Finca Esperaza Verde

Sister Communities of San Ramón, Nicaragua (SCSRN) was founded in 1993 by a group of people from North Carolina. This thriving, non-profit organization has partnered with local leaders to transform San Ramón’s economy and quality of life and to provide visitors a life-changing experience.

SCSRN has achieved many successes in:

• Environmental improvement and economic development (a model organic coffee farm and a Smithsonian magazine award-winning eco-lodge, Finca Esperanza Verde (FEV)),
• Community development (e.g., a rebuilt water system for San Ramón, music and art programs for children),
• Entrepreneurship (creation of numerous small tourism oriented businesses),
• Improved markets and earnings for farmers (creating lucrative markets for San Ramón’s organic coffee),
• Improved educational and health services

SCSRN’s vision is to introduce first world visitors to the peoples and cultures of Central America and to provide opportunities for local people to share their culture and tropical environment with visitors while avoiding paternalism and enhancing local empowerment.

SCSRN used income from selling coffee brought home in suitcases to buy an abandoned, 26 acre coffee farm in 1998. Then coffee and tourism revenue was used to develop and expand FEV to 263 acres including a reserve to protect the endangered howler monkey.

FEV:

• Contributes over $180,000 per year to San Ramón’s economy
• Won international ecotourism awards including Smithsonian magazine (2004), Switzerland’s TO DO! award for socially responsible tourism (2004), and a Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Award for Best Small Hotel (2007).
• Been identified as a model by the UN’s World Tourism Organization’s Sustainable Tourism to End Poverty project and hosted a UN sponsored delegation of 120 international delegates in 2005.

Visitors leave San Ramón with a profound understanding of the struggles and richness of life in developing countries. And the micro-entrepreneurs have a newfound sense of pride to be supporting their own families economically.

SCSRN’s innovative approach to economic development includes:

• Building on what the area offers: rich bio-diversity and excellent coffee, and does best: traditional music, handicrafts made with local materials, traditional cooking classes, hospitality in guesthouses.
• Creating a long-term relationship between visitors and people in San Ramón. Visitors and their home institutions (e.g., churches, clubs and high schools) stay connected and often become donors to the social and community development projects SCSRN supports. Visitors and other SCSRN supporters have raised money to build 5 rural schools and 15 school kitchens, provided technical assistance and grants to San Ramón’s center for handicapped children, and provided generous grants to 20 community-run projects.

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