El Porvenir

Annually, we partner with approximately 35,000 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 water and sanitation 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 El Porvenir 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 El Porvenir'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.

El Porvenir 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. El Porvenir’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 210,000 rural Nicaraguans to build 617 community water projects, build 13,811 latrines and toilets, plant over 1,400,000 trees, construct and educate all community partners in health and environmental issues.

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

“Water at our homes is important so we don’t suffer hauling water long distances or consume contaminated water. Water is life and health. I have lived here 20 years; we had been consuming well water, and we did not know if it was good or not. We thank God and the donors for helping us to have water in our houses—above all because it is safe water.” — Sayda Eugarrios

“We are eager to have clean water and looked for a solution for a while. We are finally going to have water. The community is busy working and excited. The pumphouse is almost complete, the main pipe is in place, the storage tank is in process, and we’re working on the taps at each home. This project is important because drought continues to hit us more in the dry season and so that we don't keep getting sick from drinking dirty water.” — Santos Isabel Bucardo Quirós

“This project is important because we are going to drink clean water; it will not be water like we drank before. We have been drinking this water from a hand-dug well, without chlorination, for almost 65 years, for as long as I can remember. Now we are going to drink clean water. It is important to have safe water in our houses for our health. With this water system, we will not get sick, and the children will grow up better.” — Cesar Augusto Bucardo