Our next study tour [1] to Nicaragua will be June 14-22, 2003.

WCCN study tours of Nicaragua enable North American participants to learn firsthand about the history, politics, culture and social issues in Nicaragua. The best way for people to experience Nicaragua is through personal interaction with Nicaraguans themselves. We structure our tours to allow dialogue with Nicaraguans from a variety of social sectors. After a tour ends, WCCN encourages participants to share their experiences with others through presentations, articles, and interviews in their communities. Study tours have also inspired a number of constructive and mutually beneficial relationships between the people of Nicaragua and the United States, including WCCN's two longest-running projects, the Nicaraguan Credit Alternatives Fund [2] (NICA Fund) and the Women's Empowerment Project [3].

WCCN sponsors two study tours of Nicaragua each year:

• Our economic issues tour, in January or February, visits NICA Fund projects and focuses on Nicaraguan economic issues.
• Women's issues and the US-Nicaragua Women's Empowerment Project provide the focus for our second annual tour in May or June.

The tour fee is based on a sliding scale, $900-$1200 (depending on what you can contribute) plus airfare to/from Managua . The fee includes food, lodging, in-country transportation, language interpretation services, and charges for planned group activities in Nicaragua as well as pre-trip materials. The fee does not include the $5 tourist visa charge, the $32 exit taxes paid at the airport in Managua (both of these charges must be paid in US dollars), or transportation expenses to and from Managua. WCCN staff are happy to discuss fundraising possibilities with people interested in going, and there are sometimes partial scholarships available to participants.

Past delegation participant Judith Rasmussen visits with sisters Fatima and Paulina, who survived the 1999 mud slides at Posoltega.

Women's issues delegations focus on the work of the Nicaraguan Women's Movement, including the Network of Women Against Violence, of which some staff members are pictured here.