El Porvenir
Clean water means a healthier future for rural Nicaraguans. In partnership with the people of Nicaragua, we help them build a future for themselves. Providing clean drinking water is the core of what El Porvenir is about; sanitation is necessary to ensure that the water is clean. In addition to sustainable water and sanitation projects, we provide health and hygiene education and reforestation.
Our vision is for a Nicaragua where villagers achieve a better quality of life particularly through improved health and easier access to clean water.
Our goals focus on providing clean drinking water, adequate sanitation, reforestation, and community health education to:
- Improve the quality of life of people and families in Nicaragua through lower incidences of water and sanitation related diseases and mortalities
- Improve the quality of life of women and children who carry water great distances, sometimes more than a mile, by helping them construct water projects closer to their homes
- Improve people’s quality of life through basic human dignity
- Protect the water tables the water projects draw from
- Teach people about co-existing in harmony with their local environment and how to use existing resources sustainably
- Improve the quality of women and children’s lives and health through the construction of improved stoves that use less firewood and remove hazardous smoke from the kitchens
- Ensure that Nicaraguans learn to care for the infrastructure and learn hygiene techniques that will keep them healthy
El Porvenir does not initiate projects; staff members respond to requests for assistance from rural villages. Village residents elect their own project committee, provide all labor on a volunteer basis, and take responsibility for the long-term maintenance of all projects. El Porvenir encourages the community to include women among the committee members. El Porvenir provides technical expertise and training, lends tools, and funds the materials needed to complete the projects. Community health education staff visit the projects periodically after their completion, to work with the villagers to help them maintain their project, so that it will continue to provide for the community’s water and sanitation needs.
