Nicaragua: My Main Peace Corps Project
So what exactly is our purpose for being here? Peace Corps Nicaragua is divided into four different sectors: small business development, community health, environmental education, and teaching English as a foreign language. This new group of incoming trainees which I am a part of consists of new business and health volunteers. I am working with the business sector, and here's a bit more about that...
First of all, let's dive into some numbers. Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere (behind Haiti). Its unemployment rate is between 3-4% however its underemployment rate is over 50%. 60,000 jobs need to be created per year in order to maintain the current unemployment rate. 70% of the population is under 30 years old with 50% being under the age of 18. Basically, these numbers tell us that the need for innovation and creativity is high when talking about developing the economy; also that this country has a lot of potential lying in the hands of its youth.
How does Peace Corps factor into all of this? The small business development volunteers here are working with teaching entrepreneurship in various communities (mostly in high schools), and they are also training teachers how to give entrepreneurship classes so that the program is sustainable and continues after Peace Corps volunteers have left their communities.
In some way, shape, or form my service will involve creating opportunities for the youth of Nicaragua through life skill and entrepreneurship education, also some business advising, as well as teaching basic business skills in my community (such as the importance of savings and family income generation).
We will be learning a lot more during our training over the next 11 weeks. Tomorrow is the day we meet and move in with our host families for the training period. There are four other volunteers who will be in the same training town as me, and I am sure we will have plenty of stories to share from our experience there in the near future!
First of all, let's dive into some numbers. Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere (behind Haiti). Its unemployment rate is between 3-4% however its underemployment rate is over 50%. 60,000 jobs need to be created per year in order to maintain the current unemployment rate. 70% of the population is under 30 years old with 50% being under the age of 18. Basically, these numbers tell us that the need for innovation and creativity is high when talking about developing the economy; also that this country has a lot of potential lying in the hands of its youth.
How does Peace Corps factor into all of this? The small business development volunteers here are working with teaching entrepreneurship in various communities (mostly in high schools), and they are also training teachers how to give entrepreneurship classes so that the program is sustainable and continues after Peace Corps volunteers have left their communities.
In some way, shape, or form my service will involve creating opportunities for the youth of Nicaragua through life skill and entrepreneurship education, also some business advising, as well as teaching basic business skills in my community (such as the importance of savings and family income generation).
We will be learning a lot more during our training over the next 11 weeks. Tomorrow is the day we meet and move in with our host families for the training period. There are four other volunteers who will be in the same training town as me, and I am sure we will have plenty of stories to share from our experience there in the near future!
Dear Tracy,
ReplyDeleteI can tell by your first few entries that I am going to love reading about your adventures and learning from what will unfold for you over these next two years. "Begin with what they have. Build on what they know." I love those words because it tells me that you are ready to simply "be" with the people, the culture, the country.
Happy Journey!
Love,
Aunt Rita