send
their kids to school. They want to provide them
with health care homes, clothing, shoes, etc. They
want to have meaningful work. But how does one do this
when the poor are at the mercy of employers who only
care about profits? Sustainable economic development has to involve jobs for people. In response to the need for work the CDCA has helped establish six worker-owned cooperatives and currently works with four:
Mamas and daddies want to provide for their own families, rather than
depending on crisis aid. They want to send
their kids to school. They want to provide them
with health care homes, clothing, shoes, etc. They
want to have meaningful work. But how does one do this
when the poor are at the mercy of employers who only
care about profits?
It is
possible to help those living in extreme poverty set up worker-owned businesses:
they can own their own work, their own sweat, their own product.
How does the CDCA help? We help with the organizational process…getting committed people together to begin the long process of becoming a cooperative. We help with the legal process, providing capital so they can start, and training in aspects needed to run a business. We help them find markets abroad as well as in Nicaragua (although we have had more success with markets abroad than in Nicaragua). We help with funding and machinery…all as loans. Nothing is given but our time, because we have learned that when a business is earned then a business has more of a chance to succeed. In other words: when people are invested in the business then they are less likely to bail out for easy cash when times are difficult.
Also after learning the hard way (we’ve worked with several cooperatives that didn’t make it) we now provide training at the outset. All members of the co-ops with whom we work receive 40 hours of cooperativism and business management training, contribute sweat equity to the project and demonstrate a real commitment. To reiterate: a cooperative’s strength is in the personal investment of all its members; without this dedication, the business will likely fail.
We also offer loans through the Vida Fund, and smaller micro-enterprise loans. The Vida Fund has grown out of the CDCA's Revolving Loan Fund and is to start new businesses or improve existing businesses requiring large investments of capital over long time periods. Currently Vida Fund loans are needed to assist Genesis, the spinning plant cooperative, in start-up funding for completing the building, purchasing machinery and buying raw materials. As loans are repaid, the Vida Fund can then make them available for new loans.
It is important for Nicaraguans to be able to be employed within their own country, and it is very important to other nations' economies as well, and especially to the United States, because one in every five Nicaraguans now lives outside the country, and money sent home from Nicaraguans living abroad is the equivalent of 15% of the money generated domestically in Nicaragua. This money sent home by Nicaraguans also is more than the total annual exports of Nicaragua.
Since 1994, the CDCA has supported the development of 
cooperative businesses
and microenterprises in Nicaragua by: