2007

Twinning of San Miguelito (Nicaragua) with Sant Boi (Catalonia)

The context

Sant Boi has a brotherhood with two municipalities, Marianao in Cuba, and San Miguelito in Nicaragua, and 84% of the total resources of cooperation of the City Council are aimed at these two locations. The contents of these partnerships has mainly resulted in coverage of material needs, focusing on actions of construction or rehabilitation of infrastructure, but they have also carried out projects aimed at strengthening local capacities, as well as institutional strengthening (Cadastre realization and promotion of citizen participation).

San Miguelito is a municipality located in the Department of Río San Juan, the less populated in Nicaragua, about 20,000 inhabitants scattered in a dispersed way. Traditionally isolated from the roads, the town suffers a serious shortage of infrastructure of all kinds, and has a 35% illiteracy rate.

Between Sant Boi and San Miguelito, a brotherhood agreement was signed in 1994, which has generated a history of more than ten years of shared work. Throughout this time, various development projects have been held, which have created links between various sectors and entities in both populations, as well as various exchange trips have been made.

The project to evaluate

The Town Hall of Sant Boi aims to assess the work carried out in the last 10 years within the framework of brotherhood, with the will of analysing the impact reached so far and the ways to prioritize and optimize resources in the immediate future.

The analysis includes both institutional and non-governmental actions that have been undertaken, including coordination mechanisms, the situation for each of the lines of action (road paving, institutional strengthening and environment), and evaluation in more depth two (the micro-credit programmes for women and training and education).