The NGO Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Educación Integral en Nicaragua (ADEINIC), registered in Nicaragua, is active in three communities: the suburbs Villa Esperanza and El Domingazo in Granada as well as in the rural village of Santa Ana de Malacos. While social issues such as poverty, drugs, early pregnancy and violence are characteristic of daily life in the suburbs, there is no professional alternative to agricultural jobs in the village. Moreover, there are few meaningful recreational activities for the children, and the community suffers from floods and diseases during the rainy season.

In all three communities, most of the children have no access to basic education. Even though elementary school is free in Nicaragua, the individual households struggle to afford the costs for compulsory school uniforms and school books. Education holds little value, and the children have hardly got any professional perspectives. Many are forced into adult’s labour early or get stuck in the bog of street gangs, violence and drugs.

Supporting the children in the neighbourhoods of Villa Esperanza and El Domingazo as well as the village of Santa Ana de Malacos until they complete vocational training that corresponds to their talents and abilities.

Improvement of the emotional and physical condition of the children through psychological support, workshops and recreational activities such as sports, games and art.

Creating hope and perspective for the people in these communities. Their children shall have the educational basis to learn a sensible profession and to escape poverty.

An engineer from the USA launched the project in 2004. In collaboration with a woman from Nicaragua she managed to convince twenty families in Villa Esperanza to join the project, such that 76 children started attending school. As of 2006 they also offered courses in football, baseball and art. In 2007, the organisation was approached by representatives of Santa Ana de Malacos and a year later the project began its work in the village outside of Granada.

Since then, the choice of courses and activities has been increased steadily with bicycle tours, photography workshops, grants for university candidates, sexual education for teenagers as well as further education for the parents of the children. Today, 250 children and young people benefit from the programme every year. Most of the beneficiary children attend pre-school and primary school, over 80 young people are enrolled in advanced schools. Some are completing vocational training or have even succeeded in moving on to university. The latter have to raise at least 33% of their university fees on their own, and they have agreed to take additional responsibilities and duties in the project.

The key to success is a stable foundation of trust, the involvement of all stakeholders and a focus on delimited communities (two neighbourhoods, one village) where everyone knows each other. Since the start of the project, social workers and a psychologist have regularly visited all households. Parents commit to send their children to school regularly and to contribute to education costs. A core element is the tutoring program at the project centre, where advanced students teach younger children, thereby returning some of the support they receive. Healthcare, meaningful recreational activities, career taster days and regular workshops complete the comprehensive programme.

In 2020, former beneficiaries and the parents of beneficiaries, together with project staff, founded the new organisation ADEINIC. The EEF assisted and supported ADEINIC in its transformation into a local NGO and in setting up a national board. The Spanish name of the organisation better reflects the Nicaraguan roots of the project and improves the chances for independent fundraising.

After visiting the project several times, the EEF board decided to establish a partnership in 2012. The contributions from the equal education fund (EEF) provided planning security and enabled the project to qualitatively expand its support for local children and young people. The project team solidified its competencies and achieved impressive success in meeting its goals. A continuously developed monitoring system and the strong network and solid reputation of the organisation are additional elements that can be built upon in the future. The establishment of the Nicaraguan organisation ADEINIC with a Spanish name (Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Educación Integral en Nicaragua) opens up previously untapped options for the project’s own fundraising. Moreover, a strong organisational foundation was created on both strategic and operational levels.

With these important prerequisites met, the EEF gradually reduced its financial commitment in 2022 and 2023, shifting toward an increasing level of self-financing by the project up to complete independence. This approach is in line with the EEF strategy of time-limited project partnerships (see EEF guidelines, “Sustainable structures” section). At the end of 2023, the EEF then completed its long-planned complete withdrawal from the project.

At the end of the project partnership, the EEF evaluated the achievement of objectives since the start of the cooperation. In addition to numerous qualitative successes of ADEINIC, the quantitative analysis showed that the graduation rate had tended to increase over the years and that the drop-out rate of the beneficiaries was always well below the national average. The EEF is pleased to have supported and strengthened this project, thereby helping to ensure that the successful work in favour of the education of disadvantaged children and young people in Granada will continue.