Nicaraguan Families Build Better Homes and Communities

Large numbers of Nicaraguans have moved to urban areas over the past thirty years, building rough houses in spontaneous neighborhoods that lack roads, water, sanitation and energy. Nicaragua's Foundation for the Promotion of Local Development (PRODEL) structures innovative public-private partnerships and loans so poor communities can build vital infrastructure. And so low-income families can build or adapt homes and connect to new utilities, PRODEL lends to credit unions, microfinance institutions and companies where the poor bank.With a $5 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank's Opportunities for the Majority Initiative (OMJ), PRODEL will increase financing for communities and families at the base of the pyramid. It will also expand lending to municipalities in northern, central and western Nicaragua.