Overarching Goal and Objectives:

Goal:

Build  leadership and life skills of youth in the Americas through exchange, civic engagement, and collaborative community development

Objectives:

1. increase active youth involvement in communities
2. increase knowledge and awareness of cultural, environmental, and health issues
   
3. collaborate with community members on Community-Based Initiative (CBI) process

Project Specific Activities:

Volunteers will co-facilitate educational workshops for children ranging in age from 5 to 12 at schools or other community venues.  Classes will focus on health and environmental education, though activities will also incorporate creative expression, team building, and group leadership.  Sample class topics from 2007 are: personal hygiene, hygiene, dental health, the disease cycle, deforestation, the importance of trash collection, and gardening. 

In many communities, Plan Nicaragua has organized the youth to work on social action projects like promoting child rights, organizing student governments, and implementing community campaigns. Volunteers will have the opportunity to collaborate on these projects and build communication skills with youth by working with different media such as radio, video, and murals to express issues important to adolescents today.

Additionally, Volunteers will partner with Plan’s volunteer collaborators (Plan youth groups) and community development committees (comprised mainly of adult leaders) to facilitate the Community-Based Initiative process.  Community fundraising will be an important part of this process.  Example CBI projects from 2007 include: establishing community libraries, planting trees and gardens, and building benches for a park.

Project Area:

All host communities are located within three hours from Juigalpa, the capital of the department of Chontales. Juigalpa is located east of Managua, in the central part of the country, on the eastern side of Lake Nicaragua.  The area is known for its abundance of cattle ranchers and farmers.  A popular saying about Chontales is that “the rivers are made from milk and rocks from cheese” because dairy farming so prevalent in the area.  In fact, over 60 percent of Nicaragua’s dairy products originate from this area.

Juigalpan in the languages of Aztec origin means Great City.  The original inhabitants of the area were the Chontal people and their indigenous roots are highly present in today’s society.  In fact, their stone monuments and other archeological pieces are still being discovered in the mountains east of town.

Project History:

AMIGOS work in Nicaragua began in 1970 and ran consecutively until 1978. During this time, programs implemented included human immunizations, vision screening and dental hygiene education. Due to the civil war in 1978-79 and the ongoing disruptions during the 1980s, AMIGOS suspended programs in Nicaragua.

AMIGOS returned to Nicaragua in 2000 to work with CARE on a Healthy Households project in the department of Leon.  Then, from 2004 to 2006, AMIGOS partnered with Save the Children, USA to implement a lorena stoves project in the department of Chinandega. Currently, AMIGOS has two projects in Nicaragua: one in the departments of Granada and Rivas with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education and another in Chontales with Plan-Nicaragua.  This will be our second year of collaboration with Plan Nicaragua in the Chontales department.   

Partner Agency:

Plan Nicaragua

Further Actions:

• Apply to Volunteer
• Apply to Serve on Project Staff
• View Photos from the 2007 Chontales Project!