Our Work in San Ramón, Nicaragua

Since our beginnings in 1993, SCSRN has worked together with San Ramón on numerous projects to benefit the communities of the municipality of San Ramón (for a complete list, click here). From the beginning, we have put relationships first; above all things, we want to interact with the people of San Ramón in a way that avoids paternalism and respects the dignity of all involved. For this reason, all of our projects are designed and completed with full community involvement and support. It’s also why we don’t limit our projects to specific areas of focus; we want to support local solutions to local problems.

Local Initiatives

We give first priority to local initiatives- projects that are designed and executed by people and organizations from San Ramón. Usually we support them in the form of financing, donating materials, or technical support. Our local Comité helps us to identify and prioritize these projects as they come to us from all over the municipality of San Ramón. Click below to learn more about these local initiatives that we are supporting this year:

Los Pipitos San Ramón (Center for Children with Disabilities) : A clinic run by a San Ramón volunteer that provides free physical therapy and early intervention education to children with disabilities.

WASH with UMOYS: A project designed by a group of rural women leaders to meet the needs of water and sanitation in their communities.

Improved Wood Stoves: Using a design by a local engineer, we provide materials and specialized labor to install clean-burning wood stoves in rural homes.

SCSRN Initiatives

While supporting local initiatives is our top priority, there are other projects that have come from members of our sister communities in the U.S., based on their experience and interaction with the people of San Ramón. Of course, these projects are only completed with buy-in from the folks in San Ramón. The following are some ongoing SCSRN initiatives:

Rural School Partnership (RSP) program: By partnering rural elementary schools in San Ramón with schools and organizations in the U.S., we promote cross-cultural exchange between children of rural San Ramón and the people of our sister communities. The RSP program also supports education in these rural areas, giving children an opportunity for a brighter future.

Tourism: When SCSRN suggested the creation of a tourism project in 1998, the people of San Ramón doubted that anyone would want to come to their remote, rural county. Nowadays, tourism is an important part of the local economy and has helped many families lift themselves out of poverty.

Nuestro San Ramón: SCSRN is proud to launch the Virtual Museum “Nuestro San Ramón” (Our San Ramón) as a way for people to learn more about San Ramón’s history and culture. Visit to learn more.

Strategic Partnerships

Finally, we have some projects that come to us from outside organizations. These are partners that bring something to the table that meets a specific need that we have identified in San Ramón. Again, these are projects that are completed only when we are sure we have the full support and involvement of San Ramonians. Some partners that we have worked with are:

The South Granville Rotary Club: These amazing Rotarians bring their expertise in electrical wiring and construction to meet the needs in both the rural and urban parts of San Ramón.

United Solar Initiative: We have partnered with these wonderful people on seven different projects, installing solar panels in rural schools in communities with no electricity.