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The purpose of this document is to describe AED's extensive experience in six countries that have undergone periods of violent conflict or natural disaster followed by extended and complex periods of increasing resilience, and if possible extract lessons learned from it. The focus is on what we have learned about effectively and sustainably restoring education in a context of development. This paper is timely for two reasons. First, the number of low-income countries experiencing crises, especially war, continues to escalate (Collier 2009). Second, there is a growing consensus among countries and donors that restoring education systems should begin as soon as the security of teachers and students can be assured and not wait until the termination of relief efforts. Education should be part of the solution from the beginning of the rebuilding process. It is hoped that this paper will facilitate that work in the future. This paper begins by reviewing AED's work over the last two decades in six countries on two continents (El Salvador,Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua in Latin America, and Ethiopia and Namibia in sub-Saharan Africa), considering their history and education sector as they move from fragility and attempt to consolidate education reform. This section seeks to extract lessons concerning the actual relationship between the education sector and fragility or resilience and what this has meant for AED's role promoting change in the education sector through its interactions with governments and donors. A second section takes the findings and underlines the interaction between donor, recipient, and implementer. A final section suggests paths for conceptual and operational development to better integrate assistance in crises with assistance for development in the education sector, and considers how this may be related to the degree of fragility or resilience, and how this may be further examined. (Contains 9 tables, 7 figures, 43 footnotes, and 25 additional resources. An annex presents trends in education, assistance and investment in six countries.)

This manual provides a step-by-step methodology for promoting community participation in improving learning in local schools. The Civic Engagement for Education Reform in Central America (CERCA) School Report Card (SRC) approach empowers local school communities to gather information on the quality and conditions of teaching and learning in their schools. They can use this information to guide decisions about appropriate community-level actions to improve educational service delivery. To create a SRC, teachers, parents, and students work together entirely within local communities to collect, analyze, and act upon the information they collect about their schools. Community participation is voluntary. No external incentives are offered to communities other than limited technical assistance in organizing SRC activities. The SRC was piloted in 42 communities in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, with the following results: (1) There was increased community-member involvement in the allocation of local resources to improving educational quality; (2) Students, teachers, and community members learned how to document, analyze, and report information on conditions of teaching and learning in their schools; (3) Adults and students were mobilized to work together on school improvement plans that have specific, measurable results; and (4) Tangible outcomes of improved educational quality were observed in local communities. (Contains 1 footnote.)

The videotape "Central American Children Speak: Our Lives and Dreams" begins and ends in a U.S. classroom where students are studying Central America. The video, which was designed to help children gain a basic understanding of one another, follows seven Central American children through a typical day of school, work, and play. Their stories provide a glimpse into the lives of the poor, who form a majority in Guatemala and Nicaragua. The study guide was developed for use in a variety of grades and classroom situations. It also provides suggestions for preparatory activities, including vocabulary building, map exercises, and ways to discuss cultural stereotypes. Ten exercises are presented for use after students see the video, and activities are outlined that involve games and sports, weaving and designs, painting murals, and music. The detailed stories of the children in the video are presented, and a timeline of the region's history, maps of Nicaragua and Guatemala, the United Nations statement on Rights of the Child, and a list of 18 recommended resources are attached. (SLD)

This kit of materials, designed for trainers of adult literacy teachers, attempts to capture the experience of five adult literacy workers from Mozambique on a study tour of Nicaragua and Brazil, and to introduce the user to the concept, methodology, and tools of "popular literacy." The kit both reports an experience and offers a set of resources, but is not intended as a teacher training curriculum. The materials consist of a users' guide, background documents, activities and tools for popular literacy workers, and information on available resources. The background documents include articles on southern-hemisphere educational exchanges as an approach to staff training, an address to adult educators about popular education in Latin America, and education and the struggle for popular power in Mozambique. Nine activities and tools for classroom use are contained in the kit, including games, role-plays, a sociodrama, a text, a comic book, methodological guides, and descriptions of participatory techniques. The resource section contains documentation on popular education methodology and experiences, and a list of groups contacted during the exchange program. (MSE) (Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education)

The United Nations' founding in 1945 and the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights reflected the international community's growing commitment to the protection and recognition of what is now referred to as human rights. Despite increased international attention, human rights violations continue to occur at the local, regional, national, and global levels. This unit introduces students to the concept of human rights and adds issues to that concept to heighten their awareness of the complexities of protecting human rights. Students are encouraged to consider multiple perspectives when discussing case studies from around the world. The unit introduction contains a rationale and introduction to lessons; unit goals; connections to curriculum standards; materials needed; time required; subjects and suggested grade levels; simulation overview; and icons. Lesson 1, "What Are Human Rights?" considers an appropriate definition of human rights. Lesson 2, "Minorities, Minority Rights, and Genocide," asks students to consider their personal experiences with discrimination and to develop a working definition of minorities and minority rights and then looks at genocide. Lesson 3, "Civil/Political Rights," asks students to identify civil/political rights issues and uses six real case studies to delve deeper into these issues. Lesson 4, "Women and Human Rights," asks students to reflect on gender stereotypes they may hold and to think about the origins of such assumptions. The lesson focuses on biological and socially constructed differences between males and females to examine why women may be more impacted by certain human rights violations than males. It uses case studies from Brazil, Nicaragua, and Honduras to discuss the feminization of poverty. The unit concludes with a "Unit Debriefing" that highlights contemporary controversies surrounding the protection of human rights. Appendices contain additional resources. (BT)

A methodology is presented which assists government decision makers in making cost analyses of ongoing and future educational projects. Part one develops the methodology in general terms, and part two illustrates its application by examining the cost structure of instructional radio and television projects in developing countries. Part three contains nine case studies in educational radio and television cost analysis: the Nicaraguan Radio Mathematics Project, the Mexican Radioprimaria; the El Salvador Instructional Television System, the Stanford Instructional Television System, the Hagerstown Instructional Television System, the Korean Elementary/Middle School Project, and the Mexican Telesecundaria. (CH)

Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) is a powerful, innovative methodology for teaching that provides an instructional template for the improvement of primary education in developing nations. Due to the low cost of radio technology and the prevalence of its use in economically deprived areas, IRI has proved successful in addressing four issues in basic education: relevance, equity, access, and effectiveness. IRI provides its audience with high quality standardized instruction and successfully teaches literacy and numeracy to children marginalized by poverty and geographic isolation. The effectiveness of the model depends on its systematic instructional design, which incorporates: (1) intensive daily lessons in the core curriculum; (2) continuous interaction between the learner and the radio teacher or teachers; (3) immediate reinforcement or correction of student responses; (4) a segmented program format allowing repeated exposure to new topics; and (5) a system of formative and summative evaluation. The successful development and implementation of a radio mathematics curriculum in Nicaragua, and a radio language arts curriculum in Kenya and the Dominican Republic set the stage for further development of IRI programs in other countries. (44 references) (DB)

These curricular units are designed to help Spanish students or bilingual students gain a better understanding of the history, geography, and culture of Nicaragua, Wisconsin's "sister state" in Central America. In its entirety, the bulletin can serve as the basis of a cultural mini-course. However, since each section is a self-contained unit, each can also be used separately in accordance with the needs of the local school program. The following units are presented with a reading selection and exercises: (1) an introduction to Nicaragua, (2) location and area, (3) geography, (4) rivers and lakes, (5) seasons, (6) population, (7) history, (8) Managua's earthquake of 1972, (9) the Nicaraguan schools, (10) the poet Ruben Dario, and (11) baseball. The beginning Spanish reading passages use the present tense while latter selections introduce the preterite and imperfect tenses. Most of the units can be presented during the first year of high school or college Spanish program. Texts in Spanish and English for the slides are included. (Author/NCR)

These publications were written for teachers to use with migrant children in elementary grades to highlight individual differences between the countries that make up the Americas by providing historical, geographical, and cultural information about them on a quarterly basis. The three issues presented here focus on nations of Central America with attention also to aspects of Black history. The table of contents in each issue indicates language--Spanish and/or English--in which articles are written. Each issue focuses on two or three Central American nations providing historic, geographic, economic, and cultural overviews for each. The Guatemala and Belize issue features interviews with two Guatemalan students and biographies of Pedro de Alvarado and General Justo Rufino Barrios. The El Salvador and Honduras issues include banana and plantain recipes, native songs, and the accomplishments of some Black pioneers in medicine. Features in the Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama issue include Nicaraguan recipes, the poetry of Ruben Dario, the Somoza family history, retrospectives by two educators from Panama, and Arthur Schomburg's contributions to Black history. Throughout the text are topic-related time-lines, word lists and word search puzzles. The magazines also employ maps, illustrations, activity pages, and an English language "math corner." (PM)

This curriculum guide presents materials for teaching about Central America and emphasizes the concepts of environment, culture, interdependence, and citizenship. The guide is designed to integrate the study of geographic, economic, historic, political, and social features of Central American nations. The major theme of the document deals with how Central American people have been affected by their environment as they have attempted to fulfill their basic needs. Subtheme A concerns the environment and culture. There are seven learning strategies to aid teachers in developing this theme. They include the use of maps, photographs, charts, and worksheets. Subtheme B deals with Central America's past and present. Nine teaching strategies are presented including investigations about U.S. policy in Central America, the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, and background about the Panama Canal. Subtheme C is a study of economic inequality among the peoples of Central America. There are five teaching strategies comparing the rich and poor of Central America, showing income distribution, and discussing U.S. aid to Central America. Subtheme D is a study of the diverse cultures of the region. Strategies are presented to study the music, arts, crafts, food, recreation, family life, and different religions of Central America. The curriculum guide also includes: (1) instructions on how to use the guide; (2) themes and time allotments for social studies; (3) guidelines on how to develop participation projects; (4) a content outline; (5) suggestions for integrating social studies with science; (6) vocabulary terms matched with subthemes and strategies; and (7) teacher strategies and student worksheets. (SM)

The Constitutional division of responsibility between the President and Congress for making foreign policy is the first of eight topics discussed in this magazine-style booklet. Major constitutional powers of Congress in foreign policy include the "power of the purse", and the power "to declare war". Major foreign policy powers of the President are serving as commander in chief of the army and navy, and making treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate. Treaty making was deliberately made cumbersome by the makers of the Constitution so alliances could not be entered into lightly. The second issue, "Defense and the Federal Deficit," is analyzed from the aspect of whether the United States can adequately defend itself with the across-the-board budget cuts under the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings bill. Issue three discusses how the status of relations with Egypt depends on whether the United States and Egypt can agree on policies concerning aid, the peace process in the Middle East, military cooperation, and terrorism. The challenge to the U.S. primacy in the Pacific Basin by the Soviet Union is discussed in issue four. The effect of a lower U.S. business profile and economic sanctions on the government of President P.W. Botha is analyzed in issue five on South Africa. In issue six, the topic of foreign investment in the U.S. is discussed. While U.S. cities welcome this investment, many citizens feel foreign ownership of U.S. businesses, banks, and real estate is out of control. Issues seven and eight deal with the invasion of Afghanistan and revolutions in Iran, Nicaragua, and the Philippines respectively. Numerous black and white photographs, cartoons, and other graphics as well as a fold-out map of the world are included. (SM)

Higher education is currently facing several challenges as a result of an uncertain environment. This has led to a demand from organisations for employees with an entrepreneurial, innovative, and risk-taking profile in a global environment. These traits are characteristic of the so-called intrapreneurs. This paper compares the intrapreneurial intentions of university students in Spain and Nicaragua by analysing the effect of the variables age, gender, previous professional experience and entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial training. Based on a total sample of 474 students, among the main results, we highlight the fact that Nicaraguan students have a higher assessment of innovation and risk-taking than Spanish students. In addition, age and professional experience are common variables that improve innovation and risk-taking for both groups. Although there is no gender gap among Nicaraguan students, in Spanish students women are rated lower than men.

Since 2018, the Daniel Ortega regime has led a systematic campaign of repression against Nicaragua's once-vibrant civil society. Now it is attacking the last sanctuary of dissent: the Catholic Church. The latest arrests of clerics in Nicaragua resulted in international outrage. Pope Francis, who had long remained silent on the situation in Nicaragua, expressed his sincere concerns. The comprehensive attacks against the Church are but another step in Ortega's tightening authoritarian grip on the country. Since 2018, when nationwide street protests erupted, repression has characterised daily life in Nicaragua. The regime's strategies of repression have evolved from indiscriminate violence against all stirrings of protest to more targeted forms of clamping down on dissent. Some 396 state-driven acts of aggression against the Church in Nicaragua have been reported since April 2018. At the time of writing, 11 clerics are under arrest, at least two have been expelled, eight were denied re-entry to the country, and various Church-run media outlets have been shut down. The Catholic Church had been the last space where protest against state repression was still voiced. Ortega's "Christian rebirth" in his 2006 electoral campaign was key to his return to power. The current wave of repression against the Church marks a break with this alliance. The recent wave of repression could backfire, with high costs for the government: in a predominantly Christian society, these attacks on the Church have caused indignation - even within the ruling party's own ranks. The Catholic Church needs to live up to its values and stand up to the Ortega regime. The European Union has imposed sanctions; however, it should pressure international organisations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to end loans to the regime that help stabilise its power. With universities having been closed, the EU should facilitate exiled Nicaraguan students finishing their degrees in Europe.

This thesis covers the methods and the goals of organizations located in Costa Rica working for the good of Nicaraguan citizens. Through a thematic analysis of 10 Facebook posts per 8 civil society organizations, four different themes within the posts were found: active action, cooperation, informing, and political speech. These themes as well as different extracts from the posts have together given a picture of the methods and goals of the organizations. Active action, cooperation and informing are used to see the methods of the organizations, while political speech and some cases of informing show the goals of the organizations. Through the extracts there are examples of what they do and why they do it. What has been found is that the organizations are different from each other in some respects. The organizations with a focus on Nicaraguans who are in Costa Rica have a higher count of posts using active action while those focusing on the situation in Nicaragua use more political speech. It has also been found that theories regarding the development of social movements, activism and peaceful disobedience can be used to understand the actions and the goals of the organizations.

Reproduction is a core question for the state, a site of struggle between the reproduction of the nation and the reproduction of liveable lives, especially for those citizens whose rights are rarely recognized in the first place. What role does the exceptionalisation of reproductive rights play in the reproduction of the nation-state? Nicaragua and Sweden are countries where debates about reproductive justice highlight tensions in the projection of a state that cares for its citizens. Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the Western hemisphere with one of the most repressive and punitive legislations on abortion in the world. Sweden with its reputation as a pioneering nation in matters of gender equality and reproductive justice. This chapter draws on a particular formulation of the centrality of the state in theories and practices of reproductive justice: the notion of the state as a parent with a particular responsibility to protect and foster, but also discipline and subjugate, its citizens. Political leaders, Fathers and Mothers of the Nation, form the discourse within which the state regulates its imagined children’s, the citizens, reproductive rights. As such the governance of reproduction is a vital aspect of the political fantasy about the nation-state and its futuriority.

Se analiza la evolución histórica de las distintas formas de protección social, a través de una síntesis de actualización bibliográfica, estableciendo las diferencias en las que se han organizado las respuestas a los diversos estados de necesidad, así como las tendencias que se perfilan. Comprendida la evolución, se identifica como en Nicaragua se han protegidos las diversas necesidades y contingencias sociales, caracterizando de manera holística el régimen general actual del seguro social nicaragüense, lo que permite un conocimiento científico sobre la lógica bajo la cual se configura su sistema., The historical evolution of the different forms of social protection is analyzed, through a synthesis of bibliographic update, establishing the differences in which the answers to the diverse states of need have been organized, as well as the trends that are outlined. Once the evolution is understood, it is identified how in Nicaragua the diverse needs and social contingencies have been protected, characterizing in a holistic way the current general regime of the Nicaraguan social security system, which allows a scientific knowledge about how its system is configured.

This paper aims to answer the question Why do some ceasefires de-escalate conflict better than others? By applying a theory-driven empirical comparative approach, a theoretical argument focused on compliance provisions is presented. The argument holds that more comprehensive compliance provisions in ceasefire agreements are more likely to de-escalate conflict than limited ones. The causal mechanism argues that more comprehensive compliance provisions will increase transparency and raise costs for non-compliance. This will result in an increase of trust between conflict parties, leading to greater de-escalation. The thesis studies two ceasefires, one in Colombia from 2017, and one in Nicaragua from 1990. Through a structured focused comparison, the study finds that the Nicaraguan ceasefire, which has more comprehensive compliance provisions, de-escalated violence more compared to the Colombian case, which has limited compliance provisions. Therefore, the study finds support for the hypothesis with the caveat that compliance provisions do not appear to influence agreement resilience for long-term goals in the agreements.

The exercise of jurisdiction over marine and submarine spaces has been a fundamental aspect of the geopolitics and the foreign policy of States. Today, international organisations are actors that can regulate, mediate, or judge the different disputes that arise on the interpretation of international norms that regulate these issues. To this extent, it is important to study how a decision by an international court can affect the geopolitics of a State with respect to its oceans. Considering this, this article seeks to describe the implications of the concept of the Integral Contiguous Zone (ZCI) in International Law and to conduct a case study on the provisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the sentence of the case “Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia)”, issued on April 21, 2022., El ejercicio de jurisdicción sobre los espacios marinos y submarinos ha sido un aspecto fundamental de la geopolítica y la política exterior de los Estados. Hoy en día, las organizaciones internacionales son actores que pueden reglamentar, mediar o juzgar las diferentes disputas que surjan sobre la interpretación de las normas internacionales que regulan estos temas. En esta medida, resulta importante estudiar cómo puede afectar una decisión de un tribunal internacional la geopolítica de un Estado con respecto a sus océanos. Teniendo en cuenta lo anterior, el presente artículo busca describir las implicaciones del concepto de Zona Contigua Integral (ZCI) en el derecho internacional y realizar un estudio de caso sobre lo dispuesto por la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ) en la sentencia del caso “Supuestas violaciones de derechos soberanos y espacios marítimos en el mar Caribe (Nicaragua vs. Colombia)”, emitida el 21 de abril de 2022.

Traducción no oficial cortesía del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores–Grupo de Asuntos ante la CIJ.

Esta investigación analiza la interrelación entre el sistema capitalista, colonialista y patriarcal, reflejado en la vida de mujeres trabajadoras de la industria textil y manufactura. Pone de relieve la explotación de las mujeres bajo la lógica capitalista colonial reforzada en roles y mandatos patriarcales, en las que el estado, la sociedad y la industria se benefician del tiempo y el trabajo de las mujeres del sur global. El trabajo de la maquila es considerado extenuante y precarizado, siendo la mayoría de sus trabajadoras mujeres en condiciones de pobreza, con responsabilidades de sustento económico y cuidado familiar. Las maquilas surgen en la crisis capitalista de los años 70, trasladando parte del proceso de confección de productos a países del sur global con bajos costos de mano de obra, proporcionando mayores ganancias a las empresas. Operan dentro de zonas francas, espacios con excepciones en leyes fiscales, laborales, migratorias, aduaneras y de propiedad. Entre las conclusiones preliminares: - En la cadena de producción capitalista las mujeres están en peores condiciones en relación a los hombres, y las mujeres racializadas del sur global más aún que las mujeres del norte global o los hombres racializados. - La deslocalización de la industria en el marco del sistema neoliberal, funciona como la neocolonización del sur global a través de la explotación y desecho de la mano de obra barata que genera riqueza y sostenimiento del sistema. - Las mujeres trabajadoras de la maquila son explotadas bajo el trabajo precario asalariado y por el trabajo doméstico y de cuidados que tienen que asumir ante la ausencia de responsabilidad de los hombres, el Estado y las empresas. - El sistema capitalista, colonialista y patriarcal se nutren y sostienen mutuamente bajo la invención de la raza y el género como organización natural de la sociedad.

Diarrhea remains a leading cause of death in children in developing countries, including Nicaragua, but little is known about patterns of diarrhea occurrence in Central America over long periods of time. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, long-term trends, and seasonality of diarrhea in children age 2 to 14 years in Managua, Nicaragua. From 2011 to 2019, we examined episodes of diarrhea among 6,485 children who participated in a prospective cohort study and presented for care in a primary care facility. We performed a longitudinal analysis considering time-varying variables and the intra-subject correlation of outcomes. In addition, we analyzed the weekly incidence of diarrhea, applying seasonal trend decomposition to extract secular and seasonal patterns. The overall incidence rate of diarrhea was 133.4 episodes per 1,000 person-years (95% CI, 128.3-138.7). We observed a slight increase in the incidence of diarrhea from 2011 to 2019. Younger age was the strongest predictor of the risk of diarrhea, and incidence increased with every additional hour without running water in the household per day. Diarrhea incidence in Managua was seasonal, with high peaks each year between May and July. Despite reductions in childhood mortality since 1990 in Nicaragua, diarrheal morbidity remains a major problem in Managua.

After the U.S. intervention, civil wars, and growing violence during the late 20th century, migration from the Central American countries to the U.S. increased rapidly in the 1980s, especially illegal migration. The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) granted Nicaraguans permanent residency, while the others could apply “only” for asylum or were not even mentioned. In this study, I use household data from the Latin American Migration Project survey to analyze which factors encouraged U.S. migration in the first place, which factors stimulated illegal border crossing, and whether the illegal status of Central American migrants was related to U.S. wages. I investigate El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua together and then separately to compare them. Using descriptive and empirical analysis, I find a positive selection of highly educated Nicaraguans in the U.S. In contrast, lower but not non-educated Guatemalans and Salvadorians self-select into migration. Guatemalans with prior labor experience are likely to migrate legally into their first migration. Guatemalans with a high-skilled occupational position prior to their last migration are likely to migrate legally, while Salvadorians with a high-skilled previous job are much more likely to migrate illegally, possibly due to their disadvantaged treatment under NACARA. The next result of Guatemalan and Salvadorian migrants being more likely to have an illegal status compared to Nicaraguan migrants confirms this. I find no significant relationship between U.S. wages and illegal status, possibly due to few observations.

Este libro presenta casos de experimentos sociales en El Salvador, Nicaragua, y Uruguay. En estos espacios, donde florecía la comunicación horizontal y multi-clasista, el concepto de utopías menores de Jay Winter es apropiado. Este ensayo toma inspiración de esa obra importante de Winter, rastreando lo que él llama las "visiones de transformación parcial", que coexistían temporalmente con las grandes narrativas de transformación social, pero después perdieron su lugar propio en el record histórico. Trabajadores agrícolas en Chinandega, minifundistas en Morazán, y obreros fabriles en Montevideo, en medio de graves crisis sociales-económicas y políticas conquistaron espacios para defenderse, pero también de crear nuevas relaciones sociales y una experiencia de trabajo colectiva y libertadora.

In this article we discuss the comparative impact and significance of Community-Oriented Policing (COP) in Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua). We emphasize in particular the formal role of COP as a means to re-establish trust between the state and community, demonstrate professionalism and to evidence the democratic accountability of the police to the population. Although these formal goals remain the goal of community oriented policing, we demonstrate in this article that there has been an increased emphasis on more kinetic or militarized forms of policing in recent years. Hard handed, heavily armed and interventionist police policies have spread from El Salvador to Guatemala, and more recently Nicaragua. Moves towards more aggressive policing are explained by governments and police forces as a necessary response to the rising threat of gangs and drug cartels and horrifying levels of homicide statistics. However, as we highlight there is also evidence of these changes reflecting undemocratic shifts within national administrations and the repositioning of people within government and national institutions with links to these countries' earlier military governments.The net effect of these changes we argue is to erode the intentions of COP initiatives, and severely reduce levels of trust and accountability between people and the democratic state.

While the market for sustainably certified products grows, the debate on whether smallholder farmers benefit from this certification movement is far from over. We present empirical findings across three continents. Identical household surveys were conducted among 738 smallholder coffee farmers organized in primary cooperatives in Ethiopia, India and Nicaragua. The comparative analysis which is based on the propensity score matching approach shows that the impacts of Fairtrade certification on coffee yields and income vary across countries. In Ethiopia, the coffee farmers from Fairtrade certified cooperatives fare worse than their non-certified counterparts both in coffee yield and income. In the Indian case study, the Fairtrade cooperative members have yield and price advantages over the non-certified farmers. This has in turn led to higher net revenue from coffee for certified farmers. In Nicaragua, coffee farmers from Fairtrade and double (Fairtrade-Organic) certified cooperatives also benefit in terms of net revenue but there is no statistically significant effect on yield and household income. A comparison of the Fairtrade minimum floor price and the weight-equivalent Fairtrade cooperative price in the three countries shows that Nicaraguan Fairtrade certified farmers have obtained a higher average price than the Fairtrade mandated minimum price, whereas in Ethiopia the certified farmers received a much lower price. In India, the certified average price was closer to the minimum floor price. We conclude that coffee cooperatives and the motivation and capability of their staff play a central role in training their member farmers about each aspect of coffee growing and certification.

The objective is to evaluate the level of implementation of integrated marketing communications (CIM) in female enterprises in the fashion sector in Nicaragua, as a dynamic activity of the creative economy in the country, in order to identify their strengths and communication needs. For this, a methodology based on the application of a questionnaire adapted and supported by the scale of Lee and Park (2007) was used. The questionnaire was applied to the sample of members of the Nicaraguan Business Women Network (REN) who carry out their activity in companies related to the textile, fashion, footwear and accessories sector. The results show an incipient implementation of the CIM and demonstrate communication needs in key areas for the survival of these enterprises. Due to the lack of empirical studies in this area, it is intended to provide a first analysis that serves as a starting point for future work, and that contributes to a better understanding of a dynamic and complex sector and to the strengthening of the role of women in the enterprises of the country., El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el nivel de implementación de las comunicaciones integradas de marketing (CIM) en los emprendimientos femeninos del sector moda en Nicaragua, como actividad dinamizadora de la economía creativa en el país, con el fin de identificar sus fortalezas y necesidades comunicativas. Para ello, se utilizó una metodología basada en la aplicación de un cuestionario adaptado y sustentado en la escala de Lee y Park (2007). El cuestionario fue aplicado a la muestra de socias de la Red de Mujeres Empresarias de Nicaragua (REN) que desarrollan su actividad en empresas relacionadas con el sector textil, moda, calzado y complementos. Los resultados muestran una implementación incipiente de las CIM y evidencian necesidades comunicativas en áreas clave para la supervivencia de estos emprendimientos. Dada la escasez de estudios empíricos en este ámbito, se pretende aportar un primer análisis que sirva como punto de partida para futuros trabajos, y que contribuya a la mejor comprensión de un sector dinámico y complejo y al fortalecimiento del rol de la mujer en los emprendimientos del país.

The pandemic situation caused by Coronavirus, declared by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2020) in March 2020, could slow down and delay progress in maternal mortality death, which is expected to be reduced to less than 70 deaths per 100 thousand live births (Nv) by 2030, according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN, 2015) target 3.1. From 1990 to 2017, the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR), decreased by 45 percentage points, from 385 to 211 deaths, however, it is still very high and predominant in poor countries with accentuated social inequalities (WHO, 2017). In sub-Saharan Africa, the risk of death from this cause, is 1 in 37 women, while in the developed regions of Europe, New Zealand, Australia and North America, this ratio is 1 in 7,800 women. These contrasts are also noticed within countries, in Nicaragua 6 out of 10 maternal deaths (59%), occur in vulnerable groups, with high incidence of extreme poverty (MINSA, 2018). This pandemic challenges the continuity of global development. Its impact in Nicaragua is minor, compared to countries in the Americas, as of November 2021 totaling 16,877 cases and 209 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2021). However, the effect on the country’s economy will be colossal and could hold back its development, with estimated losses of U$29.5 million (2018-2023), 2.3 times the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of 2020 (Government of Nicaragua, 2021). This opinion article makes an exploratory analysis of the effect that the coronavirus will have on the evolution of maternal mortality in Nicaragua. Data from United Nations organizations and official sources in the country, processed through Microsoft Excel software, are used., La situación de la pandemia causada por el Coronavirus, declarada por la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS, 2020) en marzo de 2020, podría frenar y retrasar el progreso en el deceso de la mortalidad materna, que se espera reducir a menos de 70 defunciones por cada 100 mil nacidos vivos (Nv) para el año 2030, según la meta 3.1 del objetivo de desarrollo sostenible de las Naciones Unidas (ONU, 2015). De 1990 a 2017, la razón de mortalidad materna mundial (RMM), descendió en 45 puntos porcentuales, pasando de 385 a 211 muertes, sin embargo, aún es muy alta y predomina en los países pobres con acentuadas desigualdades sociales (OMS, 2017). En África subsahariana, el riesgo de muerte por esta causa, es de 1 en 37 mujeres, mientras en las regiones desarrolladas de Europa, Nueva Zelanda, Australia y Norteamérica, esta relación es de 1 en 7,800 mujeres. Estos contrastes también se advierten a lo interno de los países, en Nicaragua 6 de cada 10 muertes maternas (59%), ocurren en grupos vulnerables, con alta incidencia de extrema pobreza (MINSA, 2018). Esta pandemia desafía la continuidad del desarrollo mundial. Su impacto en Nicaragua es leve, comparado con países de las Américas, a noviembre de 2021 totalizaron 16,877 casos y 209 fallecidos, según la Universidad Johns Hopkins (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2021). Sin embargo, el efecto en la economía del país será colosal y podría contener su desarrollo, con pérdidas estimadas en U$29.5 millones (2018-2023), 2.3 veces el producto interno bruto (PIB) nominal de 2020 (Gobierno de Nicaragua, 2021). Este artículo de opinión hace un análisis exploratorio del efecto que el coronavirus tendrá en la evolución de la mortalidad materna en Nicaragua. Se utilizan datos de las organizaciones de Naciones Unidas y fuentes oficiales del país, procesadas a través de software Microsoft Excel.

Background: Norovirus and sapovirus cause a large burden of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in young children. We assessed protection conferred by norovirus and sapovirus AGE episodes against future episodes. Methods: Between June 2017 and July 2018, we recruited 444 newborns in León, Nicaragua. Weekly household surveys identified AGE episodes over 36 months, and AGE stools were tested by reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for norovirus genogroup (G)I/GII and sapovirus. We used recurrent-event Cox models and negative control methods to estimate protection conferred by first episodes, controlling for observed and unobserved risk factors, respectively. Results: Sapovirus episodes conferred a 69% reduced hazard of subsequent episodes using the negative control method. Norovirus GI (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.31, 1.3) and GII (HR = 0.20; 95% CI = 0.04, 0.44) episodes also appeared highly protective. Protection against norovirus GII was enhanced following two episodes. Conclusions: Evidence of natural immunity in early childhood provides optimism for the future success of pediatric norovirus and sapovirus vaccines.

Introduction: Health is loaded with symbolisms and practical manifestations that differ according to social groups and sociocultural contexts. In order to make everyday life and needs visible, the Theoretical Paradigm of Social Representations provides the theoretical-methodological bases necessary to understand the common sense knowledge associated with health among the Nicaraguan migrant population in Costa Rica. Methodology: Qualitative study with ethnographic approach that aimed to identify the social representation of health, through the process of objectification, present among Nicaraguan migrants living in Costa Rica. Data collected through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and field diaries. Processing according to Content Analysis. Results: The social representation of health found behaves analogously to a formula; where, the search for peaceful environments is added to the achievement of financial stability to result in two interdependent representations: 1) Health as physical-mental strength; and 2) Health as a future and abstract sensation of well-being, happiness and transcendence. The socio-political antecedents in Nicaragua, the migratory process, and the adaptation to Costa Rica play a preponderant role in shaping the representation on health. Conclusion: Social representations about health have direct practical implications on the ways of life and needs of migrant groups. Understanding their common sense knowledge allows to move towards more contextualized public policies. More integration of the thoughts, opinions and feelings of migrants in decision-making platforms is recommended., Introducción: la salud está cargada de simbolismos y manifestaciones prácticas que difieren según los grupos sociales y los contextos socioculturales. Con el fin de visibilizar la cotidianidad y las necesidades, el paradigma teórico de las representaciones sociales aporta las bases teórico-metodológicas pertinentes para comprender los conocimientos de sentido común asociados a la salud entre la población migrante nicaragüense en Costa Rica. Metodología: estudio de abordaje cualitativo y enfoque etnográfico con el fin de identificar la representación social de la salud por medio de los procesos de la objetivación y el anclaje presentes entre las personas migrantes nicaragüenses radicadas en Costa Rica. Datos recolectados por medio de entrevistas semiestructuradas, observación participante y diarios de campo. Procesamiento según análisis de contenido. Resultados: la representación social de la salud hallada se comporta de manera análoga a una fórmula, en donde la búsqueda de ambientes pacíficos se suma a la consecución de estabilidad financiera para dar como resultado dos representaciones interdependientes: 1) salud como fuerza físico-mental y 2) salud como sensación futura y abstracta de bienestar, felicidad y trascendencia. Los antecedentes socio-políticos en Nicaragua, el proceso migratorio, y la adaptación a Costa Rica juegan un rol preponderante en dicha conformación. Conclusión: las representaciones sociales sobre la salud poseen implicaciones prácticas directas sobre los modos de vida y las necesidades de los colectivos migrantes. Comprender su conocimiento de sentido común permite avanzar hacia políticas públicas más contextualizadas. Se recomienda mayor integración de los pensamientos, las opiniones y los sentimientos de las personas migrantes en plataformas de toma de decisiones.

Based on the consultation of journalistic material, such as editorials, opinion articles and reports, this paper aims to analyze and describe the way in which the counterrevolution was (re)represented in the pages of the newspaper La Nación. and the weekly magazines Universidad and Libertad. It is proposed as a starting point for the discussion that the Costa Rican written press was in charge of using a type of propaganda discourse, which was in charge of favoring or disfavoring the antiSandinistas depending on the political-ideological position of the newspapers. Thus, far from explaining what happened in Nicaragua, the press was concerned with attacking, through discourse, those who were considered the other, the threat. Similarly, it is proposed that in a context of the Cold War, the ways in which to refer to Nicaraguans were resignified., A partir de la consulta de material periodístico, como lo es el caso de editoriales, artículos de opinión y reportajes, este trabajo se propone analizar y describir la manera en que se (re)representaba la contrarrevolución en las páginas del diario La Nación y los semanarios Universidad y Libertad. Se plantea como punto de partida de la reflexión que la prensa escrita costarricense se encargó de utilizar un tipo de discurso propagandístico, el cual se encargó de favorecer o desfavorecer a los antisandinistas según la posición político-ideológica de los rotativos. Así, lejos de dar explicaciones sobre lo sucedido en Nicaragua, la prensa se preocupó por atacar, a través del discurso, a aquellos que eran considerados como el otro, la amenaza. De igual manera, se propone que en un contexto de Guerra Fría se resignificaron las maneras empleadas para referirse a los nicaragüenses.

Political Fantasy or Necessity? Polish Colonial Plans in Portuguese Africa, Nicaragua, Bolivia and EcuadorIn interwar Poland some institutions intended to solve part of the country’s economic and ethnic problems by acquiring colonies abroad. Accordingly, the Polish Foreign Ministry as well as special institutions such as the Union of Colonial Pioneers and the Maritime and Colonial League undertook some projects. Poland, a member of the victorious Entente, was supposedly entitled to ca. 10% of the area of the former German colonies (e.g. in Cameroon or Togo), which could be administered independently or as a condominium with one of the colonial powers. These plans were made more specific in the mid-1930s.Argentina and Brazil, as well as Madagascar, were considered to be natural goals of Polish emigration policies. Then Poland became interested in settlements in the colonial dominions of Portugal in Africa, i.e. Angola and Mozambique, and some time later, also in some countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. As for Bolivia, the aim was to send as many Ukrainians as possible to the mountainous area of Todos dos Santos (Province of Cochabamba). Places in the vicinity of the town of Ibera in Ecuador were also considered by the Polish authorities as suitable for settlers, predominantly from Poland’s eastern borderlands. In the region of Encarnacion in Paraguay, a colony called Fram was established in the 1930s. Nicaragua, too, was considered a convenient place for Polish colonisation, following an effort undertaken by the Polish businessman Stanisław Czarnocki, who was a personal acquaintance of the local dictator, the famous Anastasio Somoza senior. According to some unreliable rumours, Dominica was supposedly ready to accept some hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews.All in all, these Polish colonial ambitions were unsuccessful, mainly due to the lack of sufficient Polish state power to make them into reality.

Narrative journalism usually narrates all kinds of stories and news events, includingtravel chronicles, which over time have been written by writers and journalists. Inthese texts, narrativity and the use of literary figures, which serve to provide nuanceand enhancement artistic to the chronicle. Some representatives of this type ofnarration are Bartolomé de las Casas, Pedro Cieza de Leon, Stendhal, Honore deBalzac, Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus. The objectives of this study are toanalyze, compare and establish the style and tools of narrative journalism used bytwo chronicles that belong to literary journalism, and that correspond to two authorsLatin Americans: Alma Guillermoprieto, contemporary author and Rubén Darío, authormodernist. They are two chronicles that describe their experiences and what it meansfor them. Each one the trip to Nicaragua (Central American country), a journey thatoccurs in times different. This research is descriptive-comparative, non-experimentaland qualitative. The content analysis technique is used and its instrument is the analysismatrix. The population equals the sample: a chronicle of each author., El periodismo narrativo suele contar todo tipo de historias y eventos de carácter noticioso, entre ellos, las crónicas de viaje, que a lo largo del tiempo han sido escritas por literatos y periodistas. En las crónicas predomina la narratividad y el empleo de figuras literarias, las cuales sirven para proporcionarle matiz y realce artístico al texto. Algunos representantes de este tipo de narraciones son Bartolomé de las Casas, Pedro Cieza de León, Stendhal, Honoré de Balzac, Ernest Hemingway y Albert Camus. En este estudio se plantean los objetivos de analizar, comparar y establecerel estilo y las herramientas del periodismo narrativo que utilizan dos crónicas que pertenecen al periodismo literario, y que corresponden a dos autores latinoamericanos :Alma Guillermo Prieto, autora contemporánea y Rubén Darío, autor modernista. Son dos crónicas que describen sus experiencias y lo que significa para cada uno el viaje a Nicaragua (país centroamericano), travesía que ocurre en épocas diferentes. Esta investigación es descriptiva-comparativa, no experimental y cualitativa. Se emplea la técnica de análisis de contenido y su instrumento es la matriz de análisis. La población es igual a la muestra: una crónica de cada autor.

In this article, the author seeks to open discussions regarding the role of the government of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997) in dealing with the legacy of violence in the Sandinista revolution in order to continue generating explanations about the systematic nature of political violence in the country and its weight in democratization until the civil explosion of 2018. For this, various “skillful speeches” of the Chamorro government are analyzed through which a “framed” institutional memory was established. Concluding with the proposal of “dimensioning” violence, making note of various tasks to democratize Nicaraguan memory., Neste artigo, o autor busca abrir discussões sobre o papel do governo de Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997) ao lidar com o legado da violência na revolução sandinista para continuar gerando explicações sobre a natureza sistemática da violência política no país e seu peso na democratização até a explosão civil de 2018. Para isso, são analisados diversos “discursos hábeis” do governo Chamorro por meio dos quais se estabeleceu uma memória institucional “enquadrada”. O "dimensionamento" da violência é a proposta com a qual se conclui, anotando várias tarefas para democratizar a memória nicaraguense., En este artículo el autor busca abrir las discusiones respecto del papel del gobierno de Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1997) en la tramitación del legado de violencia en la revolución sandinista a fin de seguir generando explicaciones sobre la sistematicidad de la violencia política en el país y su peso en la democratización hasta la explosión civil de 2018. Para esto se analizan los diversos “discursos hábiles” del gobierno Chamorro a través de los cuales se instauró una memoria “encuadrada”, institucional. El “dimensionamiento” de la violencia es la propuesta con la que se concluye, anotándose diversas tareas para democratizar la memoria nicaragüense.

Tomando como punto de partida el caso de imágenes referentes a los procesos revolucionarios en Nicaragua y El Salvador durante la década de 1980, el presente artículo reflexiona sobre antecedentes en la historia de las revoluciones, donde la incorporación de los niños no solo fue una realidad, sino también un elemento simbólico asociado a la idea de liberación en pos de una transformación social duradera en el tiempo. De este modo el texto analiza y busca situar la figura del niño combatiente dentro de las narrativas visuales revolucionarias y de liberación en la historia reciente de Occidente.

The provision of external state support to non-state armed groups in civil wars is a dynamic process. The calculus of state sponsors varies over time, which means that assistance provided to the armed opposition fluctuates. While we know much about the initiation of external support and its effects, we know less about why state sponsorship changes over time. To address this, I propose a theoretical argument that can account for policy adjustments over time. The theory builds on the notion that leaders change their support commitment when there is adverse feedback and that support increases as long as the causes of policy failure can be attributed to external actors, while cutbacks occur when failure is attributed to the state sponsor’s own actions. Process-tracing is used to illustrate the value of this framework in a within-case analysis of the United States’ support commitment to the armed opposition in Nicaragua in the 1980s. The study demonstrates the utility of focusing on shifts in leaders’ perceptions and domestic attribution processes rather than structural features of the international system or rebel behavior to understand temporal variation in external support.

A growing body of literature has argued for the reconceptualization of Latin America as a settler colony. Contrary to the self-proclaimed decolonization of Latin American states upon their independence two centuries ago, the settlers who came to Latin America stayed and preserved the structure of settler colonialism to the present day. This article analyzes the case of Nicaragua through the conceptual frame of settler colonialism and examines an apt case study: the Indigenous and Afrodescendant communities of the Rama-Kriol Territory in southeastern Nicaragua, where I have conducted activist ethnographic research since 2014. The ongoing colonization of the Rama-Kriol Territory exhibits not only failures of the state to enforce legal protections of multicultural rights, but also the extension of a colonial logic of dispossession and elimination. The case of the Rama-Kriol Territory demonstrates the entanglements of Nicaraguan settler colonialism with international institutions, development banks, multinational corporations, and settler colonial projects around the world. I conclude that social science researchers should attend to continuing and emergent forms of Indigenous sovereignty in Nicaragua. Amid the fading backdrop of liberal multiculturalism in Latin America, these assertions of sovereignty pose a political horizon of decolonization and an end to settler violence, dispossession, and domination.

The mosquito Aedes aegypti transmits arboviral diseases at extraordinary rates. Dengue alone afflicts 50 to 100 million people each year, with more than 3 billion at risk globally. This indicated that current approaches to prevention and control are inadequate, and that a paradigm shift from one that largely promotes vertical chemical-based control and vaccine development to one that also concentrates on eliminating the mosquito through actions by the communities it plagues is necessary. We have developed a new platform, DengueChat (denguechat. org), to advance community interventions in arbovirus vector control. It is an interactive social and software platform combining open-source digital communication technologies with face-to-face assemblies. It promotes resident participation in evidence collection, reporting, and analysis, and it incorporates pedagogic information, key messaging, and game concepts to motivate communities to implement vector reduction strategies. Using DengueChat, we conducted a 19-month pilot study in five neighborhoods of Managua, Nicaragua. The results strongly suggest that using the software produced value-added features that enhance community engagement. We measured the entomological and behavioral impacts at different time points and relative risk reduction of entomological indices at the end of the study. The entomological results showed significant risk reductions in disease transmission; Ae. aegypti larvae and pupae indices were reduced by approximately 44% in neighborhoods using DengueChat during one season, whereas control neighborhoods experienced an increase of more than 500%. A cluster permutation test determined that the probability of household positivity was significantly reduced in neighborhoods that participated in DengueChat compared with the reference neighborhoods (P50.0265). Therefore, DengueChat is a promising resource for vector control.

The mosquito Aedes aegypti transmits arboviral diseases at extraordinary rates. Dengue alone afflicts 50 to 100 million people each year, with more than 3 billion at risk globally. This indicated that current approaches to prevention and control are inadequate, and that a paradigm shift from one that largely promotes vertical chemical-based control and vaccine development to one that also concentrates on eliminating the mosquito through actions by the communities it plagues is necessary. We have developed a new platform, DengueChat (denguechat.org), to advance community interventions in arbovirus vector control. It is an interactive social and software platform combining open-source digital communication technologies with face-to-face assemblies. It promotes resident participation in evidence collection, reporting, and analysis, and it incorporates pedagogic information, key messaging, and game concepts to motivate communities to implement vector reduction strategies. Using DengueChat, we conducted a 19-month pilot study in five neighborhoods of Managua, Nicaragua. The results strongly suggest that using the software produced value-added features that enhance community engagement. We measured the entomological and behavioral impacts at different time points and relative risk reduction of entomological indices at the end of the study. The entomological results showed significant risk reductions in disease transmission; Ae. aegypti larvae and pupae indices were reduced by approximately 44% in neighborhoods using DengueChat during one season, whereas control neighborhoods experienced an increase of more than 500%. A cluster permutation test determined that the probability of household positivity was significantly reduced in neighborhoods that participated in DengueChat compared with the reference neighborhoods (P50.0265). Therefore, DengueChat is a promising resource for vector control.

In this dissertation, I examine the works of Rub�n Dar�o (1867-1916) and Sergio Ram�rez (b. 1942) with the goal of determining their contributions to the construction and representation of sound, music, and sound technology in twentieth-century Nicaragua literature. I consider: 1) the sounds and music represented in their works; 2) the listening practices they establish through prose and poetry; and 3) the social, economic, and cultural contexts of these sonic representations. My study builds on the work of earlier scholars such as Erika Lorenz, Cathy L. Jrade, and Stephan Henighan who explored music and sound in Dar�o’s and Ram�rez’s literary works, yet considered them primarily from philological, philosophical, or formal perspectives. In contrast, the approach I develop in this dissertation is rooted in Sound Studies. By becoming more attentive to a wider array of sounds in Dar�o’s and Ram�rez’s works and their representative meaning, I am able to offer new pathways toward understanding these authors’ methods of curating, listening to, and describing sound.In the three chapters of this dissertation, I explore three different aspects of sound representation in twentieth-century Nicaraguan literature and poetry. In the first, I evaluate Dar�o’s short stories and one essay, identifying two listening patterns that inform his sound descriptions. I note that he rejects modern city noise in favor of the sound of “beautiful” music as a way of escaping from imperial and neocolonial aggression in Central America. In this chapter, I document Dar�o creating a sonic archive for modernismo. In the second chapter, I explore select poems by Dar�o to trace how he listens to and sonically imagines Central American landscapes, seascapes, animals, and Greek antiquity. I then compare Dar�o’s sonic archive with the materialized sounds in the concert march Luis A. Delgadillo wrote for Dar�o’s funeral, which represents a critical moment in which imagined sounds were realized in a concert