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MADRE's Sister Organizations in Nicaragua

CADPI

The Center for Indigenous Peoples' Autonomy and Development, (known by its Spanish acronym, CADPI), is a museum and educational center that offers art and music classes, human rights trainings and children's recreational and skills-building programs for Indigenous and Afro-descent communities on the North Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. The center was created to bridge racial barriers and eradicate prejudices, provide cultural and economic opportunities (particularly for youth) in the region, display the work of local artists and encourage local appreciation of the breadth of Miskito culture. It is located in the home of the late Judith Kain Cunningham, a local Miskito leader and long-time advocate of social justice in her community.

In 2003, CADPI hosted a photography exhibition on the Nicaraguan Peace Accord of 1987, which was attended by hundreds of community members; a presentation of an Indigenous Peoples' Map; and several book openings.

CADPI also runs a television studio that produces local programming by and for African-descent and Indigenous Peoples and provides training and employment opportunities for local youth.

Wangki Tangni Women's Center

The Wangki Tangni Women's Center ("Flower of the River Women's Center" in Miskito) is a community development organization run by and for Indigenous Peoples on Nicaragua's North Atlantic coast. Wangki Tangni's mission is to promote sustainable development, protect traditional culture, and improve health among Indigenous Peoples along the coast, where poverty, marginalization and exploitation of natural resources threaten local economies and cultures and the biodiversity on which Indigenous Peoples depend. Women's participation and the promotion of gender equity are central to Wangki Tangni's work.

Since 1990, the Wangki Tangni Women's Center has served more than 60 communities along the Coco River providing much-needed health and educational services, human rights trainings and ongoing advocacy for peace and justice. Among its many accomplishments are:

• Training and technical assistance for Indigenous leaders, healthcare workers, and educators across the region, including instruction in human rights instruments, traditional herbal medicine, nutrition, and prevention of disease and substance abuse.
• Promotion of women's sexual health and reproductive health. The women of Wangki Tangni have played a central role in the development of a regional health system for the North Atlantic coast, which, as an autonomous region, has a separate health care system from the rest of Nicaragua. Wangki Tangni helped to ensure that this health care system incorporates traditional medical knowledge along with Western medicines and works to ensure that the system has the resources necessary to meet the need of North Atlantic coast communities.
• Harvesting Hope, a community agriculture project that is providing women with the trainings and resources necessary to improve their families' nutrition and health. Through Harvesting Hope, Wangki Tangni has established a seed bank and distributed hens and roosters to families throughout the community, promoting food security and self-sufficiency.
• The Wangki Tangni Women's Sewing Collective, an income-generating cooperative made up of 35 Indigenous Miskito women. The Sewing Collective has a workshop with sewing machines, where they offer classes. Members have begun pattern-making and dyeing projects and recently sold some of their products at a local small producers craft fair.

CADAMUC Clinic

CADAMUC began providing health services to Nicaragua's dramatically underserved North Atlantic coast in the 1990's. Founded by an OB/Gyn and a dentist who had worked with Wangki Tangni, another MADRE sister organization on the North Atlantic coast, CADAMUC started out with a focus on sexual rights, reproductive rights and women's health. In 2001, with MADRE's support, CADAMUC became a full-fledged women's health clinic--the first on the Atlantic Coast.

CADAMUC Clinic specializes in gynecology, obstetrics and general medicine. The Clinic combines traditional medical knowledge with western medicine and treats approximately 10,000 people every year.

In 2003, CADAMUC expanded its services to include pediatric care and health services to workers in the fishing industry and at a local university. The clinic has also expanded its dentistry program, which is a critical service in a community where the only other dental clinic is a private practice that is unaffordable for most people. CADAMUC also offers a drug abuse prevention and rehabilitation center, staffed by counselors and psychologists, which addresses drug abuse among young people in the community.

In addition to providing health services, CADAMUC offers recreational activities and training programs for the community's youth. CADAMUC sponsors basketball and soccer teams and gives trainings for young people on leadership skills, human rights, gender equity and drug abuse prevention.