CECOCAFEN (la Central de Cooperativas Cafetaleras del Norte) R.L. has been a GFH partner since the fall of 2008. Based in Matagalpa, a bustling city that is at the crossroads for much of Nicaragua’s northeastern territories, CECOCAFEN is an umbrella organization of 11 cooperative unions (UCAs) that represents 1,900 small-scale coffee farmers. Because of its large size, GFH health promoters change with each campaign as CECOCAFEN tries to reach new communities and spread the benefit of this project among its membership.
Highlights
- 100% of the doctors and nurses who received certification continued to use their new skills – and were so enthusiastic about the new technique that they traveled to each other´s clinics to help with larger scale screening and treatment events over the past year.
- Continued work with Dra. Barinia Osejo in-country Nicaragua staff (hired 1 year ago)
- Strong partnerships between the co-op and Ministry of Health behind screen-and-treat-based programs
PROFILE: Yuritt Zeledon, Local Program Coordinator
No tienes que preocuparte, amiga. “You don’t have to worry, my friend.” As we talked through planning and logistics for the campaign, this was Yuritt’s mantra. She used this same refrain with health promoters who were nervous about doing a good job, with women who had just been told that they had a small pre-cancerous lesion, and with volunteers who weren’t sure that getting on the back of her motorcycle was a good idea.
Yuritt has a calm but commanding style of leadership. In her hands, this project has flourished and we have high hopes for what is to come.
– Martha Caswell, Deputy Director, Programs