The NGO American Nicaraguan Foundation (ANF) announced this Thursday the closure of its operations in Nicaragua after 30 years of work. The decision was made due to the “decrease in international donations,” its founders say in a statement released on their social networks.
“We want to thank God for the opportunity he gave us over the last 30 years to carry out non-profit activities in Nicaragua through development and humanitarian assistance programs,” said Alfredo and Theresita Pellas, founders of ANF.
In Nicaragua, ANF, made up of members of the Pellas family, developed social programs for water and sanitation, agriculture, education, housing, humanitarian aid, and health for the most vulnerable communities in the country. In 2020 alone, the first year of the pandemic, more than 170,000 thousand Nicaraguans benefited from the social programs they carried out, details the organization.
These programs include students who received food, school supplies, people who received houses, children who recovered from extreme malnutrition, producers who received supplies and skills, families affected by covid-19 or hurricanes who received food packages, among others.
After the announcement of the closure, many of the beneficiaries of these projects expressed dismay on their social networks. “Both the children and the teaching and administrative staff of the Sueños de Luisa dining room, we very much regret the closure of this Foundation, since it was of great benefit to the poorest and most unprotected,” said one person.
As ANF explains on its website, this non-profit organization has received awards for its work in Nicaragua, including 4 stars from Charity Navigator for 5 consecutive years (2015-2019) and the 2020 Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. They also detail that their main strategic partner is Food for the Poor.
“Food for the Poor is ANF’s main strategic partner and the main contributor to ANF’s work to serve people affected by poverty and who do not have access to the basic necessities of life.” In 2020, through this donor partner, they obtained more than 560 tons of food that were distributed to families affected by the pandemic and hurricanes Eta and Iota.
Happy Heart also closed
This is the second NGO to announce the closure of its operations for this same reason in the last seven days. On May 6, the Corazón Contento Comprehensive Development Center, which carried out social projects with people with disabilities, reported that it was closed because the main donor is leaving the country.
“Our main donor, Fundación Trabaja, is withdrawing. We appreciate all the support you have given us during this time. We hope to find a solution soon so that we can continue serving them,” they said in a statement.
This Center develops social programs that help children and adults who suffer from a disability with psychological therapy, physiotherapy, language stimulation therapies and also has a social and labor insertion project.
“It breaks my heart to read this news. They do an incredible job and I feel very happy to have been able to be part of it for a short time and to share and learn from such an exceptional team”, wrote one of the beneficiaries.
The closure of these NGOs occurs in a complex context for this type of organization in Nicaragua because in the last four months, the Daniel Ortega regime has canceled the legal status of 144 associations and foundations, which had social projects for vulnerable populations. According to a monitoring CONFIDENTIALin the last four years, Ortega executed the cancellation of legal status and registration to operate of 218 national and foreign organizations.
In addition to these two NGOs that close due to lack of donors, there are others that have also left the country in recent years after the creation of the Foreign Agents Law. As they trusted CONFIDENTIAL, representatives of non-governmental organizations in Nicaragua, the regime of Daniel Ortega is “killing them softly” with the imposition of legislation and bureaucratic procedures.
Likewise, many of the associations that have lost their legal status have denounced that the authorities do not receive their financial reports and other documents and later use this to eliminate their right to operate.
