Fellowship Description

The American Nicaraguan Foundation (AMF) and I would like to propose a Fellowship that aligns with an initiative of the United Nations Millennium Goals, agreed to by every country in the world in 2000 to half extreme poverty by 2015. This fellowship would provide the groundwork to transform the first Millennium Village in Latin America, creating a model for the Millennium Villages program to begin on another continent.

In 2000 the eight goals set by the UN entailed the following: 1. Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty, 2. Achieve Universal Primary Education, 3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women, 4. Reduce Child Mortality, 5. Improve Maternal Health, 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases, 7. Ensure Environmental Sustainability, and 8. Develop a Global Partnership for Development. In addition, targets and indicators have been set for each of these goals. In 2002 the Millennium Project was initiated, charged with implementing an action plan, and the Millennium Villages project was born.

According to the UN Millennium Project’s website, “The Millennium Villages seek to end extreme poverty by working with the poorest of the poor, village by village throughout Africa, in partnership with governments and other committed stakeholders, providing affordable and science-based solutions to help people lift themselves out of extreme poverty” (www.unmillenniumproject.org).

Inspired by the Millennium Project, AMF is taking the initiative to begin this project in Latin America, starting the first village in the poorest country in Central America.

AMF is the product of the vision of three Nicaraguans who wanted to take steps toward eliminating the extreme poverty of their country. In 1992 they started the Foundation, and soon after were recognized as a 501c3 non-profit organization. By recognizing that each human life is equal in worth regardless of race, gender, social and economic standing, ANF arduously works to achieve sustainable development in Nicaragua by promoting self sufficiency and autonomy. Their goal is to eradicate the incessant poverty by working to develop support programs in education, nutrition, housing and healthcare. (www.aidnicaragua.org)

Annually AMF distributes donations of food, medicine, medical equipment and school supplies to 2,864 community based organizations throughout the country. With ANF's support these organizations provide medical care to 160,000 people a month and feed more than 250,000 people a day. While ANF supported educational programs benefit over 140,000 children a year, and at the same time, projects funded by ANF help improve living and health conditions for approximately 8,000 people a year.

The Fellowship

I would like to be direct by saying that I am approaching this application from a different perspective. I am a single mother very dedicated to human rights work, and I am requesting funding to conduct this Fellowship with my four year old son, Kai. As a survivor of poverty myself, my dedication to my work and to ensure an equitable and just world for my son and his children is a life-long and intergenerational commitment. Rather than stop my work to focus solely on raising my son, I see it imperative that I include him in my work, opening his perspective and engaging him in human rights and the diverse reality of others. I have chosen a project appropriate for the presence of a young child, as well as one of great significance for the human rights efforts of Nicaragua that I know I can accomplish with my skills and background.

AMF has identified three communities that they currently work on housing projects with as potential “Millennium Villages”: El Menco, Madre De Dios, and Chacaresecca. In the Fall of 2007, they identified El Menco as their top choice, where I will begin the process of assessing and documenting the human rights conditions outlined in the 8 Millennium Goals. While living with a family in the village, I will work with AMF staff and community partners to understand and begin documenting their current efforts, and understand the socio-economic power structures that the community faces when undergoing projects to fight the poverty and injustices in which they are embedded in.

While immersed in the village, and through complete collaboration with community leaders and members, I will examine the state of the village goal by goal, and attempt to produce a report similar to that distributed by the United Nations in 2005, documenting the progress of each of the goals based on their 2015 targets and indicators. AMF will then use this report to determine which areas are a priority for funding and projects, and will set an action plan with it’s targets and indicators for the village to half its poverty by 2015. AMF will work closely with the Millennium Project, which has offered funding and support to assist in these efforts, as well as the wisdom gained by the Villages in Africa. AMF will also outreach to other partners to begin this process village by village throughout Central America.

This Fellowship is a part of a process that I am personally and professionally undergoing to engage more directly in human rights work. Professionally the majority of my work has focused on the environment. In the last few years I have shifted my focus to human rights, in understanding that there is no hope for our future if our basic rights cannot be upheld and honored. I currently direct a national environmental leadership program for youth, entitled Lake Superior Pathfinders (www.northland.edu/pathfinders) and am implementing a social justice curriculum. It is my hope that my experience in Nicaragua will assist me in both my curriculum with youth, but also with my broader goals of working in my community through popular education models to address our needs and our rights.

I am particularly interested in the outcomes of this experience for my local community. In 2005 the City of Ashland passed a resolution to become an Eco-Municipality, becoming the second one in the United States (the first being 6 miles North in Washburn, Wisconsin). A large portion of this resolution addresses social justice by stating “All persons are entitled to "basic human needs", regardless of "superficial differences such as economic disparity, class, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, or health. This includes the eradication of poverty and illiteracy, the establishment of sound environmental policy, and equality of opportunity for healthy personal and social development” (www.allianceforsustianability.org).

As our local community begins to develop within the framework for Eco-Municipalities, I would like to not only present my experience through the fellowship, but to formalize an international partnership between the Millennium Village in Nicaragua, and the Eco-Municipality in Ashland. As these two villages struggle toward their goals, I believe that much can be learned from their journey. I am a member of Partners of the Americas, whose mission is “to work together as citizen volunteers from Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States to improve the lives of people across the hemisphere.” (www.partners.net) Through this organization, states are partnered with countries to collaborate on projects in Latin America, and provide much needed aid. Nicaragua and Wisconsin have a long partnership, and I would like to formalize the relationship between Ashland and the Millennium Village as “sister cities.”

Through the “sister cities” partnership, the international human rights work of AMF, the United Nations, and the Millennium Village will become integrated into the lives of people in the Midwest as the communities share visions, hopes, struggles, strategies, and build alliances through projects and exchanges. Not only is there the potential for ongoing physical support through direct community to community aid, but there are opportunities for inter-cultural exchanges, collaboration on projects, future volunteer projects, and long-term communication and strategizing to reach our goals.