My Experience In Nicaragua

My three week experience in Nicaragua greatly changed my perspectives, introduced new concepts, and taught me things I could never learn through a textbook. A few themes that either I was either not aware of or was misinformed about were the main different types of trades and markets, and the approaches and impacts of foreign involvement in Nicaragua. Through my experiences in Nicaragua, I learned about free trade, fair trade, direct trade, and whole trade, how cooperatives operate and the requirements of their members, the substantial involvement of the US government and other NGOs, and the grassroots development approach.

Free trade, co-ops, and other marketing strategies This course taught a lot about buisnesses, both at the farming

I think one of the most surprising things I learned was the fact that because the workers are also the owners of the business, no net product is needed. Co-ops are democratically run and every member has an equal share of authority. The people benefitting are the owners, not shareholders or other people outside of the members. There are over 5 thousand co-ops in Nicaragua and make up five percent of NGOs. In the US, co-ops are the fastest growing business model. One issue that often arises in co-ops is seniority. It can be hard for people who have been part of the co-op for decades to be fine with member of only 2 months being able to outvote them. I talked to my dad to see if seniority is an issue at our local food co-op. He said that its not really a predominant issue. The newer members are good about listening to the older members who have had more experience. Woodard also told us about the many requirements of becoming a member of a co-op. This includes having good moral character, being legally competent, paying the entry fee, and additionally paying a sum of money that will help the economic situation. Once you become a member, you are not supposed to have your own workers, though unfortunately, some do. Over all, whatever comes with you leaves with you, meaning when you leave, you will be payed back the money you paid to be part of the

There is also constant brainstorming of how to improve their product and business. The way co-ops work, the same groups of people are doing the work as they are doing the selling. Some co-ops sell to other companies, other sell to the public, and some do a combination of both. The next four types of markets I will discuss sell to middle men or the businesses. They don’t sell directly to the public. A lot of the papers we read and speakers who came to talk to us spoke about free trade, how it has affected Nicaragua and other countries, and the conditions for free trade workers. Before this course I didn’t know what free trade implied, but from throughout these three weeks I have learned about agreements in place now, ones that have been proposed, and how important, affective, and dangerous unions can