Nicaragua

In-Country Activities
- Leadership Workshops - Curriculum development in Spanish

Our Partner

Fondo de Desarrollo para la Mujer (Fodem) is working to lay the foundation for women's economic security and political empowerment through credit, organization, education, and technical assistance.

Women's Status at a Glance

Country Overview

Government type: Republic
Total population: 5.3 million
Population under age 15: 40.2%
GDP per capita: $2,900 (purchasing power parity)
Life expectancy: 69.5 years
Ethnic groups: Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and White) 69%, White 17%, Black 9%, Amerindian 5%
Religions: Roman Catholic 72.9%, Evangelical 15.1%, Moravian 1.5%, Episcopal 0.1%, other 1.9%, none 8.5%
Internet users: --

Education and Health

Adult literacy rate
Female rate: 76.6%
Male rate: 76.8%
Maternal mortality rate: 230 per 100,000 live births
Total fertility rate: 3.3 births per woman

Political Participation

Year women received right to
Vote: 1955
Stand for election: 1955
Seats in parliament held by women
Lower house: 20.7% of total
Upper house: --
Women in govt. at ministerial level: 14.3% of total
Quotas: Political party Quota (30% of party members shall be women)

Activities in Nicaragua

Curriculum Development:

In 2005, WLP began a new partnership with Fodem to produce a Spanish adaptation of Leading to Choices, designed for use in grassroots workshops with Latin American women.

Leadership Workshops:

Leadership Workshop Nicaragua Fodem tested the manual in leadership workshops with both agricultural and urban workers in Nicaragua, blending the WLP Partnership leadership methodology with training on successful borrowing and financial management as part of a microcredit program. Fodem will continue to use leadership training as a central component of their work to support women's economic empowerment in 2006.

Stories and Reports

Civil Society Crackdown in Nicaragua

October 22, 2008

WLP colleagues from the Autonomous Women’s Movement (MAM) in Nicaragua have called our attention to the government’s raid and seizure of documents and computers from their offices on October 10th. The raid of MAM’s offices as well as the Centre for Investigation and Communication (CINCO) offices are another step of President Daniel Ortega’s government's campaign against civil society organizations, particularly feminists, who have been outspoken critics of his government.

( categories: Nicaragua | Human Rights Alerts )

The Politics of Participation: Women and Transformative Leadership

Presented by Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) in cooperation with the Dialogue Project of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

WLP Convenes First Regional Institute in Central America

Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) and Fondo para el Desarollo de la Mujer (FODEM) convened the first Central America Regional Training of Trainers Institute for Women's Leadership from January 28th-February 1st in Managua, Nicaragua. The Institute brought together twenty-four participants from seven countries in the region: Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and El Salvador. Facilitators included Malena de Montis, founder and current Board member of FODEM; Sonia Morin and Luz Veronica Flores, members of FODEM’s training team; and Amina Lemrini of Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM), WLP’s partner in Morocco.

FODEM held a book launch event on the first day to introduce Liderazgo Para La Toma De Decisiones, the spanish version of Leading to Choices: A Leadership Training Handbook for Women. Leading to Choices outlines WLP’s leadership concept which is participatory, horizontal, and dialogue-based, and is the foundation for workshops and Institutes.

Malena de Montis, Nicaragua: Fodem/Cenzontle’s Economic Empowerment Programs for Women

Malena de Montis is founder and board member of WLP’s affiliate partner in Nicaragua, Fondo para el Desarrollo de la Mujer (Fodem)/Centro para la Participación Democrática y el Desarrollo (Cenzontle). Fodem/Cenzontle is a non-governmental organization which seeks to support the economic and political empowerment of women with scarce resources through financial, business, and citizenship programs which have earned them the Central American award for Best Practice from INTERCAMBIO.

Malena is also founder and member of the National Women’s Coalition in Nicaragua, and served as Latin American Coordinator of the Women’s Political Network (1995-2000) which was launched at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. At present she is actively involved in the structural organization of the Women´s Autonomous Movement in Nicaragua.

Program Associate Siobhán Hayes spoke with Malena de Montis about women’s economic position in Nicaragua and Fodem/Cenzontle’s microcredit programs for women’s empowerment.

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