Centro de Servicios Educativos en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CESESMA)

Organisation name 

Centro de Servicios Educativos en Salud y Medio Ambiente (CESESMA)

Country 

Nicaragua

Contact details 

Website http://www.cesesma.org/
Email harryshier@hotmail.com

Testimonial

"Making the Alcan Prize Shortlist is an exciting achievement for CESESMA, as it brings international recognition for our ground-breaking work empowering children and young people in Nicaragua. Given the extreme poverty and isolation of the rural communities where we work, this is a big boost to our team's drive and determination."
Harry Shier, CESESMA

Financial resources

US$220,498 (2006)

Geographical focus

Nicaragua/Latin America

Issue focus

Children's rights, education, poverty alleviation, environment, health

Key achievements

• Trained over 400 young people to educate and influence others about children's rights
• Over 360 local teachers and 280 parents participated in a project to increase participation in education
• Helped found 24 small production initiatives run by 84 young people aged between16 and 21 years

Mission

CESESMA aims to promote and defend the rights of children and young people, by awareness-raising in partnership with rural children and young people, and other members of the community. Its work is underpinned by eight key themes:

• Participation of young people in decision-making forums
• Education (formal and non-formal)
• Children's rights
• Gender equality
• Non-violence
• Reduction and eventual abolition of child labour
• Conservation and improvement of the natural environment
• Community health

Background

CESESMA is an independent, non-government organisation working in isolated rural communities in the mountainous coffee-growing region of northern Nicaragua, where dependence on coffee production leads to a high incidence of child labour and associated social problems. CESESMA's educational activities form an integrated development strategy that aims to:

• Build human capital in rural communities
• Build self-organisation instead of dependency
• Improve nutrition and food security
• Bring children out of exploitative child labour and into education
• Protect and improve the natural environment

To achieve this, CESESMA trains and supports community educators (promotores/as) to enable them to go into the community and promote small production initiatives. These include organic agriculture, girl's/women's empowerment, environmental conservation, community development, local arts and culture. These are young people, boys and girls, aged mainly between 12 and 18 years. As well as volunteer community educators, they organise children's activity groups, sharing skills and knowledge and thus achieving a far-reaching multiplier effect. They promote community organisation and development, supporting the participation of other children and young people in the community. Many of them take on posts of responsibility in the community, where they often push adult leaders to make changes. CESESMA plays a national advocacy role through networking and alliances to support the 426 promotores/as.

Partnerships

During the course of their training, the promotores/as organise themselves in community teams and together plan activities to promote sustainable farming and environmental conservation techniques with other children and young people in their community. For this purpose they form partnerships with the heads and teachers of their local village schools, adult community workers from other organisations active in the community, and local community leaders across political, religious and traditional spheres. On their own initiative they have undertaken small projects in partnership with the District Councils and with other NGOs active in the local area. They have also reported and denounced illegal activities that damage the environment, such as illegal logging, to local and national authorities.

At national level CESESMA is an active member of the Ecological Agriculture Promotion Group (GPAE), a network of more than 40 local and national groups promoting economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture throughout the country.

Impact achieved

Since 1998, CESESMA has become the leading organisation in Nicaragua dedicated to the empowerment of rural children and young people. Its Training and Development of Young Ecological Agriculture Educators programme, a one-year modular training course combining theory and practice, has had demonstrable impact on:

• Reforestation and tree-planting (especially near rivers for water conservation).
• Diversification and better management of vegetable gardens.
• Establishment and management of plant nurseries.
• Organic composting.
• Pest control without chemicals.
• Growing medicinal plants.
• Community clean-up and rubbish collection.

Over 80 new promotores/as were trained in 2006, and there are now 24 small production initiatives run by 84 young people aged between 16 and 21 years. Over 360 local teachers and 280 parents participated in a project to increase participation in education, and a radio programme run by young people now in its fifth year of continuous weekly broadcasts. In addition, former child coffee-plantation worker Eleazar Martínez (21), a Promotor with CESESMA, undertook a speaking tour of schools and colleges in Ireland to raise awareness of child labour issues.