Evaluation of the project “Futuro en Nuestras Manos”

Background

The project "Futuro en Nuestras Manos" initiated activities in 2004, and finishes in 2006. The objective of the project is to provide technical assistance to five communities in Villa del Carmen in order to create a local organisation socially and financially sustainable, through strengthening local leadership processes. The project has been implemented by FMM in partnership with the DF.The Foundation Manolo Morales provides technical assistance in microfinance and social organisation for the involvement of local communities in the social control. The cooperative Horizontes del Sur in Villa del Carmen, became the main result of the project "Future in our hands". The cooperative represents the local organisation in these five communities.

Purpose/objective

The objective of this evaluation is to identify the main achievements so far, as well as, the self management potential of the cooperative Horizontes del Sur. Additionally, the evaluation will provide concrete recommendations for the continuity of the cooperative, after the end of the current project.

Methodology

The evaluation had a participatory approach, the idea was to involve as many as beneficiaries as possible during the evaluation process. The evaluation team worked with interviews and focal groups. In focal groups they could analyse main Strengthens, Weaknesses, Abilities and Posibilities the cooperative has in order to be sustainable.

Key findings

• The cooperative Horizontes del Sur in Villa del Carmen, constitutes the main achievement from the project Horizontes del Sur.
• The cooperative responds to community demands, and has an important role to play regarding services such as credit, agricultural inputs delivery at the local level and technical assistance in agriculture.
• The cooperative has credibility among associates and public entities, which has resulted in strategic alliances for the cooperative, such as:
• Access to credits is highly appreciated by cooperatives' beneficiaries.
• Acquisition of improved seeds and fertilisers is a service provided by the cooperative, which is also highly appreciated by the associates.
• The social organising committees need better functioning to assure effectiveness in credits allocation and furthermore in repayments. Delays in repayments are high and the cooperative should work with it.
• A positive element is the high participation of women in directive organs in the cooperative. The board has only one male member, the rest are women. Most of the associates of the cooperative are more than 40 years old and there is a need to strengthening youth participation in the cooperative.

Recommendations

• In order to give sustainability to these initiatives it is important to strengthen the role of mechanism for social control, such as the "comités comarcales" (neighbourhoods committees).
• Centralised administration make these cooperative low cost-effective, which also hinder the level of appropriation from cooperative's associates.
• The personnel within the cooperatives working with credits and microfinance in general, should have more preparation on microfinance and its wide possibilities.
• Social investments or risk capital should be the best way to work with these cooperatives, instead of giving them donations.

Comments from the organisation

The cooperative HOrizontes del Sur is a very young organisation and needs more follow up. It is a good point that they have in place basic inter-institutional alliances, which could lead the project to good results in coming years. However, it is important for the DF to evaluate its advancement in coming year, including a marginal follow up of the project.

The cooperatives in Nicaragua lack practices for redistributing annual or periodical revenues. This is unhealthy for the self sustainability of cooperatives and its appropriation by its associates. Many of the associates invest valuable time in providing social control mechanisms to all associates, as well as, in pursing repayment rates, but there is not compensation for that.