International Program
Through the International Program, your YMCA is committed to promoting action through local education and international relationships designed to achieve peace, social justice and dignity for all.
International Program Events
The signature development opportunity of our International Program is our Youth Exchange with our partner YMCA in Nicaragua. Click here for more information on the exchange.
YMCA Peace Week is celebrated in the third week of November, with workshops and activities for all ages. Information about the YMCA Peace Medal is available by clicking the link.
YMCA Partnership
Your Cobourg YMCA has a development partnership with the YMCA of Nicaragua. Through our partnership with the Nicaraguan association, we strive for mutual growth, mutual learning and assistance with youth development and education programs.
The work of the YMCA of Nicaragua is focused on youth. We are committed to assisting their efforts to provide opportunities for young people in their country. We are also dedicated to providing programs and opportunities that enable young people in our community to understand development issues and engage in active learning experiences about our YMCA partner and our world. To this end, we offer YMCA development education workshops, a unique two-way youth exchange between the Cobourg and Nicaragua YMCAs and the Youth Leader Corps program.
YMCA of Nicaragua
Nicaragua, with a population of 5.5 million, occupies the Central American territory south of Honduras and north of Costa Rica, bordering on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. (Click here for a map of the region). Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The country holds a huge external debt, and public services are weak. Unemployment is high and over half the population lives in poverty.
A civil war lasting from 1978 to 1989 had a devastating impact on the country’s economy and social infrastructure. Hurricane Mitch ravaged Nicaragua in 1998, leaving in its wake reconstruction costs totaling nearly $500 million. A worldwide crash in the price of coffee, the country’s single most important export, followed shortly after. Nicaragua is located on one of the most seismically active parts of the world. Between 1990-2001, the country suffered three earthquakes, one tsunami, two major volcanic eruptions and several more droughts. All of these events put severe strains on the country’s emergency-response and health systems, as well as the overall economy. Despite these setbacks, Nicaragua has seen modest improvements in many human development indicators as a result of economic stabilization and growth over the past fifteen years. For example, the poverty rate decreased by 5% from 1993 to 2001, and infant mortality decreased from 52 (deaths per 1,000 births) in 1990 to 32 in 2002.
The YMCA of Nicaragua was established in 1989 to engage youth in the process of building an open and civil society, which is an essential part of Nicaragua’s national development process. The organization’s main priorities are health and well being, leadership, peace building, organizational development and leadership development. YMCA Northumberland has had a development partnership with the YMCA of Nicaragua since 2000 and our work together focuses on citizenship and leadership development, gender equity and reproductive health among Nicaraguan youth, as well as our reciprocal youth exchange program.
Nicaragua Fast Facts:
- Largest country in Central America
- Population of 5.5 million
- Poorest country in Central America and poorest Spanish speaking country in the world
- The country’s rural farmland is incredibly fertile
- Health care is below standards
- Nicaragua has the lowest crime rate in Central America
- 50% of the population lives on less than $365 US a year and 80% of the population lives on less than $2US a day
- One of every three children has some degree of chronic malnutrition
- Only 29% of children complete primary school
- More than 167,000 children are involved in child labour
- One of every four households is headed by a single woman