Background

The NGO Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Educación Integral en Nicaragua (ADEINIC) registered in Nicaragua is active in three communities: In the suburbs Villa Esperanza and El Domingazo in Granada as well as in the rural village of Santa Ana de Malacos. While social problems such as poverty, drugs, early pregnancy and violence are characteristic of everyday life in the suburbs, there is no professional alternative to agricultural jobs in the village. For the children there are no sensible spare-time activities and in the rainy season the locals suffer with high water and diseases.

In these three communities most of the children have no access to even the most minimal school education. Even though elementary school is free in Nicaragua, the individual households cannot possibly afford to pay for the compulsory school uniforms and school books. Education has a very low prestige and the children have hardly got any professional perspectives. Many of them are forced to do an adult’s work when they are still very young or they get stuck in the bog of street gangs, violence and drugs.

The project so far

ADEINIC aims to do away with the vicious circle of poverty and low educational standards. To be successful the focus must be on clearly defined communities, a solid basis of trust and confidence and the integration of everybody involved. Ever since the beginning of the project social workers and a psychologist have been paying regular visits to the individual households. The project aims to support every child with respect to their talents and abilities till they can enter professional life; most of the costs of this process are covered by ADEINIC. The children’s parents sign a contract in which they promise to send their children to school regularly and to contribute something to the costs of the education. One of the key elements is the tuition system, in which advanced students teach the younger children. By doing so, they contribute their share in return for the schooling they have received before. Health prevention, sensible spare-time activities, professional taster courses and regular workshops complete the program.

An engineer from the USA launched the project in 2004. In collaboration with a woman from Nicaragua she managed to convince twenty Villa Esperanza families to join, which meant 76 children started going to school. As of 2006 they also offered courses in soccer, baseball and art. In 2007 the organisation was approached by some representatives of Santa Ana de Malacos and a year later the project took up its work in this village outside Granada as well.

Ever since the choice of courses and activities has been increased steadily with bicycle tours, photo workshops, grants for university candidates, sexual education for teenagers as well as further education for the parents of the children. In the meantime the number of children profiting from the services of the project has gone up to 300. Most of the beneficiaries attend pre-school and primary school, but in the meantime more than 100 students are registered at higher schools. Some of them are doing an apprenticeship or have even succeeded in moving on to university. The latter have to raise at least 33% of their university fees on their own and they have agreed to take additional responsibilities and duties in the project.

In 2020, former beneficiaries and the parents of beneficiaries, together with project staff, founded the new organisation ADEINIC. The Spanish name of the organisation better reflects the Nicaraguan roots of the project. This will give the all-Nicaraguan NGO a better chance to intensify its independent fundraising in the future.

Success and challenges

After years of continuous work the team of ADEINIC has won the trust and confidence of the people of Villa Esperanza, El Domingazo und Santa Ana de Malacos. The fact that in all those places 90 percent of the children and youths continue their education is proof of the great success of the project. The students’ progress at school is also impressive, as hardly any of them have to repeat a class.

At the project centre the overall atmosphere is student friendly and positive. Tuition in the afternoons is complemented by sensible spare-time activities such as sports and dance. Board games, memory, puzzles and small computers do not only provide fun, but they also allow for playful learning for school.

Without the basic precondition of continuous professional support in clearly defined communities the success of the project would not be possible. There is a daily exchange of information between the inhabitants of the respective neighbourhoods. Anybody’s success at school becomes a model motivating others to imitate. As the educational efforts are clearly limited to the respective communities, those communities are also the primary beneficiaries; this results in a collaborative sense of solidarity and identification with the people in charge of the project.

The advanced students’ prospects of a remunerative professional future motivates the children to attend school and to perform better. Before the project team started its work, it was impossible for a youth to start professional training or go to university, e.g. in the village of Santa Ana de Malacos.

By organising bicycle tours for tourists, international photo workshops and the sale of photos, the project management had found original ways to generate more of its own funding. At the same time, these new undertakings meaningfully integrated and fostered student participation in the project. In recent years, however, fewer and fewer tourists have been coming to Granada, so that the self-generated income decreased. The project management therefore expanded its own fundraising and wants to raise the self-financing level again by means of donations.

Goals

Supporting the children in the neighbourhoods of Villa Esperanza and El Domingazo as well as the village of Santa Ana de Malacos till they have learnt a profession that corresponds to their talents and abilities.

Improvement of the emotional and physical condition of the children through psychological support, workshops and spare-time activities such as sports, games and art.

Creating hope and perspective for the people in these communities. Their children shall have the educational basis to learn a sensible profession and to escape poverty.

Support by the EEF

The equal education fund (EEF) has known the NGO for many years and verified the effectiveness of its work several times on site before starting formal cooperation. In 2012, the EEF board decided to establish a partnership with the project. All employees are Nicaraguans. They have a close relationship with the project sites and some of them were beneficiaries themselves. As a result, the organisation is very well anchored and provides a stable framework for cooperation.

The EEF’s contribution gives the project planning security and enables it to qualitatively expand its support for local children and young people. Through many years of collaboration, the project team has strengthened its competencies and has been able to record impressive successes in achieving its goals. A continuously developed monitoring system and the very good networking and reputation of the organisation are additional elements that can be built upon in the future. Furthermore, the establishment of the Nicaraguan organisation ADEINIC with a Spanish name (Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Educación Integral en Nicaragua) opens up previously untapped options for the project’s own fundraising. The main prerequisites are therefore fulfilled for the EEF to reduce its financial commitment gradually in 2022 and 2023, as it can rely on a growing degree of self-financing by the project. Thus, the necessary and professional work of ADEINIC on behalf of disadvantaged children and young people will continue to exist independently of the EEF from 2024 onwards.

Prices in Granada (as of February 2020)

• 1 litre of petrol:
  CHF 1.10
• 1 litre of milk:
  CHF 1.–
• 1 litre Coca-Cola:
  CHF –.85
• 1 kilo of bread:
  CHF 3.10
• 1 kilo of rice:
  CHF 1.–
• 1 cinema ticket:
  CHF 4.30
• 1 pack of cigarettes:
  CHF 2.20
• 1 bar of soap:
  CHF –.75

Sources:
CIA World Factbook, information from Lisseth Potosme, own design and calculations.