By Lauren Thorn | Online Community Manager
Opportunity is making an impact in Nicaragua where micro entrepreneurs support more than 80% of the economy. Opportunity partners with the Association of Economic Development and Opportunity (ASODENIC), a local microfinance institution, to provide critical financial services to clients in Nicaragua. Through the Nicaragua Community Economic Development (NCED) program in Granada, Opportunity invests in agriculture, education and community development. Established in 2006, NCED has improved the wellbeing of community members ranging from students to rural, smallholder farmers.
The NCED program provides loans, technical assistance, seeds and training to help farmers transform their lives. Nearly 400 farmers are gaining valuable skills and have access to financial services. Many clients sell their goods to an Opportunity-supported processing plant. This plant adds value to crops like yucca and connects farmers to the market. Plans are underway to expand and improve the plant to provide processing and packaging services on an industrial scale for smallholder farmers.
Opportunity supports the Emprededora (Entrepreneurship) Technical School established in 2012. This school currently serves 180 students in 7-9th grade, and by 2016, with the addition of two classrooms and seven faculty members, the school plans to enroll 300 students in 7-11th grade. Classes and school-operated businesses prepare youth for employment in tourism and agricultural sectors and support the school financially. Students at the Emprededora Technical School outperform their peers in public schools; 81% of students maintain a grade level of 80 or higher while 60-65% of students at surrounding public schools earn grade of levels 60 or higher. The school continues to evolve to improve educational services. In 2014, for the first time, students enjoyed a new computer lab with 30 laptops and internet access. Plans are in place to add 30 more laptops in 2015, and the school is developing e-learning courses to enhance the curriculum and increase technological literacy among students. A new basic computer course called Information and Communication Technology is offered for students to generate marketable computer skills. Opportunity continues to invest in the Emprededora Technical School to help students realize a brighter future for themselves, their families and their communities.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
