A New Project Aimed at Decreasing Gender-based Violence in Nicaragua

ICEIDA has decided to support a project in Nicaragua which aim is to decrease gender-based violence in the municipality of Juigalpa in the central part of the country. The project’s implementation will be carried out by the women’s organisation AMNLAE that durin the last 30 years has worked towards improving the position of women and increasing their rights.

Gerður Gestsdóttir, ICEIDA’s Project Manager in Nicaragua, says that gender-based violence in Nicaragua is a serious and growing problem in the country, not least in the area to which the project pertains. Juigalpa is a cattle-raising area and male dominated culture is more vigorous there than in other places, according to Gerður. “There is also a lot of poverty in the area and under such circumstances it is more common that women do not have or do not know about resources that can be used to respond to gender-based violence,” says Gerður.

The project’s aim is to increase women’s and institutions’ knowledge about gender-based violence, its consequences and resources. The project is initially for one year and ICEIDA supplies a third of the funds or 20 thousand US Dollars.