Tag Archive for: sustainability

Sugeyli and her two sons

“You Have Given to Us and Expect Nothing Back”

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Come in to see our chancha!” Oscar and his older brother Witer ran ahead of us as their mother excitedly invited us into their house to see their large pig which had recently given birth to 12 piglets.

We followed, expecting to walk out the back door after entering the house, but the two brothers turned into the small, smoke-filled kitchen. There she was, their pride and joy, snout to the hard dirt floor, hunting for food with her 12 little pink piglets.

For Sugeyli, this family of pigs living in her kitchen eases her worry about her sons not having enough to eat. These pigs give her hope for their future.

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Strategic Planning Workshop Transforms Dreams Into Skills

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Unity. Strength. Forward Movement. Love as a family. Love for God. Deep thankfulness. Hope for the future.

These are a few of the things CEPAD community leaders said they felt after a two-day workshop where they learned how to solidify their visions for their cooperatives and associations and spring forward into success.

Inocente Ramos Hernandez, the president of the community association for seven communities in the Matagalpa region, expressed his sincere thanks to the U.S. donors and friends who made the workshop possible with their donations to a special campaign in September. “Thank you so much for this gesture, we are so energized after these two days,” he said.

“It was an excellent opportunity to develop a plan we can implement,” Inocente said. “Our association focuses on training our associates in farming techniques and commercializing our products, and now we understand all the elements that will go into making that happen.”

Inocente believes ASOCAD will transform the seven communities in Matagalpa where CEPAD began work in 2009.

Inocente says ASOCAD will transform seven communities in Matagalpa where CEPAD began work in 2009.

With guidance from CEPAD staff, participants outlined goals, set mission statements and developed action plans that will allow their six community organizations to bring better financial opportunities to all 43 communities where CEPAD worked from 2009-2014. Read more

Final chart

CEPAD In Five Years By The Numbers

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With New Skills, El Ingenio Leaders Move Forward

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Polvazal, and all the new communities in the Jinotepe region, have the potential to achieve a lot with CEPAD, said Cesar Chavez, a community leader from El Ingenio, one of the communities finishing its time five years with CEPAD.

“If they are serious, responsible and grateful they will see amazing results like we did,” Cesar said. After five years with CEPAD, the community has learned new agricultural techniques, created new opportunities for youth and women and developed an organizational structure that will carry the community into the future, Cesar said.

The community development committee there has already made progress — they successfully petitioned the local government to improve the road that goes through the community to improve access to schools and jobs. The road has improved access to goods and means it will be easier to implement future infrastructure projects.

“We haven’t achieved everything we want, and we have learned a lot that will help us continue into the future,” he said. “The next project we want to work on is getting potable water, because the one well we have only serves a few houses.”

Cesar says his two-year-old daughter Ixa will have many more opportunities.

“The biggest feeling I have is thanks,” Cesar said. “CEPAD believed in us, and that’s been just the beginning of so many changes. Ixa will never know the kind of poverty I did.”