Cooperative April 20th: Raising Farmers’ Standard of Living

Santiago Herrera Troche. Photo by Cooperative April 20

Nicaraguan farmer and Co-op member Santiago Herrera Troche has been an exemplary member of WCCN partner agency Cooperative April 20th. He has received 19 loans to finance the planting and harvesting of his corn and beans. He says the trust given to him by the cooperative has helped him substantially increase his profits and standard of living.

“My house is better; I’ve plastered it, improved the ceiling, and I even have electricity with the solar panel loan they gave me at the cooperative. I never thought that my house would have light and we could watch TV.”

Santiago hopes his children will follow in his footsteps, associating themselves with the cooperative, saving and working hard so that they’ll have something to fall back on.

A solar panel on Santiago’s roof that he purchased using a loan from the Co-op. Photo by Cooperative
April 20

WCCN partner agency Cooperative April 20th is located in Quilalí, a remote town in the northern mountainous region of Nicaragua. Named after the date of its founding, April 20, 1994, Co-op April 20th is helping Santiago and more than 10,000 members improve their standard of living through micro-loans and other services.

Providing a unique and diverse set of community building activities, technical assistance, and financial and non-financial services, Co-op April 20th exemplifies WCCN’s commitment to holistic, grassroots economic development.

History & Community Involvement

Co-op April 20th was found by 51 local, humble Nicaraguans, mostly farmers, 21 of which were women. The Co-op’s initial capital was only $37,500: $3,500 contributed by the founding members and $34,000 granted by the former Nicaraguan Ministry of Social Action.

The Co-op was founded to enable farmers to improve their lives in a cooperative manner. The value of community is still alive and strong today. The Co-ops lending and agribusiness activities are strongly rooted in local, social-based networks. Each community where the Co-op operates has a local committee elected by all C0-op members from that community. This committee, specifically the local coordinator, undertakes the important selection, screening, and monitoring to make sure lending operations are transparent, efficient, and sustainable. In the agribusiness sector, one Co-op member in a local village is responsible for collecting the members’ harvest of corn, beans, and coffee for which he/she receives a small commission for each quintal gathered.

Sign at Co-op April 20th’s office in Quilali. Photo by Brenda Pfahnl

Financial Services

The Co-op provides traditional financial services such as loans for housing, agricultural production, solar panels, small businesses and micro-enterprise. The Co-op is also the only institution in Quilalí that offers savings accounts. The safety and security of placing money in a stable financial institution sadly is almost impossible to find but extremely important for those emerging out of poverty. Additionally, April 20th offers a unique life insurance policy to its members, financially supporting their families by assisting with funeral costs after the members’ death.

Non-Financial Services & Technical Assistance

The Co-op’s non-financial services are an equally important part of their mission and success in raising members’ incomes. The Co-op provides grain and coffee storage and processing facilities for its members. This allows members to store their grains and coffee when prices are low at the time of harvest and sell for a higher price at a later date.

The Co-op also provides technical assistance in gaining and maintaining organic and Fair Trade certification for coffee farmers. Co-op April 20th’s high quality coffee is certified organic by the Rainforest Alliance and Starbucks and Fair Trade by The Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International.

Thanks to our members’ support, WCCN is proud of our association and support of Co-op April 20th and the real difference it is making in the lives of Nicaraguan farmers. WCCN currently has more than $400,000 lent to Co-op April 20th. The Co-op, in-turn, uses your investments and donations to provide loans to its members, such as Santiago.

By Jeanne Duffy, WCCN Development and Marketing Director