Impact Spotlight
Installing five Energy Sovereignty Stations with solar power, satellite internet, and radio communication at Tolupán assembly houses
Training more than 25 Indigenous youth (50% women) in solar maintenance and digital security for self-managed network operation
Clean energy and 24/7 connectivity for an early warning system that protects more than 15,000 hectares of forest and benefits 1,200 people
About
Across the forested mountains of Yoro, Honduras, Tolupán communities have long organized to govern and protect their ancestral territories. Many communities remain connected by unpaved roads, trails, and footpaths, and much of Tolupán territory is forested. Community governance is organized through Indigenous councils. Protecting these forests and territories remains an active challenge, with illegal extractive industries persisting across Indigenous territories, regardless of local law.
The Fundación Red de Desarrollo Sostenible - Honduras (RDS-HN) is a civil society organization with more than two decades of experience advancing sustainable development, environmental justice, and technological inclusion in Honduras. Its mission is to connect people, opportunities, and purposeful solutions to transform realities, promote gender equity, and advance the comprehensive wellbeing of vulnerable populations.
RDS-HN works hand in hand with frontline rural, Indigenous, and Garífuna communities, including the Tolupán and Lenca peoples, strengthening their local governance, the protection of their common resources, and their energy and digital autonomy. Through an approach based on community co-creation, equity, and respect for local worldviews, the organization combines technological innovation with social organizing so that territories themselves can lead the defense of their rights, their lands, their forests, and their future.
“In historically isolated territories like the Tolupán, solar energy is a vital tool of environmental justice. Together with the Honnold Foundation, we’re not only bringing clean infrastructure, we’re strengthening technological sovereignty so Indigenous communities can defend their forests, protect their leaders, and build their own future with their own voice.”
HF Partnership
Through this alliance between the Honnold Foundation and RDS-HN, in direct coordination with the Federación de Tribus Xicaques de Yoro and the Organización de Mujeres Indígenas Tolupanas (OMIT), a Technological Shield for Energy Sovereignty will be deployed for the territorial protection and human security of environmental defenders in the Department of Yoro. The project will establish autonomous solar infrastructure and critical connectivity in 5 high-risk Tolupán communities, installing 5 Energy Sovereignty Stations (11 kWp of solar and 50 kWh of lithium batteries) integrated with Starlink satellite internet, radio communication, and charging centers at community assembly houses, creating the first Inter-Tribal Early Warning Network against illegal logging and human rights violations.
The initiative will train 25 Indigenous youth, at least half of them Indigenous women, in photovoltaic maintenance and community cyber-defense, and will form Indigenous Energy Committees along with a Sustainability Fund managed by the communities. Ultimately, the project benefits 1,200 people (250 families) from 5 Tolupán tribes, replacing polluting lighting sources with clean solar energy and protecting more than 15,000 hectares of primary forest through a 24-hour communication system, strengthening the communities' technical and financial autonomy.
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