Nicaragua Partner City: Chacraseca

Chacraseca

Chacraseca is a 49-square mile farming community just east of Leon, near the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua. Most of the 8,000 residents of Chacraseca are subsistence farmers, averaging less than $2 per day per family in income. Life is lived constantly on the edge, but rather than despair the community has chosen to organize to work together to realize their dreams of a better life for all.

Following the "comunidades de base" model of organization, Chacraseca's 11 sectors have organized into a "pastoral committee" with elected representation from each geographic sector, and a coordinating committee. They meet weekly to discuss community needs and coordinate community life. Currently, with the support of five solidarity partners, including JustHope, the pastoral committee manages 12 communal projects including a clinic, several agricultural support projects, scholarship programs for primary, secondary, and university schooling; and two community enterprises projects--a bakery and a concrete block-making factory. They also have trained 'delegates of the word' who assist with the spiritual nurture of the community, and a retreat center — Casa de Paz — which hosts community training events, spiritual retreats, and cultural exchanges, as well as housing work groups. 

Over the last 20 years, water has been an increasing problem in Chacraseca.  In 1999 the community organizied itself to address this critical problem. Read more about JustHope's collaboration with Chacraseca in it's "Todos No Algunos" Water Project.

JustHope also works with community leaders on Housing, Health, Education, Leadership Support, and Micro-enterprise.