PROMEVI
Christina Zamora's family was one of the 36 families that have benefited from PROMEVI's sanitary unit initiative.
In 2004, WCCN began collaborating with the Nicaraguan non-profit housing organization Habitar, a leading and well-respected organization with 17 years of experience working with organized communities on housing projects. Through this collaboration a rotating fund called PROMEVI was created. PROMEVI issues small loans to help address the many housing inadequacies poor Nicaraguan families face.
PROMEVI works specifically in Managua, a city of over 1.2 million inhabitants. Seventy-three percent of the population lives in inadequate housing conditions. In Nicaraguan urban areas, studies have shown that nearly 40 percent of homes do not have access to potable water and 77 percent do not have toilets.
Because of this, PROMEVI initially provided loans specifically for the improvement of sanitary conditions in recipients’ homes by building toilets, showers and laundry facilities. To date, 36 families have received loans for this purpose. Given that the average family has five members, over 180 Managua residents have benefited from PROMEVI’s sanitary unit initiative.
Before receiving a loan from PROMEVI many loan recipients are not connected to the public sewer system, leaving water used for a variety of purposes, to run freely in the streets or in open trenches. This, of course, creates huge public health concerns as these types of conditions can lead to mosquito infestation and other health issues. PROMEVI, therefore, serves to improve the health condition of not only the loan recipients, but also the community at large.
All of PROMEVI’s initiatives take on a strong community and participatory approach as the credit recipients are actively involved in the organizing, building and planning processes. It’s precisely for this reason that WCCN is proud to announce that in 2008 PROMEVI is expanding its lending focus and is now providing loans for Casitas or Little Houses.
A Casita homeowner poses with her son in front of her new home.
Casitas are small homes made of prefabricated concrete. Participants of the Casita’s initiative belong to the Grenada and Lomas de Guadalupe communities in Managua, which are organized communities dedicated to taking a community development approach to their work. The participants are organized into five person brigades, which work to construct the Casitas on a foundation that each participant is required to prepare prior to building. The participants of the Casitas initiative also participate in a community effort to build common spaces within the neighborhoods, such as parks and community centers.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, because PROMEVI is a rotating fund, as loans for sanitary improvements or Casitas are paid back, other community members are able to benefit.
Disaster Relief
A new home WCCN members helped fund following Hurricane Felix in the Atlantic Coast Miskito Community of Auyah Pihni.
WCCN also works with Habitar, which is a member of the Nicaraguan housing network, when unforeseen natural disasters occur.
Because Habitar has extensive contacts on the ground in Nicaragua, when the remote Atlantic Coast was struck by Hurricane Felix in 2007, WCCN was able to act quickly. Through Habitar, WCCN was able to channel funds to reconstruct housing in the Miskito community of Auyah Pihni.