Partnership is at the heart of all JustHope’s activities, it is the foundation that supports our work. JustHope strives to build bridges between the people of Nicaragua and people in the United States. Through our partners, JustHope forges new, healthy, mutually respectful relationships. We foster and encourage these relationships in numerous ways.
Through PartnerTrips, groups from the United States travel to Nicaragua, typically for one week, engaging in a combination of service work, learning, cultural activities and relationship building. Groups have constructed homes, latrines, green stoves, rehabilitated medical facilities, schools and other buildings. They have sponsored and participated in music camps, worked on our model farm and toured social service organizations. We routinely host medical residents from the United States at a village clinic. Medical and dental brigades bring much needed expertise and provide free clinics to rural Nicaraguans. Partners have provided ongoing support to students and microloan recipients.
Our primary Nicaraguan partners include the communities of Chacraseca and La Flor. Additionally, we value our relationships with pastoral committees, local leaders, government ministries (health and education), civic groups, nonprofits, village cooperatives, churches, artists, musicians and people of all stripes.
Partnerships are predicated on our our core values of Solidarity, Sustainability, Mutuality and Collaboration. Our relationships with Nicaraguan partners are based on equal respect and appreciation. Addressing and redressing a legacy of economic inequality and injustice is a central theme of our work. We cultivate and develop two-way relationships whereby partners on all sides learn and grow. Although our US-based partners are generous and make sacrifices to travel, most conclude that they "receive more than they give" during a JustHope PartnerTrip.
JustHope’s model is one that seeks community involvement and obtains beneficiary consent prior to proceeding with any work. We start at the grassroots level, ensuring support and buy-in from the democratically elected community leadership. Our involvement with the communities of Chacraseca and La Flor is long-term and extends back decades. The depth of our relationships allows us to see both challenges and opportunities that exist. In good times or bad, JustHope’s partners stand in solidarity with the people of Nicaragua.