Students in a teen class are among more than 1,300 students who have participated and graduated from the GOCARE Inc. adult and youth education program in Nicaragua. The Ventura-based non-profit organization is expanding its efforts by launching a “Conceptos básicos de la empresa” — “Basic Business Concepts” (BBC) series of classes to be held in various barrios around the country. Photos courtesy of GOCARE Inc.
Ventura-based GOCARE Inc. seeks to expand its efforts to business education in Nicaragua
By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere. Much of the nation’s infrastructure was destroyed during a revolution in the late 1970s and a civil war during the 1980s.
As a result, about 50 percent of Nicaraguans currently live below the poverty line, with 80 percent living on less than $2 per day, according to the U.N. Development Programme.
Despite the challenges, education is highly valued in the nation, with many believing it is the best way to self-empower adults and youth to obtain a better life for themselves and their families.
It is for that reason that Ventura-based GOCARE Inc. has been so well received in the county.
Launched in 2001, GOCARE is a non-profit organization founded by Jan Lindsay that has worked with local residents and communities in Nicaragua to create and expand educational programs including reading, math, pre-school, daycare, computer instruction, English instruction and vocational training. More than 1,300 students have graduated from its programs.
While GOCARE has been focused on general education, it is now planning on expanding its successful program to add business classes.
Stewart Fries, above, a board member for Ventura-based GOCARE Inc., has been involved with the adult and youth education program in Nicaragua, below, since 2009. Photos courtesy of GOCARE Inc.
Stewart Fries, a member of the board of directors for GOCARE, is currently planning a “Conceptos básicos de la empresa” — “Basic Business Concepts” (BBC) series of classes to be offered in various barrios around the country. The goal is to provide a series of seminars that will give young adults basic business skills they can use to get jobs and take the first step up the economic ladder.
Fries is very familiar the advantages of good business training and the positive impact that well-directed charities can have on economic development programs. He is a partner at Sorenson & Associates, a certified public accounting firm in Solvang, where he specializes in public accounting, management consulting, business valuations and tax preparation.
He has also been very involved in a variety of charitable programs including Rotary International, Viking Charities, the Solvang Friendship House and the Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation.
Fries first started helping youth and adults in Central America after a visit to Nicaragua.
First day of English classes.
“I got involved in 2009 when I went down to visit one of the GOCARE projects,” he said. “As a result of that visit I was invited to join the board and then invited to go down two or three times a year.”
In 2011, Fries suggested to the GOCARE board that they adapt the Rotary International youth leadership program called “RYLA” (Rotary Youth Leadership Academy) to help students in Pantanal, a poor barrio located outside of the capital of Managua.
The weekend retreat, sponsored by GOCARE, is called “Academia de Liderazgo de la Juventud” (ALJ), and is focused on leadership skills and diversity training for 16- and 17-year-old students.
Both classroom instruction and hands-on practice sessions are presented by qualified Nicaraguan instructors, the organization reported.
Education classes in Pantanal.
In the first year, participation was limited to 60 students all from Pantanal, Fries said. More than 100 students participated in the program last year.
Besides Pantanal, GOCARE has since partnered with Rotary clubs throughout Nicaragua to sponsor selected students from a wide variety of communities in the country. Of the 104 attendees in 2013, 12 students were selected by local Rotary clubs, the remainder were selected by the GOCARE staff from within the highly impoverished communities the organization works with, officials reported.
“The kids that participate learn to maximize their leadership abilities and come to realize that everyone has a role in social and business interaction,” Fries said.
While there has been progress, he said complete success will not come overnight. As a result, GOCARE is committed to the long-term success of the program.
“When you are trying to fight poverty by teaching them how to empower themselves, it takes a long time,” he said.
Fries said the program has been successful because members of GOCARE listened to the needs of the local community.
“We did it the right way,” he said. “We didn’t say we want to do it this way and that way.”
He said board members first went to Pantanal and talked to local community members about the needs for the barrio. One of the first projects community members suggested was helping them drill a new water well, Fries said.
“We then got to talking with the adults in Pantanal about what they needed and we ultimately built the Lindsay Community Center. It has since become a central point for the town. They started having lots of meetings there and then they appointed a community council and we have been working with them all these years. They tell us what they want and need and then we work to make things happen,” including micro loans.
Creating an education program for youth and adults then became the next priority, a program that has already shown success.
“We had a couple of kids who joined in preschool and are now graduating from college or about to graduate,” Fries said, adding that participants of the program have also obtained university scholarships and have also found jobs in Managua and Granada, Nicaragua’s fourth most populous city.
The program has also taught youth how to give back to others.
“Part of the deal (to be part of the program) is that they have to ‘Come Back to Give Back.’ They have to agree to come back and mentor and teach and or be involved as a youth leader. They have become counselors.”
Four young adults will be returning this year to mentor the upcoming weekend retreat, he said.
GOCARE is now looking at expanding the program to twice a year in Nicaragua and is also working with other Rotary clubs in Central America to expand the program to Honduras and Costa Rica, he said.
About six months ago, Fries suggested the “Conceptos básicos de la empresa” — “Basic Business Concepts” to the GOCARE board, which approved of the project.
“We’re going to create a new program, business classes, to help young adults overcome those economic barriers, teach them how to present themselves in a business setting, how to dress, how to react and learn the value of punctuality,” he said. “These classes will be taught by local business owners in the community.”
Fries wants to draw expertise from the local community and hopes to have business owners either donate their time or hire trained teachers in Nicaragua.
“We will probably start with Rotarians (in Nicaragua) and have them as speakers in the classes and have these classes build on top of one another,” he said. “It would be good to give young adults this kind of training because they have no clue how to get a hold of a job and it would also be good for local businessmen to have access to this workforce.”
Fries hopes the program will also educate business owners as to the value of training and hiring youth from the barrios.
“It’s the same all over the world. People have a negative view of those living in the barrios, the slums,” he said. “They don’t have much access to them. (Business owners) will get exposure to these people and they will find they are the same as everyone else. They just haven’t had the same economic opportunity.”
Fries will be going to Nicaragua on April 26 to start the organizing project.
“Now we have to go down there and sell it to local businesses,” he said. “We will meet with local business owners, members of the local Rotary club. Our goal is to have it ready for next year’s budget which start’s July 1.”
Fries, who is currently developing a budget for the program, is actively seeking funding and other support for the business project.
While the resources available through GOCARE have been generously provided, additional help is needed to supplement these new programs.
“Since many of the people I know would proverbially give you the shirts off their own backs, I’m developing the idea of forming a fundraising program called ‘Shirt Off Your Back’ from which funding can be used to subsidize additional ALJ and BBC classes,” Fries said.
“We’re always looking for donations. We like people to get involved either financially or physically,” he said. “If you would like to go to a RYLA program, we would love people to do that or sponsor students.”
Many members of the local Rotary District (5240), which includes 73 clubs the area north from Paso Robles down south to Thousand Oaks and as far east as Ridgecrest in Kern County, participate in the program.
“We have one or two Rotary-connected groups go down there every year,” he said. “In my Solvang Rotary Club we have a group of 20 people going down there in early May to work on a medical clinic.”
Local youth have also been involved in the project.
“We have had other youth groups generally connected with Rotary that have gone down there,” he said. “The day before yesterday we met a woman in Santa Inez Valley who is involved in the Interact — Rotary Club for a high school,” he said. “She wants to put together a project for high school students to go down there.”
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About GOCARE Inc.:
• A legal nongovernmental organization that has been recognized by the Nicaragua Ministry of Education as an exemplary model for adult education courses, organizers reported. To date, GOCARE Inc. has helped more than 1,300 students graduate from its programs with the core philosophy of the “Come Back to Give Back” mentorship and leadership. While pursuing college degrees, students become mentors and leaders within their Nicaraguan communities and help “give back” by teaching others to assist them out of extreme poverty into a bright, successful future.
For more information about GOCARE Inc. or to make a donation, please call 805-650-5915, visit www.gocarekids.org or send an email to gocare.gocare@gmail.com