Encinal lacked the resources needed to improve their homes and prevent diseases caused by unsafe living environments. The majority of homes were made of adobe, mud, and straw. Very few homes had hygiene stations, cement floors, and eco-stoves prior to the arrival of Global Brigades. Such living conditions triggered disease. The lack of hygiene stations led to high rates of diarrhea and water-borne disease, the absence of cement floors caused parasitic infection and Chagas Disease, and the lack of eco-stoves resulted in respiratory problems in many community members. Not only would the creation of health infrastructure better the health of household members through improved sanitation and hygiene, but it would also improved their quality-of-life as the new water storage units would reduce time spent walking to water sources and the eco-stove would reduce firewood consumption by about 70%.

Although community members recognized the problems inherent to their living environments, they did not have the economic resources nor the technical knowledge needed to address them. Moreover, the level of awareness concerning sanitation and the importance of health is very low as the children did not receive any education about the topic.

The Public Health Solution for El Encinal

Public Health Brigaders from several different universities and the Public Health Brigades in-country team worked in Joyas de Carballo (El Encinal and El Junco y Joyas)  from December 2009 – October 2010. During this time, volunteers and staff members worked with community members to:

     • Identify 9 community leaders and train them to form the Basic Sanitation Committee

To ensure the sustainability of the in-home infrastructure projects, the Public Health Program continues to provide continuous follow-up in the community. It also formed and trained the Basic Sanitation Committee, a community body formed by local leaders which is entitled to monitor the correct utilization and maintenance of the infrastructures. Clear responsibilities and powers were assigned to each member, making the beneficiaries themselves even stronger stakeholders of the Public Health projects.

Current Status

COMPLETE

After numerous successful brigades, the Public Health program exited the communities of El Encinal and El Junco y Joyas in October 2010. Exiting the community signifies that the program will no longer be bringing brigades to the community and will gradually lessen the follow-up visits to once every 6 months-1 year. The Public Health program trusts that the community members will maintain their projects with the assistance of the trained Basic Sanitation Committee and understand the importance of building safe living environments whenever they construct new homes.

Visit Other Programs in El Encinal

Global Brigades strives to implement a model of Holistic Development in communities through a system of collectively implementing health, economic, and education initiatives to strategically meet a community's development goals. Learn more about the other programs being implemented in El Encinal:

MedicalDentalEngineering MicrofinanceWater Business ArchitectureCHW