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Aguilar, Response to Bueno 5 

 

How ASJ Integrates Work in Communities with 

Advocacy Efforts at the Macro-level to Pursue 

Transformational Development in Honduras: A 

Response to David Bueno 
Edgar Aguilar

 

 

 
In response to David Bueno’s accurate description 

of how hard it is to work toward transformational 

development in gang-entangled communities (Bueno 

2022), I would like to share with readers the innovative 

work of the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa 

(ASJ - in English, Association for a More Just Society). 

ASJ is a Honduran non-profit organization that 

promotes sustainable development in communities 

controlled by gangs. ASJ’s multidimensional work 

embodies the concept of transformational development 

to which Bueno aspires. According to its mission 

statement, ASJ’s aim is to work “in alliance with civil 

society” toward “structural changes in the security, 

health and education sectors to achieve a more just 

society in favor of the most vulnerable” (Asociación 

para una Sociedad más Justa 2022). The work of ASJ 

brings to light ways in which the larger development 

community can support and work alongside those who 

live and work in gang-entangled communities. 

ASJ was created in 1998 by a group of Christians. 

Originally, the organization started to engage in 

development work in Nueva Suyapa, a marginal, semi-

urban neighborhood in Tegucigalpa that for years has 

suffered high levels of poverty and criminality. During 

its twenty-four years of service, ASJ has expanded into 

other communities that display similar characteristics. 

During these years, ASJ discovered that efforts at the 

community level to make progress toward sustainable 

development were not enough, due to the influence of 

corrupt policies, groups, and individuals, which and 

who promoted only the interests of a few, while 

negatively affecting the vast majority of the population 

(Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa 2022). 

Through experience and its own growth, ASJ has 

evolved to employ a methodology that effectively 

integrates programs and interventions in gang-entangled 

communities with its work at the macro level. At the 

macro level, ASJ pursues systemic and structural 

changes through research, advocacy, and even direct 

support of policy changes that guarantee effective public 

services for the most vulnerable.  

Comunidades Fuertes (Strong Communities) and 

Paz y Justicia (Peace and Justice) are two specific 

examples of programs that ASJ manages in 

communities controlled by gangs. Both programs 

impact communities directly, while also providing input 

for national-level efforts directed at achieving structural 

change. Both programs are consistent with the strategies 

and goals of transformational development. This is 

evident in two ways. First, both work toward long-term 

sustainability by partnering with community members, 

leaders, and local churches to advocate for systemic 

change in such areas as health, education, and security. 

Second, ASJ´s interventions through these programs, 

such as youth impact clubs, family guidance, and 

psychological assistance, foster an understanding of 

sustainability among community members that, as 

Bueno says, “include(s) the physical, mental, social, and 

spiritual dimensions” (Bueno 2022, 42). ASJ´s work 

thus embodies active support for communities so that 

they can build their own capacities to pursue changes 

that ensure a better future.  

The programs that ASJ organizes in these 

communities are quite different from each other. On 

the one hand, Comunidades Fuertes, focuses on 

strengthening “the protective and resiliency factors in 

children and teenagers through working with families 

and community leaders” (Asociación para una 

Sociedad más Justa 2019). Comunidades Fuertes works 

with both youth and families. Paz y Justicia, on the other 

hand, aims to assist crime victims in pursuing justice 

through legal and psychological assistance. This 

program helps victims navigate the justice system. ASJ 

manages this by collaborating with victims and witnesses 

in a confidential manner. Close collaboration with 

community members is key to the success of both 

programs.  

The Comunidades Fuertes program employs three 

main interventions and activities: impact clubs, Familias 

Fuertes (Strong Families), and organization of local 

leadership. Impact clubs hold weekly meetings with at-

risk youth (between 10 and 18 years old) through which 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 4(1), Summer 2022  

Aguilar, Response to Bueno 6 

they are taught about healthy family relations, mental 

health care, skills for successful school performance, 

human rights awareness, gender equality, and self-risk 

protection. Furthermore, community leaders are 

trained on how to promote a culture of peace from the 

different arenas in which they participate. Through 

Familias Fuertes, the program employs 

psychoeducational family interventions with a biblical 

approach. One of the main objectives is to reduce levels 

of family conflicts and other behaviors that compromise 

the well-being of the kids. This intervention also 

contributes to further strengthening the practices 

promoted in impact clubs. Finally, through the 

organization of local leadership, Comunidades Fuertes 

brings community leaders together and trains them in 

the use of tools that promote community development.  

Beyond the interventions in the communities and 

assistance given to vulnerable individuals and families, 

ASJ works to promote sustainability at regional and 

national levels. Through its work with families and 

children, for example, ASJ trains community leaders 

how to conduct careful evaluations of public 

institutions, like schools and medical centers. 

Comunidades Fuertes’ coordinator says that “through 

these efforts, community members get empowered to 

pursue changes in their local communities that might 

lead to sustainable development” (Nuñez 2022). For a 

few years now, community medical centers have been 

periodically evaluated on the quality of service to users. 

These evaluations have led to the creation of 

improvement plans that have been adopted by the local 

centers. When these plans are implemented, the same 

community members monitor their progress. The data 

from these evaluations also feeds ASJ’s macro efforts to 

pursue public policy changes. In these efforts, ASJ 

works directly with high-ranking government officials, 

joins national level advocacy coalitions, and participates 

in public forums that discuss challenges and solutions 

in key areas of the country’s development.  

For example, through the oversight of local 

medical center in Nueva Suyapa, community leaders 

noted that nurses and doctors were consistently not 

showing up during the time that they were expected to 

give service. This led community leaders to include the 

installation of punch clocks in their improvement plans 

for the centers. Doctors and nurses were thus carefully 

monitored on their compliance with established work 

hours. Community leaders have continued their 

monitoring, which has led to improvement in medical 

attention at the center. One example of how 

community monitoring led to systemic change was in 

the vaccination program against COVID-19. 

Community leaders organized to monitor the process 

and highlight any irregularities. One irregularity they 

found at the beginning of the process (when access to 

vaccines was more limited) was that protocols on 

prioritization by vulnerability were not followed. 

Responding to ASJ’s advocacy, the Ministry of Health 

provided clearer guidelines on the order of vaccination, 

making sure those at higher risk were vaccinated first. 

In the same way, through Paz y Justicia, which 

supports crime victims in gang-entangled 

neighborhoods, ASJ gathers data that show 

shortcomings and flaws in the Honduran justice system. 

Through the acompañamiento (accompaniment) of 

crime victims through the entire judicial process until 

justice is finally served, ASJ experiences firsthand how 

the justice system operates, especially when serving 

individuals from these communities. The coordinator 

of Paz y Justicia states that while “other organizations 

only hear about shortcomings of the system, in a way, 

ASJ has lived them.” This, he also says, “gives ASJ 

authority to ask for changes to the government” (Varela 

2022). From these ASJ experiences in the 

communities, two new management models emerged 

that the government is now adopting and ASJ continues 

to support. One strengthens the methodology used by 

public prosecutors, specifically the way they gather and 

analyze information. The other improves the 

performance and effectiveness of the model used by 

judges. ASJ’s work at the structural level would be less 

effective and less well-informed if it were not so present 

within communities where vulnerable Hondurans live. 

One factor contributing to ASJ’s success at a 

community level is its Christian identity and the way this 

facilitates their partnerships with local churches. For 

example, for the Comunidades Fuertes program, which 

focuses on strengthening the protective and resiliency 

factors in children and teenagers, ASJ partners with 

local churches to carry out activities like impact clubs 

and meetings with families. Bueno is correct in stating 

that “…churches cannot individually address and/or 

manage all the social ills fomenting gang proliferation 

and coexisting with gangs is increasingly difficult as 

gangs gain greater control” (Bueno 2022, 40). Yet ASJ 

has, up to now, managed to pursue transformational 

development in gang-controlled communities through 

partnership with local churches.  

On the other hand, the evolution of the role of 

gangs in these communities has increased the 

challenges to pursue transformational development. 

The evolution of gangs in Honduras has shown similar 

trends as those discussed by Bueno in El Salvador. 

Gangs in Honduras have likewise made the leap from 

criminal groups that focused mostly on identity and 

status, and whose membership was hard to access, to 

organizations with the capability to employ thousands 

of young men and women (ASJ; PNPRRS; PNUD 

2019). One of the main elements that has defined the 

evolution of gangs in Honduras is their expansion of 

territorial control. This seems to be one of their 

primary concerns as it allows them to protect 



Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 4(1), Summer 2022  

Aguilar, Response to Bueno 7 

themselves from rivals or state security forces (ASJ; 

PNPRRS; PNUD, 2019). This impacts most activities 

and transactions that involve gang-entangled 

communities.  

The threat of violence and high surveillance that 

gangs exercise has had implications in the protocols and 

considerations that ASJ has had to adopt to work in 

these communities. Comunidades Fuertes, the 

program that is more publicly known in the 

communities, has had to operate completely 

independent from ASJ. This way they are seen only as 

an intervention aimed to support families in the 

communities and not as a potential threat for criminal 

groups. Additionally, staff and volunteers for 

Comunidades Fuertes that enter the communities use 

vests that identify them with the program. Similarly, cars 

that enter the communities to aid the program have 

stamps that show their association with the project. Paz 

y Justicia, on the other hand, because of the nature of 

its work maintains a low profile and works 

confidentially in these communities. They collaborate 

closely with victims and witnesses from the 

communities who find in the program an ally to help 

them pursue justice. The participation of community 

members as staff and volunteers in Comunidades 

Fuertes, and as collaborators with Paz y Justicia, has 

been helpful in defining the protocols and 

considerations that contribute to everyone’s safety and 

security in these communities.  

Amid the limited access that the presence of 

criminal gangs creates in some communities in 

Honduras, ASJ has found a way to keep working toward 

transformational development. Four specific elements 

of that work can be highlighted. First, ASJ’s ability to 

actively carry its mission for twenty-four years has been 

enabled by its close collaboration with members of 

those communities who keep ASJ staff informed and 

connected to the communities. Second, the support 

and partnership with local churches has provided a 

necessary standing and respect in the community. 

Third, ASJ supports communities in a way that 

empowers community members to advocate for their 

rights so that the government guarantees them. And 

finally, ASJ has been effective at using data and input 

gathered from its engagement in the communities to 

advocate for changes at the structural level. Not wishing 

to argue that any of this is easy or straightforward, I do 

want to say that these elements nevertheless shed a 

bright light on how the international development 

community can continue to work toward the 

transformation of gang-entangled communities. 

 

 

 

 

 

References 

 
Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa. (2019). 

Manual de Metodología: Programa Comunidades 

Fuertes.  

Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa. (2022, 

Septiembre). Sobre Nosotros. Retrieved from 

https://asjhonduras.com/webhn/sobre-asj-

honduras/. 

ASJ; PNPRRS; PNUD. (2019). Estudio de la 

Situación de Maras o Pandillas en Honduras. 

Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 

Bueno, D. (2022). “Gangs and Development: The 

Difficulties of Transformational Development in 

Gang-Controlled Communities in El Salvador.” 

Christian Relief, Development, and Advocacy 

3(2):37-50.  

Nuñez, E. (2022). Programa de ASJ en Comunidades 

#1 (Comunidades Fuertes). Interview with the 

author. 

Varela, J. (2022). Programa de ASJ en Comunidades 

#2 (Paz  y Justicia). Interview with the author. 
 

 

Edgar Aguilar is a researcher on human security, 

economics, and energy at the Asociación para una 

Sociedad más Justa in Honduras.  

 

Author email: eaguilar@asjhonduras.com 
 

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