Nicaragua

Like corn is to Iowa, coffee is the backbone of the economy in Nicaragua’s mountains. With few other resources available, it’s coffee farming that provides jobs for hundreds of thousands of people — and money for community development projects. So if the coffee fails, Nicaraguans literally go hungry.

Working alongside local partners in Nicaragua, LWR is focused on efforts that will improve people’s livelihoods and make coffee a reliable, lasting source of income for the 40,000 families that own and operate small coffee farms here.

In the recent coffee crisis, so many lost their jobs that one-third of Nicaraguans in rural areas suffered from malnutrition. But if more and more of Nicaragua’s farmers can grow organic coffee and fetch a good price through Fair Trade, thousands will be able to support their families, develop infrastructure for water and sanitation, send their kids to school and make better lives for themselves.

One in five Nicaraguans lives without access to clean, safe drinking water. Eight out of ten survive on less than $2 a day. With frequent hurricanes, earthquakes and floods, soil erosion, water pollution and deforestation all working against the average farmer, it’s certainly not easy to earn a reliable income.

Your support helps LWR combat poverty in Nicaragua on many fronts.

• Providing technical training and equipment for storage, processing and quality control measures needed to produce export-quality cocoa and coffee — which means more income for farmers
• Working with coffee and cocoa cooperatives to introduce other crops that can be grown in conjunction as backup sources of income
• Promoting the products of participating farmers’ cooperatives at international trade fairs
• Introducing environmentally friendly and sustainable farming methods that will preserve fertile soil and rainfall

• Helping Nicaraguans minimize their vulnerability to weather events and natural hazards
• Training community leaders and advocacy groups to implement environmental protection projects and uphold laws

• Implementing Safe Schools programs that teach children what to do in an emergency
• Establishing an Early Alarm System, including construction of observation towers and training for fire brigades

• Improving sanitation (including constructing latrines) so that people can stay healthy and be productive
• Installing water systems and training community members how to maintain them

5,742,800
TOTAL POPULATION

$1,000
GNI* PER CAPITA

46.2%
AT OR BELOW POVERTY LINE

73 years
LIFE EXPECTANCY

68% (rural)
ACCESS TO IMPROVED WATER SOURCE

52%
ACCESS TO IMPROVED SANITATION