About CEPAD

Cultivating Hope in Communities

(The following is quoted from materials produced by CEPAD)

CEPAD works to serve more than seventy impoverished communities across Nicaragua through programs that promote justice, peace and equitable solidarity with the aim of empowering people to carry out their own development.

CEPAD is a Christian non-profit, non-partisan association of social concern. It is comprised of denominations, Christian institutions and departmental pastoral committees that confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and desire to live out the gospel through service to others. This takes place within a spirit of respect and non-discrimination on the basis of gender, race, nationality, political ideology or religion.

CEPAD came into being on the 27th December 1972, following the earthquake that destroyed the city of Managua. As an organization of churches and pastors, its main aim was to attend to the immediate needs of the victims. Its volunteers comforted the affected families and served 35,000 breakfasts daily through community feeding centers. No one imagined that it would last longer than three months. But rather than disband, CEPAD’s work gained momentum, bringing together twenty Protestant denominations that previously did not work together.

During the thirty-three years of its history, CEPAD has experienced working under the Somoza government, the Sandinista revolutionaries, and the neo liberal governments, receiving varied epithets and diverse opinions on the ministry as it has developed. However, the prophetic voice apparent at each point in time has demonstrated that the Lord has been guiding this institution.

Today, seven programs including a radio station make up CEPAD’s ministry to facilitate strengthening the capacity and self-advocacy of thirty-three organized communities, 206 Peace Commissions, and 120 pastoral groups throughout Nicaragua, using social promotion and community organization. It works less-intensively with forty-five additional communities.

The Nicaraguan Context

Nicaragua is a country wealthy in human and natural resources, but highly indebted and impoverished. More than 70% of Nicaraguans live in poverty, and a third of Nicaraguan children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition. The majority of the employable population is under- or unemployed.

Farmhouse in rural Nicaragua Within this context of poverty and unemployment there is little access to education. Annually, 800,000 children do not attend school. Only 36% of those who begin elementary school - 9% in the rural areas - complete their first six years of formal education.

These poverty indicators are caused in part by Nicaragua’s high foreign debt. Further exacerbated by a lack of foreign investment and the common occurrence of natural disasters, Nicaragua - the Land of Lakes and Volcanoes - is not a land of opportunity. In an effort to cultivate hope, CEPAD’s ministry seeks to accompany individuals and communities in their struggle for self-improvement.

CEPAD founder Dr. Gustavo Parajon (left) and CEPAD Executive Director Damaris Albuquerque (right) at CEPAD’s Managua office.

CEPAD's Vision

A Christian institution working to serve poor communities, promoting justice, peace and equitable solidarity with the aim of improving quality of life.

CEPAD's Mission

CEPAD is a Christian organization answering God's call to stand with and serve poor communities by means of development programs, emergency relief and by promoting just relationships between men and women.

CEPAD’s Programs

1. Environmental Management and Development

Nicaragua is a land rich in natural resources, yet the economic difficulties faced by many have led to exploitation and resulting environmental damage. CEPAD seeks to promote the rational use and defense of natural resources among small-scale agricultural workers by training beneficiaries in techniques of organic and sustainable agriculture. In this way it hopes to put an end to certain destructive traditional farming methods and enable people to get the best out of their land. The program also organizes and trains peasant farmers in marketing skills so that they are able to market their products efficiently.

2. Comprehensive Family Development

CEPAD has always worked hard to overcome the cultural ‘machismo’ that diminishes the role and capacity of women. Through educational programs that teach women and youth about their rights and the provision of psycho-social development for children in rural and urban communities through child-care programs, CEPAD promotes the equal status of men and women and contributes to the strengthening of the family unit.

The Patio Project is a training model consisting of small animal breeding and garden programs. Women participating in the Patio Project receive training from CEPAD technicians over three years in how to manage their projects. After the first year they receive credit amounting to US $200 in the form of animals and materials – for example, a pig, rooster, several chickens, fruit trees, fencing, a chicken coop, and assorted seeds. These resources enable women to produce their own food and increase the standard of living of their families.

3. Political Advocacy Education

During the 1980s, CEPAD supported the formation of Peace Commissions of community leaders, both Catholic and Protestant, to work for reconciliation between Sandinistas and Contras in Nueva Guinea. Today, the Peace Commissions serve as human rights monitors and help with property disputes, crime, and family issues in Nueva Guinea and Jinotega. The Commissions also provide conflict resolution training and orient Nicaraguan citizens to legal processes regarding land disputes.

CEPAD seeks to promote political awareness and consciousness among Nicaraguans and to encourage them to be active in lobbying their government and local authorities for change. It works to educate community development committees and peace commissions on laws protecting the separation of church and state, food security, and citizen participation. It also teaches their members skills to be advocates for the application of these and other laws key to democracy and development in Nicaragua.

4. Theological Education by Extension

In 2001, Rafael Cesar Vargas, an evangelical pastor in Nicaragua’s Church of God, participated in a Theological Extension Education Program (TEEP) workshop to learn how to teach others about the book of Revelations. After completing the course, Rafael said he had gained a broader understanding of God’s word and felt a greater pastoral responsibility to share his knowledge. Rafael also says that the training awakened in him the desire to prepare himself theologically every day - which he sees as an urgent need in Nicaragua’s Protestant churches. Rafael feels that only by going deeper in studying the scriptures, can one understand the dimensions of God’s love and revelation for us. Consequently, he has formed two self-study groups in the region of Nueva Guinea and has taught several TEEP courses.

Rafael’s story is just one example of the success of this program. Throughout Nicaragua, people in communities want theological training, but it is not readily accessible. TEEP brings this training to the communities, offering courses for pastors and other leaders, enabling them to teach others in subjects ranging from women’s ministries, to the Protestant Reformation, to tithing.

5. Educating for Life

In 1983 the first school for extension education was formed in CEPAD. A total of forty adult students enrolled for first-year secondary education that year – most of them church leaders, pastors and community leaders. The underlying purpose of this program was to help the students to give better attention to their communities and churches, and so that they would be able to continue in theological education or another profession.

By 1985 this first extension education program offered all levels of secondary school, from year one through five. The program was then extended to three other regions, where it continues to operate. Through this extension education program, CEPAD has provided the opportunity to study for a sector of the population who otherwise would find it difficult to finish their academic education.

Students must engage actively in their own educational process, studying independently during the week and meeting in the classroom once a week with fellow students and their teacher. In five years, students receive their diplomas, which are recognized by the Ministry of Education.

In addition to extension education CEPAD offers regular high school education to students in two of the regions where the program operates.

6. Nehemiah

The Nehemiah Office is an educational center in Managua that facilitates visiting delegations from abroad and is used for meetings and conferences by many groups in Nicaragua. The focus of the delegation program is on cultivating understanding between the North and Nicaragua. It emphasizes learning about one another’s reality and developing a human connection among diverse groups of people by hosting educational and service delegations, facilitating covenant relationships, and bringing people together in the center. In 2004, the Nehemiah Program contributed $15,000 to support CEPAD’s other community development programs. would like more information about the Nehemiah Program, including how to visit Nicaragua on a short-term delegation, please contact the CEPAD Nehemiah program staff at partners@cepad.org.ni for complete information about the program.

7. Radio CEPAD

CEPAD Radio broadcasts on 1120 AM, serving the Pacific and Central regions of Nicaragua with news, analysis, Christian music, and family programs. It can be heard by about two-thirds of the Nicaraguan population. CEPAD Radio is also a means of raising the awareness and consciousness of people in Nicaragua in the face of their political, economic and social realities. It is a self-sustainable program and leaders of CEPAD hope that between 2004-2008 it will become a source of income generation for other CEPAD programs.

Learn more about CEPAD Programs at the CEPAD website.

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