Current Members

La Asociación Pueblos en Acción Comunitaria (APAC) is a membership organization supporting small and medium size farmers to market their crops in economically sustainable ways. In each rural community, APAC forms a self-help Group for Economic Development (GADE), in which farmers and rural families are organized to seek and implement their own business initiatives. APAC’s mission is “to establish a favorable environment for local sustainable development focused on diversification of the agricultural production base, fomenting private investment and capital formation within a context of transparency and equal participation of all the actors, so that farmers, small business owners, artisans, and other participants increase their income levels, and strengthen the basis of rural economy and the civil society in the regions where APAC exists.”

APAC grew out of the interest of farmers working together in a number of sustainable development projects in Northern and Southeastern Nicaragua in the early 1990’s. The overall focus of the rural families that make up the membership is to create an organizational model of development that enables them to improve their living standards. They seek to do this through integrating the economic, physical, social, and spiritual of their lives in a holistic fashion, while at the same time preserving, restoring, and managing rationally the natural resources and biodiversity in their communities.

APAC’s vision is to become a resource for small farmers in resource development, administration, and implementation in the areas of agricultural marketing and production, natural resource management, small business development and strengthening, credit intermediation and financing. The organization’s ultimate goal is to serve agricultural communities, while making all of their programs financially and technically self-sufficient.