Who are we

Nitlapan is an institute specializing in research on and the creation and publicizing of new local rural and urban development models and methodologies. Nitlapan promotes concrete local development initiatives by providing a set of financial and non-financial services to micro, small and medium rural and urban businesses, especially those of women and young people. It does this within ongoing analysis, systematization and validation of all local experiences that yielded successful results and could be replicated in other territories or converted into inputs for the design of development policies in alliance with state institutions, civil society organizations, the private business sector and international development cooperation agencies.

Nitlapan is part of the Central American University (UCA) in Managua, Nicaragua, one of the three universities that the Society of Jesus has in Central America. “Society of Jesus” is the name of the religious congregation made up of Jesuit priests and other religious workers, a congregation of worldwide scope with an active apostolic presence in five continents. In the specific case of Central America, the Society of Jesus operates in six countries of the region (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama), which are administratively constituted as a single province: The Central American Province of the Society of Jesus.

Our relationship with the Society of Jesus

Nitlapan also forms part of the Jesuit Network of Social Works. This network groups together all the social sector works and institutions of the Society of Jesus in the Central American region. Given that it belongs to an institution that has Central American coverage, Nitlapan’s development operations always have a regional focus and perspective as its own distinctive seal.

A little of our history

Nitlapan began taking its first steps in 1988. It was born with what was at the time the Research and Graduate Studies Department of the UCA as a university initiative promoted by Father Peter Marchetti SJ and a group of professionals seeking new institutional alternatives to promote the Nicaraguan peasantry’s economic and social development. This initiative was later extended to the micro, small and medium urban businesses in the country. Over the years, Nitlapan created a successful credit program, which grew so large that it later was spun off as an institution with its own legal identity completely independent of the UCA and of Nitlapan, with the name Local Development Fund (FDL). Today FDL is one of Nitlapan’s most important strategic partners and its headquarters are also located on the UCA campus.

Much more recently, Nitlapan has formulated its “2007-2011 Strategic Plan.” This latest plan is the result of a profound institutional retooling aimed at redefining and being more specific about the profile and scope of Nitlapan’s mission and strengthening its alliances with its potential clients and/or partners. Its aim is to increase the impact and coverage of the financial and non-financial products and services that Nitlapan designs and validates at the local level. To concretize this strategic plan, Nitlapan has also formulated a “2008-2010 Medium-term Plan.”

The etymological origin of our name

Nitlapan is a word from the Náhuatl indigenous language that means “time to plant.” In choosing this name, Nitlapan’s founders wanted to evoke the idea that the institute’s mission is similar to that of the peasant who goes out into the field to sow seeds with the hope that they will give abundant fruit, as occurs in the gospel parable of the sower of good seeds (Matthew 13:3-23). This message is symbolized in the figure of the peasant planter who appears on Nitlapan’s logo.