Economic Empowerment for 200 Women in Nicaragua

Josefina is 48 years old, with a very low level of schooling, she barely passed the first grade of primary school, she currently lives in the Cruz Verde community, she has 7 children (3 girls and 4 boys), her three youngest children are still studying primary school and her dream is that her children can continue studying so that they can be prepared since she and her older children did not have the chance because the schools were too far away from where they lived before coming to Cruz Verde, Rio San Juan.

Josefina was born in Santo Thomas, Chontales at the age of 5, her parents decided to emigrate to a place called El Porvenir, municipality of Kukra Hill, El Rama. At a very young age, she learned how to work in the fields with her parents, and when she was at home, she supported her mother in taking care of animals such as: chickens, pigs, ducks and turkeys, which once they were ready for sale, her mother took the animals to the nearest community and from the sale they obtained money to meet the needs of the home. In this way, the family survived working in the fields and raising animals for food use and with the surplus help themselves financially.

At the age of 14, Josefina began to start a small business to achieve this, she asked her father for financial support, who gave her money to buy a baby turkey and, once it grew up, she took it to sell it to the town. With the proceeds from this sale, she bought bags of popsicles (candy) to take them to be sell in her community. In this way she kept growing by buying and selling perishable products necessary in her community with a minimum profit. This idea was of great help to her because, in addition to obtaining her personal money, she had an activity to do and thus complement the need for studies, since, as previously mentioned, the school was a long way from her home.

At the age of 18, Josefina married and moved with her husband and as expected, she took the money from her business and started a new life on her husband's parents' farm, so Josefina used the money she had to continue growing this time changing her strategy, since at that time she lived on a farm, she decided to buy two calves to reproduce them and meanwhile she and her husband worked the land.

After many years of being married, the marriage deteriorated and the couple decided to separate, so Josefina, since she had her money, decided this time to completely change her quality of life, changing even the place where she was living and decided to travel from Kukra Hill, Rama to Cruz Verde, Rio San Juan and with the money that she had, although it was not a great capital but she was able to buy a small house and a plot of land where she began to work together with her older children, they started from scratch and worked hard to get ahead. Time passed and now her older daughters are married and she continues to struggle with her young children, always working in agriculture, but above all she decided to send her children to school now so that they can have a better future than her and her older children.

Being part of this new community of Cruz Verde Josefina along with her children began new friendly relationships with people who reached out to help them in any way possible, soon she became a member of a church and that was where she learned from Self – Help International, she tells us that although at first she did not want to participate because she did not believe in these types of support, one day she finally decided to participate in one of the meetings that taught the technique of the Women's Empowerment Program of this organization and it caught her a lot of her attention all the activities, training and strategies that this program offered to women like her, so she decided to take the next step in being one of the pilot women to implement the double row planting technique and use of the INTA-Nutrader maize promoted by the program. After having obtained all the training, and implemented a demonstration plot of the double row using that improved maize and seeing the results, she wants to be part of the program.

After having passed all the processes and requirements requested by the program to be fulfilled, Josefina received her first loan to sow 1.7 acres of corn implementing the double row technique and using the Inta-Nutrader Certified seed, the results obtained were excellent, she sold the corn and from that sell she was able to pay her financing and the rest of the money she used it to imptove some need of her house as fixed the kitchen roof, because it got wet everytime its rain, she also bought all the school supplies for his 3 youngest children and thus not delay them in the process of their education. Seeing their older daughters how their mother surpassed herself, they also decided to participate in the women's empowerment program and in the same way they are already part of the Program and have received training benefits developing new skills to improve their quality of life.

The second loan Josefina requested for the same "Corn planting" always using the double row technique, this time her earnings were higher since she had more experience and, like the first time, she paid her loan to Self - Help International and with the rest of the money she was able build a bathroom (a shelter closed with half concret and half wooden) for more privece at the time of taking shower, she also also built a chicken sheter to raise farm chickens, then she applied for the third loan, this time she wanted the money to plant vegetables (carrots and potatoes) but according to the experts the land was not adecuate because it has many pests and lack of conditions, so at the end Josefina decided to continue the process of her chicken project and so she bought more baby chickens and gave her chicken shelter a better conditions and now she has a profitable business that she has on her own home and that it can be managed by her with the support of her children, the way she is implementing this project is by having cycle chickens, (buying baby chicks every certain time) having different ages and sizes of chickens, so that she can always have enough chickens to cover the needs of the people in her community.

Another great achievement that Josefina has seen is that she with the support of her children, sows and harvests the corn, using part of it for household consumption and the rest she uses to prepare the food for her chickens, everything with organic inputs and in this way she is avoiding to buy the meal of her chicks to other distributors which are more expensive and plus she has to travel to other communities to obtain it.

Josefina tolds us that, thank God, everyone is doing well and she is very grateful to all those who have reached out to support her in continuing to fight for her own good and her children. She also thanks the Women's Empowerment Program for all the training and skills they have given her and her daughters to continue their lives in a more dignified way and says she is willing to support other women like her who want to improve themselves by learning something new to become a better person.

Miriam currently lives in the community of Cruz Verde approximately 10.88 miles from Self-Help International head office, or a 20-minutes driving. She is 48 years old, single with three children (two girls and a 13-year-old boy), the daughters are married and live in their own homes, her eldest daughter Elda lives in the community of Mexico and her second daughter Maritza lives in the same community as her mother. Miriam lives alone with her youngest son who is currently studying high school and her mother's greatest desire is for her son to get a degree, which is why she frequently works hard to support him.

Miriam is a person who has worked to get ahead from a very young age. At the age of 16 years old, she began to have a relationship with Pedro, after 2 years of being together, she got pregnant with their first daughter named Elda, a year later she got pregnant with her second daughter Maritza and to raise their two daughters they (Miriam and her partner) went to take care of a farm who owners paid them US$60 American dollars a month, but the property owners also allowed Miriam and her boybriend to use part of the land to plant vegetables such as: cucumbers, Giant granadilla, squashes, and zucchini once the harvest was obtained Miriam would go out to sell them and thus they would buy the daily meal and any extra expenses for the girls, they also raised pigs but they saved that extra money and later on bought a couple of calves and after two years those calves grew up and reproduced and as the years passed Miriam became pregnant with her third child named Jonny. The years passed and Miriam and her boyfriend finally reached their dream of buy a house where they spent all their savings even their livestock which were sold to cover it.

After they own their house they decided to stop taking care of the farm and start living a different life, then they began a small business of a grocery store and with their earnings they bought more products. Everything was going well, but everything began to change when Pedro (Miriam's boyfriend) began to waste money on addictions, even so, Miriam always worked without giving much importance to what was happening, but addictions were not enough for Pedro but also he sold the house without Miriam's consent and the new owners came to evict her and her children. At that moment, Miriam's world fell apart without knowing what to do, but she had to leave her house. Pedro runned away with all the money from the house and the things he had sold, by that time Miriam was pregnant of her fourth child, it was very difficult for her to hear the news, but she had to get ahead to support their children.

Miriam had only one option ask a friend to allow her and her family to stay in her house while she was able to find another plece, and thanks to her friend she started over again. The eldest daughter helped her to take care of her other children while Miriam went out to sell and exchange products in the surrounding communities, and she lived like this throughout her pregnancy. She continued like this until 6 years latter where she met another person (boyfriend) and began a life together, obtaining their own home again.

Miriam and her boyfriend started taking care of another farm in the Quinta Lidia community, while they were on the farm, they decided to leave Elda, Miriam's eldest daughter, in the house, who was also in charge of her other two brothers who followed her and the youngest brother was taken by Miriam and her boyfriend to the farm and since they both had experience, managing the farm was very easy for them. Unfortunately, after three years of taking care of the farm, Jonny, Miriam's third son, became seriously ill and she returned to take care of her son because he was rushed to the hospital, but unfortunately he died after suffering this torment, she went into depression in such a way that she could neither return to the farm to continue caring for it, or manage her personal relationship with her boyfriend.

While living through this difficult situation, Mirian fell into a deep depression, but once, while talking with one of her friends, she heard about a program that supports women who have these types of needs, and she found it interesting to find out more about this project and the Organization.

She thought that it was appropriate to seek for help since she was suffering not only psychologically, emotionally but also financially, so she went to the Self-Help International Central Office which is also located in the community of Quinta Lidia and spoke to the person in charge of the program and being accepted to be part of the program, she was very happy attending the first training and all the others including self-esteem training, women's health, among others, all given by the Program Officer at that time, Yolanda Fletes. Months after becoming a member of the program, Miriam received 4 pounds of INTA - NUTRADER maize and was trained in the double row technic, also promoted by the Women's Empowerment and Agriculture programs, both from Self - Help International. .

Once the plot was planted and when the corn was harvested, Miriam was delighted with the results. For the next planting season, Miriam asked the Women's Empowerment program for a finance to plant more corn in a larger area. Her request was approved and she sowed with her children and her harvest was a success, so she decided not to sell her corn, instead she thought about starting a business to make and sell tortillas and thus increase her profits, she paid her loan in a timely manner and with her profit she invested in her house making a porch.

The next financing that Miriam requested from the Women's Empowerment Program was for the purchase of a large industrial griddle to make more tortillas in less time. This allows Miriam to grow faster with modernization and in addition to employed two people (one one of them is her daughter and the other a neighbor) who help Miriam with the preparation of the tortillas, cornbread and nacatamales (a type of tamales). With her earnings this time, Miriam ordered the planting of corn (she paid other people) to plant the corn and she no longer did it with her children, of course, always using the same double row technique and also requested the elaboration of an improved oven, also promoted by the organization because she is no longer only makes tortillas but also cornbread.

Miriam expresses that she now feels so empowered and grateful to the Women's Empowerment program for the way in which the program have helped her and not only her but also her entire family, since all those trainings and improvements that she has noticed in her life have served her as therapy because she feels useful when working and supports her home and her son's education, from the income generated by her business she invests to grow.

Miriam was not only satisfied with her being part of the women's empowerment program, but also took on the task of teaching her daughters and neighbors who are learning from her great example by involving them in the program, and Miriam asks them to follow the recommendations of the program if they really want to progress little by little. Miriam's daughters say that is why they want this program to always support women entrepreneurs so that they can get ahead without fear of success, as their mother has done.

Sarita, 37 years old, married, mother of two girls, Karla 7 years old, and Hazling, 11 years old, she currently lives with her whole family in the community named Cruz Verde which is about 18.65 miles away from the main city of Rio San Juan – Nicaragua. Sarita and her family used to live in the community named Quinta Lidia, which was barely 4.35 miles away from the San Carlos city, but her husband had to travel a long distance to his work every day since he is a teacher in the community of Cruz Verde, after some time, the couple decided that it was better for them all to move together in one place to avoid more expenses and fatigue for the husband who used to daily commute those distances back and forth. Sarita along with her two daughters moved to Cruz Verde a mid last year, her daughters who are still in elementary school were moved to the school where their father is teaching.

In the community of Quinta Lidia, Sarita used to have a small business of selling few items of clothing as of pants, shorts, shirts, and T- shirts for adults and childrens. But, Sarita´s dream was to grow her business because she said she wanted to help her husband with the household expenses and for the education of their girls. On one occasion Sarita was invited by the Empwering Women Program officer to be part of this program in which she became interested and began to participate in all the training sessions that she considered necessary for her personal and business growth. Once she moved to the Cruz Verde community she look greater opportunity for her to achieve her dream as this community had more population density of people living on it. By that time she was receiving a basic bookkeeping training session from Self – Help International trought the women program, after those training she received loans provided by Self - Help International which were used by her to purchase more products for her small business this time she include more varieties of products such as clothes, purses, backpacks and shoes, and with the profits obtained, she reinvested in her small store until she had a more assorted, profitable business.   

Sarita shared with the Women Program Officer that when she lived in the community of Quinta Lidia she did not use her phone often, because her husband considered it was an unnecessary expense to make, and she was obedient all that time and didn´t use the phone if it was not really an emergencies, but when she arrived to the Cruz Verde community and stared her chlothes business, the customers began to ask her for her phone number in order to place orders online using differents platforms as of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, inmediately Sarita realized how she was waisting her time and loosing money by not using those platforms to make bussiness transactions. She continued saying that she was disconnected from technology and starting that day she shared her phone number with all of her customers, because she realized that through the media she was selling more than ever, then, she decided that she had to use the media to grow in her business, realizing that she could not only promote her products but also that she could purchase from her suppliers. With the support of her two daughters (who by nature understand technology better than her) now Sarita has been learning how to use better her phone applications and platforms and sees the benefit of those skills to grow in her business. She remembers that in a training offered by the Women's Empowerment Program officer, she always advised to all of the women that the use of technology and media in the propper way can help people lives as everyone can be benefit by sharing information, promoting products or the simple fact of greet their families members, the loved ones.

Sarita now bring her two little daughters with her to participate in the training thaught by Self-Help International, because she now understands that the sooner they learn, the sooner they can make changes for a better future. Her childs have had participated in craft training such as making Piñatas and Funeral Crowns arragements, Sarita told us that when the girls learned how to make the piñatas they went to their homes very excited and made a piñata to celebrate a cousin's birthday, they are passionate about crafts and it is something that they like and in the future they can take advantage of those skills.

Sarita appreciate all the support she, other women and young girls are having in Self – Help International, because she feels that she have been changing for good in her attitudes, and raise her self-esteem, which is often low she said. And continued saying: I personally noticed my change not only in my business growth but also in personal life, my daughters and husband by accepting the changes for the better, now my husband sees that it is not use the media only to waste time and money, but to make my business flow and grow little by little.  

Carla is 50 years old, married and with two adult daughters, they live in the community called La Argentina located about 14 km away from the city of San Carlos, the capital of Río San Juan - Nicaragua. Carla, with the support of her two daughters, decided to start a small business to sell vegetables in her own house to supply the people of her community, who usually traveled to the city of San Carlos to make these purchases, which generated extra day-to-day expenses for them.

Carla and her two daughters intended to survive with this business by implementing their (born) empirical knowledge, but they soon realized the need to improve their knowledge and skills since, due to the lack of cash, Carla decided to make loans in two microfinance companies who they charged 20 percent monthly interest (a very high charge) for low-income people. But, due to lack of basic accounting knowledge, Carla accepted the loans, even without understanding that by paying that percentage she would not see much profit in her business. Carla continued with the loan process and then she had to work only to pay the interest and it took her a long time to get out of those debts. Once having had that fatal experience and seeing that it was necessary to sell more to be able to pay the basic expenses of the house and the debt installments, Carla then decided to sell the products directly walking the streets from house to house in the City of San Carlos carrying with her 2 buckets full of their products, several months passed until one day Carla met the official of the Clean Water Program, also promoted by Self-Help International, who told her that she could attend training where many women learn new things, methodologies and skills to improve and strengthen their knowledge. Carla was interested in learning more about Self-Help International and the Women's Empowerment Program because she believed that it would be an opportunity for her and her two daughters to learn what she really needed to improve in her business and personal life, so she visited the Self-Help International office and applied to be part of the Women's Empowerment Program along with her two daughters. She was assisted by the Program Officer Yolanda Fletes who immediately added her to one of the scheduled trainings, but not before Yolanda got to know more about Carla and her daughters to see in what specific way Self-Help International could help them.

They attended several training sessions and followed the recommendations of the officer, starting to work and implement what they learned, seeing a change, they learned many new things such as: keeping track of their products' inventory, control of their real expenses incurred by the business even including the transportation and food expenses that Carla incurs when she goes out to sell her products to other places such as the City of San Carlos, as well as knowing her total income and profits, if any.

All this was something new for Carla and her daughters since they did not have any type of physical record, they only had what they could retain in their memories and according to them they were winning, but by doing an exercise applying the tools already learned through the trainings they realized that they worked hard and there were not many positive changes in their pocket or personal life.

Noticing the difference, Carla and her daughters were more encouraged to continue working until they reached the point where they now not only have a business selling vegetables and other products in their house, but they are also in two more places, dividing the merchandise among them in order to achieve coverage of more clients, areas and in addition to growing on their own, although for the moment the business is on a smaller scale they know that with effort and work they will be able to have a business stronger and bigger. Even so, they know that they still have a lot to learn and implement, but they will learn all this in the way they work and strengthen their knowledge and skills.

The way in which they divided was as follows: Carla's eldest daughter moved to another community called La Culebra, where she run part of the business applying everything she has learned; Carla's youngest daughter stayed in the house where the business was first started since she is still living with her mother and Carla for her part managed to get a space in the local San Carlos Market where she has already earned the trust of the people and now she has her own regular customers.

Carla, along with her daughters, saw a positive change by being part of Self Help International, improving their quality of life by having better stability both financially and emotionally, since she feels good and fulfilled because, in addition to everything, Carla now has the ability to support her husband in household expenses, something that she did not do often, at least for the times that she emigrated with her husband to the neighboring country of Costa Rica during the coffee harvest in the months of November and December.

Carla thanks all the good-hearted people who take their time to help women with desires to learn. She feels very happy when she realizes that her business is improving every day and her personal life with her two daughters and husband and continues to express that she knows well that she still has a lot to learn to achieve a higher level in her business and personal life, but that she is struggling to improve every day.

Teresa is 26 years old and lives in Quinta Lidia, Río San Juan, Nicaragua. After many invitations to attend a Self-Help training session, she finally joined after four years. She received a micro-credit loan and started a small business selling Nicaraguan fast food such as enchiladas and tacos. She started going house by house to sell it. As time went by, Teresa realized that the business was not profitable because the neighbors did not purchase the products in cash. Instead, they wanted the products on credit and Teresa was not able to have enough money for the following day to get the supplies she needed. She tried to change the menu during the weekends but it didn’t change anything. After another failure, Teresa decided to participate in the SHI pilot project using her own back yard to plant and harvest corn. She planted 4 pounds of quality protein maize (INTA Nutrader certified seed corn) using the double row technique, taught by the Agriculture SHI Program officer Rodolfo. After harvest, she was able to make a profit and get a new business loan to sell beauty products. Currently, she is a woman who has overcome a lot and managed to save around $416 in just 8 months. She was able to purchase a bed for her child so he could have a bed of his own. Teresa’s persistence and determination to adapt to changing circumstances set a good example for other women small business owners to follow. She is proud of herself for participating in the women’s empowerment program and really appreciates all the people from Self-Help International who make this program possible in Nicaragua.