You Made Miracles Happen in Santa Maria!

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It’s hard to remember quite how tough things were in Santa Maria five years ago, said community leader Antonio Hernandez. They lacked electricity and water, and the condition of the road made it impossible for vehicles like ambulances to enter.

Life is different now. When CEPAD arrived in Santa Maria, they formed a Community Development Committee to seek support from the local government and NGOs. After CEPAD’s training, they began work to make their infrastructure goals a reality.

“We had been trying for three years to get electricity here and couldn’t get answers from the government,” Antonio said. “One year after CEPAD came, the project was underway. In 2013, we turned the lights on for the first time.”

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Santa Fe Dreams Big with CEPAD

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In Santa Fe, Nueva Guinea, community leaders wiggle with anticipation. They are just beginning a five-year process of accompaniment with CEPAD. They’re not quite sure what to expect, but they are ready to push the opportunity to its fullest. They are now organized into the four different areas: Strengthening Families, Sustainable Community Organization, Food Security and Environmental Protection, and Pastoral Leadership Training. We talked with Pastor Alexander David Valdivia Masiz, the vice president of the Community Development Committee in Santa Fe, and with Dorys Gonsález, who will be learning to grow a small vegetable garden and learn crafts and skills so she can earn money to support her family.

CEPAD: What are some of the biggest challenges you face in Santa Fe?

Alexander: We need to learn how to help the young people involved in drugs and gangs. We hope this will happen both in the youth leadership program and through pastoral training, because there have been a lot of problems.
Dorys: I agree. We also need to expand our education and help youth get involved in better activities.
Alexander: The other biggest challenge is, simply, poverty. There are months of the year when no one has enough to eat. It is so important for both men and women to learn how to grow better crops and also learn how to make some money in other ways. Read more

Women Take First Steps Toward Economic Security with Community Banks

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Women in rural Nicaraguan communities have many skills, including sewing, cooking and more. With CEPAD’s community bank program, they learn to turn those skills into businesses so they can make money for their families.

For many this will be the first time they have earned money for their families and represents a transformational shift in their self-esteem.

CEPAD is working with 35 women from seven villages near Matagalpa, to set up a new community bank in each village. CEPAD funds the bank, and the women run it to ensure accountability and a productive use of the funds. The goal is for every member of the bank to start a small business, such as selling food, tailoring clothes, or setting up a small store to sell household goods.

Each woman starts with a small loan, between $20 and $100, and pays it back over four months. With time, the size of the loans will increase to match the capacity of her business. Read more

News Roundup: The Nicaraguan Interoceanic Canal

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As news of the Nicaraguan Interoceanic Canal begins to get more international attention, we know it can be difficult to keep up with every update. Between conflicting environmental reports, news of protests, and potentially positive indicators about the economy, there is much news to follow. And, soon we’ll have more information for you on how the canal is impacting CEPAD’s work in southern Nicaragua. We’ve already had to cease work in one village in Nueva Guinea because the people there were unwilling to work with outsiders after negative interactions with government employees related to the canal. As a non-political organization, CEPAD’s work does not directly address the canal, but we are aware of its impact on the people we work with.

Here, we’ve compiled 10 English-language articles that examine different political, environmental and cultural questions about the canal. We hope this will be a resource you can look to and share! As always, we’ll post major news about the canal and other events in Nicaragua on our Facebook page, and we look forward to having more information from the Nicaraguan government and HKND about the feasibility and environmental studies they have conducted, as well as official plans.

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