PCI Gets $450,000 Grant to Assist Nicaraguan Farmers in the GMCR Chain

Photo of a coffee farmer in Jinotega. Courtesy of PCI

San Diego-based humanitarian organization Project Concern International has been awarded a $450,000 grant from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to implement a program benefitting coffee farming families in Nicaragua.

The program, known as MICASA, is designed to improve nutritional health among some 850 farming families who are part of the GMCR supply chain in the north central region of Jinotega, while also helping to improve the local economy. PCI will be working with local cooperatives, the Ministry of Health, and health and nutrition volunteers to lead the program through direct care and demonstrations. One of the goals of the program is to “promote gender equality in decision-making for both males and females.”

“An integrated approach is critical to improving the overall economic and social conditions of rural coffee farmers,” Leonel Arguello, PCI’s Nicaragua Country Director, said in an announcement of the grant. “By focusing on a sustainable, capacity-based approach, Project MICASA will ensure that cooperative members are equipped to find solutions to their own needs now and into the future.”

The program is expected to directly affect some 3,400 residents of the region, most of whom live in the Yalí municipality.