Green Empowerment

Green Empowerment has worked since 2006 with northern Nicaraguans to combat poverty and deforestation by integrating renewable energy and agroforestry.  A project grant in 2014 of $7,700 from AllPeoplebeHappy foundation was a part of a major project with several partners to establish demonstrative sustainable farms in the community of La Camaleona.  The project created tree nurseries, built fenced pastures, established poultry farms, cultivated shade-grown coffee, and planted native hardwood trees and grains to prevent erosion, recover soil health, and strengthen watershed management.  The project took place over a period of 15 months in 2014-2016, with a total budget of $31,350.  A second project grant of $10,000 was awarded in 2016 to provide potable water and sanitation for 4 indigenous communities in Esmeraldo, Ecuador.  The project provided for the building of centralized water systems using shallow borehole wells, concrete tank foundations, HDPE tanks with biosand filtration, and public tap-stands.  This resulted in 8 taps for San Salvador, 4 taps for Balzar, 6 taps for Mono Manso, and 7 taps for San Jose.  The sanitation effort resulted in the building of multiple composting latrines for the communities.  In 2017, a grant of $7,900 was awarded for a project entitled “Improved Sanitation for Pueblo Amado, Jinotega, Nicaragua.”  The project involves the building and installing of 100 ventilated latrines, and conducting workshops to provide hygiene and sanitation training to the community.  In 2018, a project grant of $10,000 was awarded for the San Miguel de Kilambe Portable Water Project, which provided 1800 people in Jinotega, Nicaragua with metered, household access to potable water.  In 2019, a project grant of $10,000 is constructing latrines and a centralized gravity distribution potable water system with metered individual connections to 40 households in the village of Piedra, Ecuador.   (www.greenempowerment.org)