Description:

The provision of scholarships for technical, secondary and university studies. Increasing literacy in the communities so that in the future, thanks to this training, there will be technical workers in productive, educational and cultural activities, which will help to improve their quality of life, in an autonomous manner, and at the same time promote generational change and reduce emigration.

Partner counterpart:

COOPERATIVA AUGUSTO CESAR SANDINO (COMULACS), AND CECOCAFEN.

Contributors:

BON PREU SUPERMARKETS (FROM 2009-2011), CROWFUNDING.

With the support of:

Terrassa City Council.

Alternativa3 ngo has been carrying out this project since 2009, which consists of providing scholarships to young people, 50% men and 50% women, from the rural communities of El Tuma-La Dalia (North of Nicaragua), to increase literacy in the communities and to ensure that in the future, thanks to this training, there will be technical workers in productive, educational and cultural activities.

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America and one of the most food insecure countries in the world. According to the UNDP HDI 2011 data, 46.2% of the population lives in poverty, 11.2% lives in extreme poverty, a percentage that increases in rural areas.

The problems that this programme seeks to solve are:

• Technical and secondary schools for young people over the age of 18 operate on a distance or meeting basis. They are located in towns or cities. Students have to pay fees, transport and meals. The children of the producers are not able to pay the full cost.
• There is a high rate of illiteracy among adult cooperative members, and there is a risk that their children, who have only primary schooling, will join them.
• Many of the children drop out of secondary school, technical and university courses due to lack of resources.

CECOCAFEN's BECAS programme was born as a result of a diagnosis carried out on the educational levels in the area. The result indicated that the average level of schooling is second grade of primary school for 60% of those surveyed, and the remaining 40% could neither read nor write. It concluded with a negative development index.

For scholarships, the following will be considered:

• The economic situation of the family.
• The number of children studying in the family.
• Scholarship one student per family per year.
• The geographical location of the pupil.
• Academic performance history is taken into account

What do we finance?

The scholarships are for secondary school, technical studies and university studies. The amount covers the costs of transport, school materials, food and the cost of transport.

• University students: 250€.
• Technical level: 150€.
• Secondary: €100

Acceptance of the scholarship means that the scholarship holder will do 100% of work in the community, which they can choose where they do it (collaboration in community literacy, organisation of events, collaborating in the cooperative...). The aim of this is to foster a sense of belonging to the community, and to encourage generational change rather than emigration once they have finished their studies. The results are already evident, with farmers trained in agronomy, public personnel with studies working on social issues...

When is it held?:

The school year starts in February and ends in November.

Number of scholarship holders to date.