Program Nicaragua Project: A Sustainable Development Initiative in Nicaragua

Before coming to Fordham law school, Robert Terenzi spent nearly two years in Nicaragua, where he met Mayra Vasquez. Mayra is a member of a women-owned coffee cooperative in northern Nicaragua. Robert spent a few weeks with Mayra on the cooperative where he learned that the cooperative's exporter Prodecoop was providing them annual loans at an interest rate of 22.5%. As a result, the cooperative was exporting their entire crop for less than 1$ per pound. Rob joined forces with the cooperative to roast, package, and sell a portion of their coffee crop domestically. Within months, the cooperative had found a market among first-world tourists and began to sell their organic, artisan coffee (“Café Miraposa de Miraflor”) for four to five dollars per pound. With their newfound profits, the twenty three women of the women's cooperative began to reinvest in the cooperative's social infrastructure. The women created a social, education, and health fund, which allowed them and their children access to basic social services.

During Rob's first semester in law school he attended a Universal Jurisdiction (“UJ”) meeting with a classmate Scott Wagner. UJ explained its philosophy of encouraging students to develop independent social justice initiatives in international forums. Rob and Scott were in agreement that the Nicaraguan coffee project was the perfect venue for them to work together to develop a project in sustainable development. They composed a project proposal for a two week fact finding mission over winter break, meeting with NGOs like Pro-Mujer, the third largest micro-credit organization in the world, American ex-patriot professors in Nicaraguan Universities, a sesame seed exporter, and several members of the coffee cooperative in Miraflor. UJ approved the proposal and selected four additional students with backgrounds in micro-credit, economics, and human rights to participate on the trip.

Returning home from Nicaragua

After returning to Fordham from their fact finding mission, the group hosted a brown bag lunch where they discussed their findings with professors and peers. Rob and Scott also began preparations for a two-week follow up trip, which took place in August.

The purpose of their trip was twofold: to further develop their relationship with the coffee cooperative in Miraflor and to expand their Nicaraguan contacts in the fields of sustainable development and economic development by meeting with representatives from the CDCA (Center for Development in Central America), the Rainforest Alliance, and Catholic Relief Services.

The CDCA is a non-profit organization seeking to address issues of poverty by assisting both urban and rural communities to become self-sufficient, sustainable, and democratic. CDCA works with these communities to help them realize their own goals, rather than bringing in ready-made solutions. CDCA works with several coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua, furthering community education projects, offering basic health care services, providing loans at favorable interest rates, and assisting co-operatives to expand the domestic and international markets for their products. Rob and Scott are currently in discussions with the CDCA about exporting Café Miraposa de Miraflor.

The Rainforest Alliance is an international nonprofit organization that works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. The Rainforest Alliance assists farmers to keep water sources free from pollution and overuse. They work to minimize soil erosion and the harm caused by mishandling pesticides. They protect wildlife habitats and teach farmers how to compost their waste. Finally, the Rainforest Alliance teaches farmers techniques to become better organized and more efficient in their activities, while also ensuring that the farm's laborers receive appropriate wages and work under safe conditions.

Catholic Relief Services (“CRS”) assists the poor in nearly 90 countries in the world. Rob and Scott had the good fortune of being in town as CRS lead a delegation discussing its various projects in Nicaragua. Rob and Scott joined the delegation for two days, where CRS explained the joint project they had launched with USAID called Project Acodar. The goal of Project Acodar is to assist multiple coffee cooperatives, primarily women owned, to become more profitable and environmentally sustainable. Project Acodar provides the cooperatives with micro-credit loans at tremendous interest rates, thousands of new coffee plants, technical expertise in the area of sustainable farming, and with superior machinery which will save the farmers time, energy, and resources.

In addition, they meet with Grupo Fenix, a nonprofit NGO dedicated to renewable energy and sustainable development projects, the owners of Selva Negra which is one of the world's most sustainable coffee farms, multiple coffee cooperatives, and Nicaragua's Ambassador for Trade.

Gearing up Again

Law school is back in session and Scott and Rob have once again teamed up with Universal Jurisdiction with the hopes of turning the Nicaragua Trip into a long term project here at Fordham. After sifting their way through an impressive pool of applicants, the UJ board selected 5 students to join Rob and Scott on the trip: Noushin Ketabi, Phillip Taylor, Jennifer Plaster, Meghan Horn and Mari Byrne.

They are currently in the process of planning and fund raising for the trip. The initial goals of the trip include furthering their relationship with NGOs in the field of sustainable development and assisting the economic development of the coffee cooperative in Miraflor. Further, each member of the group is attempting to set up a meeting with an NGO who interests them. The hope of this activity is that several of the students will consider spending their summer in Nicaragua doing development or some other form of human rights work.