SWISSAID is forced to leave Nicaragua

Like 5,600 other organisations since 2018, SWISSAID has been forced by the government to cease its activities in Nicaragua. The announcement appeared in the official gazette ‘La Gaceta’ No. 60 of 28 March 2025. It states that the government is withdrawing our organisation’s legal status in the country.

«SWISSAID stayed as long as possible to support the local population», explains Martin Jovanov, head of the SWISSAID programme for Nicaragua, with sadness. Our organisation had been active in this Latin American country since 1981.

The Nicaraguan government relies on provisions introduced in 2024 to impose the closure of international organisations. To our great regret, the work of SWISSAID’s coordination office in Nicaragua is thus prohibited, even though it meets all legal and administrative requirements.

«We are very sad that we cannot continue our work with our partners in the fields of food security, agroecology, seed promotion and equality. For us, this puts an end to more than 40 years of work based on solidarity and trust for the well-being of the population,» continues Martin Jovanov. SWISSAID has carried out pioneering work in the field of agroecology, including the first community seed banks.

Thanks to these projects, more than 230,000 people have been helped, directly or indirectly, over the past five years. More than 450 seed banks have enabled local people to acquire knowledge about agroecological techniques and high-quality local seeds, thus improving their living conditions in a sustainable way.

In 2024 alone, more than 18,000 people took part in activities, 52% of them women, who today play a leading role in their communities. We are convinced that the knowledge acquired by these people through SWISSAID and its many local partners will bear fruit. Thanks to sustainable support, tens of thousands of families are now able to feed themselves sufficiently and healthily by their own means.

In previous years, hundreds of NGOs had already been forced to leave the country. ‘The room for manoeuvre for civil society engagement in Nicaragua is shrinking fast. It is now almost non-existent,’ laments Nicole Stolz, head of the development cooperation department at SWISSAID.

In this context, SWISSAID has gradually reduced its programme over the last few years and has not replaced departing staff. It is now forced to lay off the last five employees and offer them a social plan.

In Nicaragua, SWISSAID has been able to gain extensive experience in agroecology and food sovereignty projects. We will continue to apply this knowledge in other projects and partner countries, thus reaping the rewards of the work we have sown over the years.