Ofelia Cerrato

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. In a country where 37% of rural people have no safe drinking water (UNICEF) and 47% of the forest cover has disappeared over the last 50 years (UN Food and Agriculture Organization), these water, sanitation, and reforestation programs are a critical way to improve the living standards of the rural poor while conserving environmental resources. El Porvenir works in remote rural villages that lack access to most basic services and are too small to receive assistance from other organizations. In general, communities are formed of subsistence farmers or day laborers who live in extreme poverty, surviving on $35-70/month.