Taking action: With CERF support, Honduras opens new Humanitarian “Contact line"

Honduras. “One moment that stayed with me was assisting a family who had returned to the country after being deported,” Oscar, a humanitarian worker recounts.

Oscar works on the hotline of a new humanitarian contact line – a safe and confidential service designed to give people a stronger voice in shaping humanitarian, development, and peace building efforts.

“We arranged care and reintegration services for them through programs run by organizations in the Honduras Humanitarian Network,” says Oscar, who spends his day “mostly answering questions about…the services we offer.”

Launched on World Humanitarian Day, 19 August 2025, the initiative is part of the accountability to affected populations (AAP) project made possible through a 2024 Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) allocation, which gives people real opportunities to share feedback and influence the way assistance is delivered by connecting them with the organizations that serve them.

“This toll-free line is one of several channels we have set up to reduce barriers between the people we serve and the member organizations of the humanitarian network. It will enable us to take more relevant action, respond to questions, complaints or grievances, and maintain arrangements in which we hand over control and oversight of our actions to the affected population,” explains Gabriel Irwin, the Inter-agency coordinator for Accountability to Affected Communities.

The service is free, nationwide, and accessible through multiple channels: the *311 hotline (9am–5pm), WhatsApp, email, Kobo forms, and face-to-face reporting. While currently only available in Spanish, additional languages may be offered if there is a need.

Coordinated through the AAP Working Group, the project brings together UNICEF, UNHCR, IOM, OCHA, WFP, UN Women, UNFPA, and a wide range of international and national partners, including NGOs and the Honduran Red Cross.

For Oscar, being able to answer the call when people thought nobody would listen is meaningful.

“Being able to respond to people – especially to those who thought we wouldn’t; when they tell us they didn’t expect an answer and now feel heard and taken into account, that is deeply meaningful.”

Based on an original story from OCHA.

Published October 2025

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