Who is Witness for Peace??

Before I explain who Witness for Peace is I would like to share a weird funny story with everybody...

When I was first accepted to the delegation back around March of this year, I was so excited. I wanted to let everybody I ever met know all about it, because this was my new passion. So, naturally I sent out a message on Facebook describing that I was recently selected to go on this amazing Education for Action delegation to Nicaragua with Montclair State University and the Center for Non-violence and Peace Initiatives. And probably the next day I received a message back from an old friend, Sara Riegler, that I have not spoken to or seen in a few years saying, "WHATTT!!!! Youre going to Nicaragua with WITNESS FOR PEACE with JHON VELASCO?!?!?!?! WHAT!!!! I was just on the WFP Nicaragua team and LED the Team Nica 2010 delegation!!! What ON EARTH! THIS IS CRAZY! ok. Love to you!" What are the odds of that?? This is why I know that I am in the right place and doing the right thing. God just keeps sending me little signs of hope and assurance and it's just so exciting. Anyways...


Who is Witness for Peace?

Witness for Peace (WFP) is a politically independent, nationwide grassroots organization of people committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. WFP’s mission is to support peace, justice and sustainable economies in the Americas by changing U.S. policies and corporate practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Delegations to Nicaragua

Witness for Peace’s work focuses on educating US citizens about the effects of US policy in Latin America, specifically in Mexico, Nicaragua, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela. They tailor delegations to individual group objectives that fit within that framework. The delegations seek to provide the opportunity for transformational personal experiences that inspire all of us to advocate for more just US policies.

Each delegation experience includes an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of globalization. Participants will engage with representatives from many sectors who will share their experiences and critiques of the current neo-liberal system.


Participants will also hear from representatives of those who have been most personally affected by the economic reality of the country -- factory workers, rural agriculture workers, and street children. Through formal and informal encounters with Nicaraguans, reflection and brief home-stays, we hope that delegates will arrive at a broader understanding of themselves and their relationship to the global problem of poverty.

Delegations to Nicaragua are usually comprised of anywhere from eight to 25 delegates including two delegation coordinators, and a typical delegation visit ranges from nine to 14 days, including travel days. Delegations longer than ten days can include a free day trip to the beach, cloud forest, or crater lake. The number of delegates and length of any delegation are negotiable and should be arranged in conjunction with Witness for Peace administrators in Washington, DC and the WFP International Team in Nicaragua.

We encourage you to participate in a delegation to Nicaragua to learn about how US policies and corporate practices affect people in Nicaragua. Our delegations to Nicaragua put a human face on US policy, giving delegates an opportunity to speak with those people most affected by an unjust world economic system. Below you can read about several different delegation theme options.


If you're interested in a custom designed delegation for your university, high school, church, synagogue, mosque or other group please contact ken@witnessforpeace.org

All delegations include:

-Orientation to Witness for Peace and the history of Nicaragua
-Socio-economic Contrast Tour of Managua
-Meeting with economist/sociologist about the current socioeconomic situation
-A brief home-stay in an organized rural community
-Meeting with US Embassy officials about US policy in Nicaragua
-Final wrap-up and Action Planning session


Home Stays and Community Visits

All delegations include a home-stay of at least two nights with Nicaraguan families in a community in the countryside. Longer delegations have the option of including an additional urban home-stay in the capital city of Managua. The Nicaragua Team works with delegation coordinators to choose the community best-suited for the delegation, based on the requests of the delegation coordinators and on-the-ground considerations.

Nicaragua Delegation Themes

Six months prior to the delegation, it is important to select a theme and title for the delegation, which must be approved by the WFP Nicaragua Team. The delegation coordinator and WFP DC Staff will use the theme and title to advertise and recruit delegates. Below are some suggestions for possible delegation themes, although depending on the focus of the Nicaragua Team and the Nicaraguan political and social climate, some themes may be timelier than others. Of course, the Nicaragua Team is always open to fresh delegation theme ideas!

Nicaragua from the Inside: The Impact of Globalization
It’s a small world—and getting smaller every day! This delegation will learn about the basic components of globalization and how Nicaragua is affected by them. Delegates will learn about the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) as a component of the current neoliberal model and the harsh reality that exists for Nicaraguans within that model. Delegates will meet with various individuals and organizations to discuss the maquila sector and Free Trade Zones, International Financial Institutions and the current privatization struggles in Nicaragua as well as small agricultural producers in rural Nicaragua who are struggling to continue on in an increasingly globalized world.

Crisis in Your Coffee Cup
Coffee is one of Nicaragua’s main export crops and an essential part of life for thousands of agricultural workers whose entire income depends on its sale. This delegation will learn about the complexities of the coffee industry and vulnerability of coffee workers within the current neo-liberal model. Delegates will focus on understanding the difference between food security and food insecurity and the dilemmas faced by coffee producers. Delegates will also meet with Nicaraguan agronomists about alternative farming models and the current pressure put on farmers by CAFTA. Finally, delegates will glimpse the life of a coffee worker during their stay in a coffee-producing community.

Worker’s Rights & Globalization in Nicaragua
Delegates will examine the question, “how has today’s global economic framework affected worker’s rights in Nicaragua?” For years Nicaragua has tried to comply with the neoliberal prescription to provide cheap labor to multinational corporations. Delegates will hear from workers how Nicaragua’s participation in the global “race to the bottom” has eroded their labor rights. Through visits with free trade zone maquila managers, union leaders, and workers of various sectors, delegates will also explore the complexities of the maquila system, and their role as consumers. Groups will also explore alternatives to current "development models" that seek to empower workers and distribute profits more equitably.

The Impact of Globalization on Nicaragua’s Food Sovereignty
This delegation will strive to answer the question, “What is food sovereignty and how can it be attained?” Nicaragua’s biodiversity is an extremely valuable cultural and ecological resource, but is also highly valued as an economic resource by transnational companies. Delegates will learn about the threats of corporate involvement in the agricultural sector and how small and medium agricultural producers in Nicaragua are defending native foods and resources. Participants on this delegation will learn to distinguish between food security, food insecurity and food sovereignty and become aware of the current pressure put on farmers by CAFTA. Meetings and visits to agricultural organizations, communities and farms will provide a broad sense of Nicaraguans’ struggle to achieve food sovereignty. Delegates will visit organizations working in agricultural policy and advocacy, and meet with representatives of small and medium-sized farmers. In addition, delegates will learn about alternative agriculture models that work to provide community food security.

Health Care & Human Rights in Nicaragua
Delegates will explore the unjust neoliberal policies at work in Nicaragua, while at the same time providing much-needed medical services to communities affected by these same economic policies. The delegation will include a medical brigade portion that would be hosted by Accion Medica Cristiana (AMC), an organization that has cultivated long-term relationships with the Nicaragua communities delegates would visit. AMC will introduce delegates to these communities and explain their struggle to encourage sustainable, community-based health care development. Delegates will also spend a significant amount of time exploring the roots of the neoliberal system that has made health care in Nicaragua a luxury rather than a reality.

Youth Encounter: Teen Delegation to Nicaragua
Teen delegates will have the opportunity to experience the reality of Central American rural living, work on a community project, live with a Nicaraguan family and receive training in how to be a teenager striving for social change.

This delegation will focus on the economic reality in Nicaragua and provide an introduction to the impact of the free trade and International Monetary Fund policies on the Nicaraguan people. Delegates will also have the opportunity to meet with Nicaraguan youth to explore shared interests and discuss the challenges faced by teenagers in the US and Nicaragua. Delegates will engage with community leaders, visit schools and health centers and celebrate with a Christian base community.

Sowing Peace in a Time of Economic War
In the harsh economic environment of Nicaragua, vibrant faith communities work for justice, peace, and sustainable development. They provide leadership for impoverished Nicaraguans and develop projects for community development. Delegates will engage a wide range of faith groups and church representatives in discussion in order to better understand the roots of the current economic crisis in Nicaragua and the impact of US policies.In addition, delegates will explore ways to facilitate links and develop mutually supportive working relationships between US and Nicaraguan churches, as well as learn how to increase the capacity of US churches to carry out more effective advocacy and change unjust US policies toward Nicaragua.

Free Trade and the Roots of Migration
A migration delegation to Nicaragua would explore the root causes of migration in an attempt to answer the question, “Why are so many Nicaraguans forced to seek work outside of their home country?” In this process, delegates will learn about policies that are driving people to increasingly dangerous border crossings in search of a way to sustain the families they’ve left behind. Delegates will travel to Nicaragua to experience the effects of US policy first-hand and investigate how US policy has contributed to migration. Delegates will learn from activists, farmers, and civil society organizations about the effects of migration on families, communities and on daily life, and hear about emerging alternatives that seek to provide Nicaraguans with work and Nicaragua with opportunities for its citizens.

Nicaragua Cultural Encounter: Examining Neoliberalism through the Lens of Art & Culture
Delegates will engage with Nicaraguan artisans and learn about the materials and time involved in the creation of their crafts while exploring the current neoliberal economic system that often keeps these artisans from earning a fair wage. The delegation will focus on understanding how free trade and the neo-liberal model affect individual artists in Nicaragua through meetings with artisan cooperatives, talks with local musicians and cultural activities. In addition, delegates will meet with labor organizations and maquila sector workers in order to gain essential knowledge about the difference between free and fair trade and the role of US citizens in the struggle of Nicaraguan artists.

Women’s Lives & Globalization in Nicaragua
Delegates will explore how women are affected by globalization, and the unjust economic relationships that exist in Nicaragua. In addition, delegates will learn about the struggle for gender equality within the current neoliberal system, and about the effects of CAFTA on women. Delegates will have the opportunity to meet with many Nicaraguan women representing different sectors of society, including workers, farmers, cooperative leaders, feminist scholars and activists. The delegation will explore urban Managua during meetings with factory workers in the maquila sector, communities affected by privatization, and health clinics, as well as the rural sector where delegates will learn more about the implications of the current economic crisis, free trade agreements and IMF-imposed structural adjustment programs for women. In addition, delegates will witness some of the alternative development projects springing up in Nicaraguan communities that attempt to follow a different development path than the one paved by the dominant model.

Fair Trade Delegation: Discover A Better Way to Buy Coffee, Produce & Art
The struggle for economic justice inside and outside the free trade model is happening all over the world. In Nicaragua, many viable alternatives have taken shape, one being the promotion of fair trade. Fair trade attempts to offer workers a fair and living wage for their work. Learn about the co-operative fair trade system in Nicaragua and the fair trade movement in the US. Delegates will investigate the difference between free trade and fair trade through contrasting visits with coffee producers working for a fair wage and landless coffee workers struggling to survive, dialogues with cooperative associates of the first-ever worker owned free trade zone and with maquila workers struggling to form unions and demand worker rights, as well as visits to other organizations that are seeking a better way to do trade.

Breaking the Chain of Debt in Nicaragua
Despite the recent cancellation of a percentage of Nicaragua’s foreign debt, Nicaragua is still a heavily indebted country in which International Financial Institutions continue to play a major role. Delegates will investigate the harsh conditions—such as budget cuts, trade liberalization, and privatization—imposed by International Financial Institutions as prerequisites for Nicaragua’s debt forgiveness. Through meetings with Nicaraguan government representatives and civil society groups, delegates will explore the impact of Nicaragua’s debt on society, learn about the sectors sacrificed in order for Nicaragua to pay its enormous debt, and hear about alternatives that would allow Nicaragua to escape its debt crisis while still providing adequate opportunities for its citizens.

US Impact on Nicaragua’s Internal Politics
For over a century, the United States has intervened in the internal politics of Nicaragua, using military force and political meddling to ensure that Nicaraguan administrations comply with US economic interests. Delegates will explore how US financial and political support for select Nicaraguan political leaders has led to the privatization of electricity, communications and, potentially, the potable water supply. In addition, delegates will learn how US-backed leaders have led Nicaragua down a path of debt and impoverishment resulting in devastating social costs. Meetings with Nicaraguan government representatives and civil society groups will shed light on the ramifications of continued US interference on Nicaraguan sovereignty.

To learn more about WFP please check out their website: www.witnessforpeace.org!