Founded in 2009, our partner organisation is a platform for business women in Managua and throughout the country. The Executive Director aims to promote the growth and success of local women, whose projects range from small market stalls to medium sized businesses where the women sell their products or services both locally and online.

At the moment they work with around 250 women – the organisation provides these women with a space to share ideas and learn effective business skills. REN delivers workshops, which train the women in areas such as marketing, public speaking, book-keeping and how to formalise a business, all of which help them on their way to financial freedom. Membership of the network also gives the women access to important and useful contacts, to help them expand their market reach and ensure that they are guided by the expertise of the best.  

Our partner works in close collaboration with an NGO which builds economic development in Nicaragua. At the moment, this NGO provides our partner with an office space to deliver the workshops, and also manages the accounts for our partner. It is the wish of our partner organisation’s director that the accounts can be brought in house rather than outsourced; something that her donors also highly recommend. The objective of this assignment is therefore two-fold – you will be offering training to both the office staff, and the business women they support so that our partner’s accounts may be taken care of independently and so that the beneficiaries can also make the most of your expertise.

You will be the first AfID volunteer at the organisation, and your assignment will be akin to undertaking a general assessment of the way our partner currently works around the accounts, and assist with bringing the controls and procedures in house, so that their staff are able to control their own accounts, and depend a lot less on their NGO associates. You will be working with the Director and the Administrator, to set up controls and decide the best way for their organisation to take control of its own financial destiny.

The other side of the assignment will be working with the business women. You will have the opportunity to deliver workshops, sharing your expertise. The Director will also identify some women in or close to Managua, who you could give some 1 to 1 training to. A lot of the women go into business without any experience or knowledge of how to manage their costs or book-keeping, and you will be able to build their capacity and make their micro-enterprises more sustainable. This is a chance for you to see real, tangible results from your work – a chance to make a real difference!

As with many of our South & Central America based roles, we would require a volunteer who was fluent in Spanish as this would be the working language of our partner organisation. Our partner is willing to house you for around $50 per week in order to cover meals, washing and amenities etc.

Please note that overseas assignments, in this case Nicaragua, incur a placement fee as per the AfID Tailored Volunteer Programme fee scale (see FAQs for more details).

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