El Porvenir

Annually, we partner with approximately 20,000 rural Nicaraguans on wells, water systems, school handwashing stations, fuel-efficient stoves, hygiene education, latrines/toilets, and watershed restoration activities. These specific initiatives are focused on achieving universal coverage in the 6 municipalities where we carry out projects.

El Porvenir is uniquely qualified for this work because of our mainly Nicaraguan staff, 30 years of experience, the evaluations we’ve learned from, and our track record of success.

Organization's Goals:
Empower rural Nicaraguans and communities to achieve better health through comprehensive clean water projects. We will partner with rural Nicaraguans to develop and implement:
-Lasting clean water and sanitation projects looking to universal coverage (access to water)
-Environmental and Hygiene Education (quality of water)
-Protection of water sources (quantity of water)

Additionally, we are working to
• Improve our educational outreach and behavior change program: Health benefits multiply substantially through participation in hygiene education. Outreach will include
o Menstrual hygiene training
o Messaging via text messages, television, national radio and/or social media
o Municipal and national alliances to promote healthy and environmentally friendly behaviors through public health campaigns

• Increase women’s participation for greater effectiveness and more sustainable projects by
o Encouraging women to create social water and sanitation enterprises
o Encouraging women to take a greater role in project management

• Include health posts in project implementation to promote better health for all

• Prepare for an increased demand for toilets rather than latrines

To ensure project sustainability, communities are screened to determine their commitment to the project. The community must be willing to play an active role, providing labor and 5-15% of project materials, while EP provides technical assistance, tools, and other materials for project construction. Once the infrastructure is built, the community is responsible for ongoing maintenance and repair of water and sanitation systems. Local governments contribute 10-15% of project costs as well. Many of these communities are isolated and only accessible by foot, horse, or motorcycle. Access increases during the dry season, so most project work is done then.

In addition to water and sanitation coverage, we address watershed protection to increase water flow, promote aquifer recharge, and increase food security. According to a three-decade long study done by the University of Vermont, “increasing the number of trees by a third near the source of watersheds in rural areas could improve water sanitation as effectively as installing indoor plumbing or toilets.”

There are four components to EP's work:
1. Project preparation done by the community.
2. Construction of water & sanitation infrastructure with the community.
3. Health and hygiene education to reduce water and sanitation related illnesses.
4. Reforestation to increase water infiltration and aquifer recharge to protect the watershed as well as prevent landslides and soil erosion.

EP has 30 years of experience working with rural Nicaraguan communities to build appropriate technology as well as provide communities with the tools they need to manage their water, sanitation, and forestry resources. EP’s methodology is based on three key principles: (a) community empowerment through active participation and ownership in the project, (b) creation of sustainable organizations in the community to manage resources in the long term, and (c) focus on appropriate technology made from low-cost, locally available materials that can be maintained easily and cheaply by the community.

El Porvenir is uniquely qualified for this work because of our mainly Nicaraguan staff, 30 years of experience, the evaluations we’ve learned from, and our track record of success.

To date, EP has partnered with over 196,000 rural Nicaraguans to build 1,413 water and sanitation projects, plant over 1,373,000 trees, construct 1,778 fuel-efficient stoves, and educate all community partners in health and environmental issues.

We have many success stories on our website at elporvenir.org/stories; here's one that looks at the impact of our project work:

IT STARTS WITH CLEAN HANDS: NEW HANDWASHING STATION IN EL PALO, SAN LORENZO

Yesmar Solís and Gerald Reyes, both 9 and students at the Nicarao School in El Palo, are excited about the new handwashing station at their rural school. Now the students can wash their hand after playing, before eating, and after using the latrine.

“I feel really good because I can wash my hands, and I know I’m doing it well,” said Yesmar.

Gerald shared that before having a handwashing station, they all got sick more from diarrhea, stomach pain, and other sicknesses.

“Since having the handwashing station, we all feel better—and the best part is that El Porvenir showed us how to wash our hands correctly. We all know how to be healthy, and it starts with clean hands,” said Gerald.