2. Brief Introduction
I was working between 3
communities just outside of
Estelí, a town in the north of
Nicaragua. They were all rural
and relied on agriculture
(mostly crops of maize and
beans) for their income.
I was living with a wonderful
host family. My host mother,
Mirna, is a single mother who
works as a seamstress to earn
her living. She has 3 children
who still live at home- Alvaro,
Dayana and Antonio. I am still
in touch with the family, who
made me feel so welcome.
3. My Nicaraguan counterpart
My Nicaraguan counterpart is called César. He is a trained
photographer, and used to work for a newspaper. He wants to start
his own media business, to overcome some of the political barriers he
has in Nicaragua, and gained many useful skills for this from his ICS
placement.
He became like a brother to me! We still talk all the time on Facebook
and WhatsApp.
4. What did I do on my ICS-E
placement?
Create, develop, and deliver a 10 week
course on business and leadership to
young people in the community.
Help young people to create business
plans to pitch to partner charities for
funding
Find mentors
Work with the community on action and
awareness days, and help to organise
youth forums
Carry out market research
This is only this phase: in next phase the
volunteers are helping to make the
business plans a reality…!
5. An example project
My favourite business was with Oscar, a young entrepreneur who
wanted to start a chicken farm, which sold both eggs and chicken meat-foods
which are only eaten sparingly in these communities as there is a
lack of supply. He created a plan for 60 chickens, including
infrastructure and budget.
Oscar was very hard working, and already knew a lot about chicken
care from prior experience, and was also a well-liked member of the
community.
He called his business ‘Don Pollo’ (Mr Chicken).
6. How ICS-E helps YOU
A LOT of transferable skills, even if you aren’t interested in business:
Teamwork and leadership
Creativity and problem solving
Hard work/ working under pressure
Communication skills and cross cultural awareness
Interest in the world and international development
Events management- both in the community and for your action at
home
Public speaking and teaching
Language skills
Business skills
7. My highlight of the 10 weeks
Community awareness day on rubbish- we had the whole
community turn up! We played lots of games, a sociodrama, some
Nicaraguan traditional food, lots of dancing, laughing and some
education too!
Editor's Notes
Brief Info about the community you worked in –intro to your host family and in-country counterpart
Your placement and the types of projects you worked on:
- The entrepreneur or small business you worked with, the training you received, the skills you put into practice and the skills you learnt from the entrepreneur or small business on your placement
- - Business and life skills you acquired on your placement (including skills acquired through your action at home)
- How your placement has helped you with next steps/your career
- Your biggest highlight from the 10/12 weeks
- Photos or blog posts from your placement