Since our beginnings in 1978 we have worked with a huge variety of people, projects and organisations including bike workshops, building projects, coffee cooperatives, community organisations, debt cancellation networks, disabled groups, education projects, fair trade producers, health clinics and hospitals, human rights organisations, mural painters, musicians, political parties, sesame producers, sewing co-ops, theatre groups, trade unions, radio stations and many more.

For an upbeat resume of our work between 1978 and 1998, complete with photos and contributions from our many sponsors, ask for our 20th Anniversary publication 'The NSC Story'. 020 7561 4836 or nsc@nicaraguasc.org.uk
You might even like to give us a donation...

A few organisations with whom we have worked recently are described below.
Other fair trade organisations are described in Campaigning Issues >>
See also our Contacts section >>
For volunteering opportunities with some of these organisations go to >>

CECOCAFEN (Organisation of Northern Coffee Co-operatives)

Coffee growing has a long tradition in the Matagalpa and Jinotega departments of Nicaragua, dating back to the mid-1800s. The region’s humid tropical forest climate, rich volcanic soil, and lush vegetation all contribute to the unique flavour of its internationally renowned coffee. In 1997, with contributions from local farmers and international NGOs, the Organization of Northern Coffee Cooperatives, CECOCAFEN was founded to promote and sell coffee produced by its members. Initially, the organization focused on strengthening internal organization and studying the experiences of other Nicaraguan organizations in order to create their own vision: a cooperative business with a social character and financially viable. Over 2000 coffee farmers organised in ten cooperatives make up CECOCAFEN which exports more than four million pounds of coffee per year.

Key achievements:

A. Coffee quality and environmental protection:
*  With a mix of loans, grants, and their own funds generated from fairtrade, purchased a dry processing mill, SolCafé, in 1999.
*  Member coops are now owners of the mill, enabling them to process the coffee, control for quality, and increase their incomes.
*  A cupping lab was installed so that coffee could be sampled and tested prior to shipment. CECOCAFEN technicians also conduct quality control workshops in the field. Not only are steps being taken at SolCafé to improve the coffee, but careful attention has been taken to improve the quality of the work environment as well. For example, workers at SolCafé are paid competitive wages and care is taken to provide for their health and safety.
*  CECOCAFEN promotes certified organic agriculture and shade-grown coffee. They do this by conserving water and practicing good soil management and agro-forestry techniques.

B. Social Projects:
*  Scholarships for the children of members to offset the costs associated with high school, technical or university studies. Participants in this program repay the scholarships through work in the cooperative. For example, they might help the members with the organic certification process. These activities increase the commitment of young people to the cooperative, as well as strengthen the cooperatives and their communities.
*  More than 400 women participate in a solidarity savings and loan programme. They are organised into 15 autonomous groups around activities that diversity family income and complement coffee production. Many of these women are saving for the first time in their lives. The loans are used to start small income generating projects which help the women meet some of the most essential needs of their families - nutrition, school supplies, and clothing. In addition, they are learning business, marketing, and credit skills. Because the credit decisions are made in groups, their participation also promotes leadership skills and contributes to the development of their self-esteem.
*  Young people have been trained to identify the local flora and fauna and to serve as guides to the visitors.
*  Women are organized into committees and are learning how to appropriately house and feed the visitors. The appreciation that visitors show upon visiting the cooperatives for the vast wealth and diversity of natural resources, reinforces the importance of conservation and environmental practices in the eyes of cooperative members.

Further information: www.cecocafen.com
email: turismo@cecocafen.com
tel: 00505 772 4067 or 00505 772 6353

SOPPEXCCA

SOPPEXCCA was established in the Jinotega department to provide business and organisational support for small coffee producers in improving their social and economic conditions and strengthening their human rights and self-esteem. Today they also support the growth of garden vegetables to improve the self-sustainability of families and the management of grass-fed livestock. 650 coffee farmers participate in SOPPEXCCA.

Key Achievements:

A. Coffee Quality and Environmental Protection:
*  Set up a coffee laboratory where quality can be monitored and enabling farmers to see their coffee as “quality coffee”
*  Provision of training in quality improvement
*  In 2002 and 2004, three Soppexcca producers were among the 37 best coffee producers in Nicaragua.

B. Social projects
*  Activities for young people covering areas such as quality control , environmental protection, and reproductive health
*  Support and training in business and accounting principles, environmental health and preventative and reproductive health.
*  Promotion of active and visible integration of women within member cooperatives, member communities and the organization itself (40% of Soppexcca members are women). Of these 35 women are integrated into decision-making structures such as the General Assembly of SOPPEXCCA.
*  Support for the empowerment of women through adult education courses
*  Schools have been built in the communities of “Los Alpes”, “La Union” and “Sierras Morenas”
*  Established three pharmacies which provide rural populations with low-cost medicine

For more information see SOPPEXCCA website at www.soppexcca.org/en/

PRODECOOP

PRODECOOP was established in 1993 to support member cooperatives in sustainable production and the marketing of their coffee. Today they promote organic farming techniques, integrated systems of production, conservation of natural resources, and economic diversification among their members. Today PRODECOOP is made up of 2,300 producers in 45 cooperatives. Half of their production is sold through is sold through fair trade.

Key achievements:

A. Coffee quality and Environmental Protection:
*   Through pooling the resources of the producers, they have built a cupping laboratory the ensure very sophisticated quality control.
*   An organic production program has improved the quality of coffee through environmentally-friendly techniques

B. Social programmes:
*   Organisational training
*   A scholarship program that has provided dozens of scholarships to members’ children so that they can attend primary and secondary school. This included providing books and backpacks for over 2,000 students.
*   The most outstanding children have participated in a training programme to become expert suppers
*   Food support programme in which food is given to members in disadvantaged areas
*   Empowering the participation of women. Membership includes 504 women with several women in senior management, including the CEO
*   A revolving fund for building and improving members’ houses

Further information: www.cafedirect.org.uk/growers/nicaragua

CESESMA and Child Coffee Workers

CESESMA and Child Coffee Workers

CESESMA, the Centre for Education in Health and Environment, is an independent local community education organisation based in San Ramón, Matagalpa.

The mountains of northern central Nicaragua produce some of the world’s finest coffee, and in the remote rural communities where CESESMA works almost all children and young people, often form six or seven years old, work in the coffee industry. They work long hours on large, often foreign-owned, plantations, in burning sun and drenching rain. The risks they face include scorpions and snakes, toxic pesticides, and injuries from carrying heavy sacks of coffee beans, beatings and sexual abuse. Some manage to combine their work with the struggle to get an education, but most drop out of school early, and some never get to go to school at all. Added to this most get paid nothing at all. To get around anti-child-labour legislation, plantation owners only register adults and older teenagers, so the younger children work all day but see their parents or older siblings take the money, and thus self-esteem and hope for the future are soon destroyed. The globalised coffee market has little respect for the rights, much less the dreams, of these children, and the consequence is a cycle of dependency, hunger and destitution in these remote mountain communities.

Against this challenging reality, CESESMA runs a range of educational programmes in schools and communities, supporting and enabling rural young people in the promotion and defense of their rights. The central strategy is the empowerment of young workers as community educators and activists (“Promotores” and “Promotoras” in Spanish), training, organising and mobilising other children and young people in a wide range of community activity with a human-rights based approach. Current programmes focus on the right to secure quality education, the right to live without violence, and the right to a healthy diet based on principles of food sovereignty and security.

For more information visit CESESMA’s website: www.cesesma.org or e-mail harry@cesesma.org (English spoken)