The Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN) has worked
since its founding in 1984 to establish healthy, equitable relations
between the US and Nicaragua.
Wisconsin and Nicaragua have been official "sister states"
since the 1960s, and WCCN's mission and activities build on that
historic relationship. WCCN was founded by Wisconsin citizens opposed to the US government supported war being waged against their
sister state and came together to express their opposition. In its
early years, WCCN's activities centered on political activism, material
aid, and resistance to the US embargo against Nicaragua.
In 1990, recognizing Nicaragua's changing needs, WCCN redefined and expanded its mission and undertook
two new solidarity projects, both of which grew from the same commitment
to foster equitable relationships between citizens of the US and
Nicaragua:
- The U.S.-Nicaragua Women's Empowerment
Project was established in 1990. Initially it focused on enabling
women in the United States and Nicaragua to share experiences
and strategies for combatting domestic violence. In the 1990s,
it expanded its focus to explore new ways to eliminate traditional patterns of economic, political, and gender exclusion.
- WCCN's loan fund project began in 1991 as the Nicaraguan Community
Development Loan Fund (NCDLF), a partnership between WCCN and
the Nicaraguan Council of Protestant Churches (CEPAD). In 1998,
WCCN diversified its lending by establishing the Nicaraguan
Credit Alternatives Fund (NICA Fund), which now helps finance
14 different partner agencies in Nicaragua that offer loans to
low-income Nicaraguans.
In 1997, WCCN began participating in an annual Alternative Holiday
Fair, in which nonprofit organizations sell crafts and other products,
many of them produced by Third World artisans, to raise funds for
solidarity projects. WCCN has also participated in a number of relief
efforts in response to natural disasters that have affected Nicaragua.
After Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America in October 1998,
WCCN organized relief efforts that raised $80,000 in short-term
aid and continued with long-term recovery assistance. WCCN responded
again after an earthquake shook the southern Pacific zone of Nicaragua
on June 26, 2000, killing seven people and leaving thousands homeless.
In 2003, WCCN decided to organize its projects into two broad categories:
