FY 2022 Congressional Budget Justification
Partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations Indigenous Miskitu and Mayangna groups in the North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region of Nicaragua experience chronic poverty and persistent violations of their rights to territory. Drawing from Catholic tradition, faith-based IAF grantee Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Nitlapan de la Universidad Centroamericana (Nitlapan) centers care for the whole personhood of Indigenous community members. The center of investigation and development works with 115 residents from ten Indigenous communities living on collective tenured land to promote community development and generate greater local economic opportunities. With Nitlapan, Miskitu and Mayangna communities have established nine community-managed village banks. By issuing more than 481 loans, these village banks have supported residents in 361 communities, funding education and health care and launching local enterprises including cheesemaking, grain production, and catering businesses. Nitlapan has also reached 239 young people with training in leadership skills and sustainable agricultural practices. Nitlapan’s activities have empowered community residents, enabling them to organize more effectively and giving them a strong incentive to remain in their homeland and contribute to the social and economic development of their local communities. Indigenous and African-descendent farmers in the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão,28 where one in five residents lives in extreme poverty, are strengthening their manioc production and distribution practices with support from the IAF and the Catholic charity organization Caritas. Through its regional branch in Maranhão, IAF grantee Caritas Brasileira Regional Maranhão (CBMA) is working in 10 municipalities with more than 800 farmers who cultivate manioc and process it into flour for local markets. The farmers, many of whom belong to Rede Mandioca, a manioc producers’ association, are learning to standardize flour processing techniques, increase their marketing capacity, manage virtual sales and communication, and build brand recognition. Thanks to IAF and CBMA support, manioc farmers in Maranhão have had a lifeline throughout the pandemic. Shortly after the virus arrived in Brazil, CBMA helped Rede Mandioca expand the number of farmers’ markets to allow for better social distancing and established a credit fund that immediately provided 210 farming families in greatest need with access to essential goods and services. Through the credit program, the farmers gained experience with pooling funds to support one another in future shocks.
CBMA, Brazil
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