Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Volvamos a la fuente

Agua, saneamiento y residuos solidos

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • AquaFund
    • Featured
    • Gender
    • Hydro-BID
    • Innovation and data
    • Knowledge
    • Optimal sanitation
    • Solid waste
    • Source of Innovation
    • Unacccounted for water
    • WASH
    • Wastewater
    • Water and sanitation
    • Water resources
  • Authors
  • English

Graciela Castillo: A star volunteer educating people about water projects

May 11, 2023 Por Anamaría Núñez Zelaya Leave a Comment


As a beneficiary and former member of the Water Board of Lejamaní, Graciela was motivated by the desire to improve her neighbor’s living conditions to inform them about water projects in her community.

Written by Andrea Ortega C. 

Graciela was born in “Aldea la 40”, a small community near El Progreso, in the department of Yoro, in northwestern Honduras. After the death of her father when she was only 12 years old, she moved with her family to Lejamaní, Comayagua, in the center of the country. A place she now calls home and where all of her relatives live.

As the eldest of five brothers and sisters, she dreamed of studying business administration or law. However, her family’s precarious economic situation caused her to start working after elementary school. With no access to local highschools and no funds to travel further away, studying at night was impossible since she was also responsible for helping her mother with the care of her siblings and housework.

Yet, Graciela always wanted to develop professionally and despite these obstacles, she made her way. At 18 years old, she began working in the Lejamaní Peace Court and launched her career in public service. She even came to work at the National Post Office in La Paz, where she met her husband. 

Once again, she put aside her professional development to dedicate herself to raising three children. It was not easy for Graciela to stop working, but she had no other choice. Like many women in Latin America and the Caribbean, Graciela took on the upbringing of her children and all the unpaid domestic work, since her husband needed to work more hours. “Of course I wanted to work, but it was very difficult with the children,” she explains. 

Access to water in her Lejamaní community presented another complication. All the water they used came from the Tepanguare River and it was rationed. Although everyone had water, the rations were often insufficient, a serious problem for large families like Graciela’s. As the population of Lejamaní grew, the river could no longer supply the entire community. Graciela and her neighbors confronted water scarcity every day and this is how water and sanitation projects began in the area.

​​Water: A source of empowerment

When the Lejamaní project began in 2014, Graciela was just another beneficiary. However, she wanted to get more involved to help ensure its successful implementation. Her children were older, which gave her more time to volunteer. She was first elected secretary and then treasurer of the Lejamaní Water Board.

Graciela’s motivation and her willingness to inform the community about the processes were key during the project’s execution. It was also a highly rewarding opportunity for her professional development: “I have always liked to help. I feel better when I get involved and work with people. I feel the affection from them too,” she says.

Graciela Castillo, beneficiary and former member of the Junta de Agua de Lejamaní, Honduras

In 2017, the project was finished and it considerably improved local water and sanitation conditions. As Graciela explains: “The project changed our lives, because now we all have water. Although we don’t have it all day, it reaches the whole town. Before, we didn’t have enough water and it only reached a part of town.”

Lejamaní still faces many challenges when it comes to ensuring consistent access to water. For example, it must replace old pipes with more resistant ones, which worries the community. Although Graciela no longer serves in a leadership position on the board, the community continues to seek her guidance to understand the development of new projects. Thus, on a voluntary basis, she gives informative talks that are vital for the smooth and harmonious development of these improvements. “Sometimes there are problems with the pipes due to landslides, but one has to raise awareness that these are things of nature. They always call me and I explain to them: that it is not because the provider does not want to solve it, these things happen, and we have to detect them and work together to fix it,” she says. 

Now that her children are grown, Graciela wants to go back to work. “I would love it, I really need it,” she says between laughs, admitting that she is restless and eager to take on new projects. Despite Lejamaní’s rapid population growth, its economy and job opportunities have not kept up. Today, many of Graciela’s neighbors leave the community to work in La Paz, San Pedro or even outside the country.

Graciela is still looking for a job in the public sector, but there are few vacancies. Some time ago she had the opportunity to return to work, but she gave the position to one of her sons, so that he could pay for his studies. She does not lose hope. For her, the future of Lejamaní will not only have a new sanitation system that guarantees continuous access, it will also provide more sources of employment for young people and women, who, like Graciela, want to develop professionally. Meanwhile, Graciela continues to volunteer and transform her community, informing them about development projects.

View spanish version video

Chapter 4: Women Upstream – Caring for the Community

Every fortnight we will upload a new profile of “Women Upstream”. Follow each story to learn more about the lives of women who have worked for their community with tenacity, perseverance and gaining leadership in spaces that used to be only for men.

The IDB together with the AECID have the common objective of providing quality water and sanitation services in rural areas of the region. Learn more about the projects carried out so far with the Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation (FCAS) in this publication.

To learn more about “Women Upstream” subscribe to our blog here.

Upstream Women’s Team:

Coordination: Anamaría Núñez, María Augusta Olmedo and Leticia Ortega
IDB Gender Specialists: Naiara Martínez
Content: Andrea Ortega Carreño and Paul Constance
Illustration: Verónica Alvarado and Carolina Curbelo
Audiovisual Production: Adriana Loeff


Filed Under: Gender, WASH, Water and sanitation, Water resources

Anamaría Núñez Zelaya

Anamaría Núñez is a Water and Sanitation Sr. Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. Among her main responsibilities in the Division, Anamaría is in charge of gender and inclusion aspects, is part of the Haiti team, in addition to supporting initiatives related to knowledge dissemination particularly linked to human rights, out-of-home water and sanitation services and innovation. Anamaria also leads and is part of initiatives related to strategic partnerships. Anamaría has a master’s degree in international relations from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences (Sciences Po Paris) and another master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US

Suscribete

Search

Recent Posts

  • The challenges Irma, Morelia and Sobeida face to obtain water in Guatemala
  • The Future of Sócrates in Pampa Hermosa
  • Innovation meets resilience: Tackling desertification in the Atacama Desert
  • Innovate & Integrative: A Study Tour Journey Through South Korea’s Water, Sanitation, and Solid Waste Management Schemes and Technologies
  • Water Transforms Lives in Rural Communities of Ecuador

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Derechos de autor © 2025 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    x
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT