Sustainable economic and social development and emergency response to the needs of vulnerable populations - In 2011, ACTED continued its strategy of integrated supported to the populations of the Autonomous Region of the Atlantic North (RAAN) by setting up three complementary programmes to improve access to basic services (health, education, water and sanitation), economic development, and food security. ACTED’s commitment to the youngest populations was consolidated in the Pacific coastal area with interventions aimed at raising their awareness to basic rights and duties. In response to the floods that hit the North of the country in November 2011, ACTED set up a food for work, access road rehabilitation scheme to support stranded populations.

Dairy production value chain and protecting the environment

In the Bosawas natural reserve, in Western RAAN, ACTED continued its support to the livestock sector, to promote intensified agricultural practices as well as improvements in herders’ income stabilisation, and mitigating the impact of livestock on a constantly progressing pioneer front. Based on efforts to strengthen producer organisations since 2008 in the area, ACTED built and equipped a milk collection centre run by a local producers’ group. The competition generated within the milk industry helped limit the monopoly that was reigning in the region, and to double local producers’ prices. More than 200 of those producers now directly sell their milk on the market thanks to the collection centre. A second phase of the project, begun in late 2011, aims at creating value for the production by processing the milk into cheeses and cream. Processed products bring the producer closer to the customer and diversify services offered by the group to its members. They also emphasise local culture and environment friendly know-how.

Access to drinking water and community agro-economic development

In Waspam, Northern RAAN region, access to basic services is among the poorest in the country. ACTED therefore continued its sanitation, hygiene and water access improvement programme for public schools. Four communities on the banks of the Rio Coco benefited from rainwater collection and distribution systems, for the consumption and use in rehabilitated and improved sanitation infrastructure. More than 1,200 children and their parents were trained to the importance of personal hygiene in fighting diarrhoeal disease vectors. ACTED also supported the communities in designing and setting up community solid and liquid waste management plans. At the same time, ACTED supported the diversification of sources of income and food for 120 of the area’s families by setting up agricultural, forestry and livestock models that bring food farming and income together with natural resource value promotion and sustainable livestock farming, notably by creating community groups of producers and supporting farm animal breeding.

Emergency response after 12-E tropical storm, and recapitalising livelihoods and infrastructure

Linking with Alliance2015 members in the country within the first few hours after the storm, ACTED was able to evaluate the impact of rain on homes, crops and infrastructure in the North. 150,000 people were directly hit and many families lost their entire harvest. With such needs, a food for work programme was set up in the San José de Achuapa municipality to mitigate the impact of the villages’ isolation and the loss of harvests on families’ financial and food resources. 47 kilometres of roads were therefore rehabilitated and improved with the efforts of 150 families gathered in work groups. 2,465 people benefited from the food items to mitigate the effects of the lean period, which was exacerbated by a loss of crops before harvest. ACTED, Welthungerhilfe and the United Nations Development Programme also coordinated the setup of a second programme supporting 500 families from five municipalities, which should begin in the first weeks of 2012.

Consolidating support to the milk network and promoting institutional coordination

In 2012, ACTED will strengthen its interventions in the trade network sector, mainly in milk and its processed derivatives, as well as cacao in the central region of the country. Support to community-based organisations and emerging agricultural cooperatives will ensure the continuity of ACTED’s past and present interventions in the region and will facilitate direct contact and a necessary cooperation between State institutions and farmer groups. The fight against food insecurity and the improvement of livelihoods will remain fundamental in ACTED’s strategy of intervention in Nicaragua. Existing efforts in sustainable agricultural intensification and diversifying production, aimed at risk reduction and diminishing the lean period, will be supported. Finally, ACTED will consolidate coordination between Alliance2015 members present in Nicaragua, which in 2011 helped to set up joint programmes as well as collaborations identifying and coordinating with international organisations’ common local partners.

Partners in 2011

EuropeAid, Ambassade de France, Ambassade d’Hollande