The Hartford/Ocotal Sister City Project is a story of two cities reaching out to each other, one in Nicaragua, Central America, the other Connecticut in the United States. It begins in 1986 when the Hartford Ocotal Sister City Project(HOSCP) was established with the help of the Capitol Region Conference of Churches and moves forward again in 1995 when the Project began providing seed money for a micro-lending program called FUNAFAM, which is based on the Grameen Bank model. Financial support from this program has helped hundreds of Ocotal women start small businesses of their own.
Over a period of 36 years HOSCP has used contributions to help fund the following programs, evolving from direct material aid to self-help initiatives:
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- Material aid shipments in conjunction with the New Haven-Leon SCP
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- Educational events
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- Helping to fund the purchase of an ambulance
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- Helping to fund the clean water project
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- Hurricane Mitch relief
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- FUNAFAM, a microcredit program based on the Grameen Bank model. Loaning small amounts of money to individuals starting small businesses
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- Health education programs in outlying areas surrounding Ocotal
The sister-city commitment does not go out of fashion, nor does it cease to inspire those involved. The Mission of the Hartford/Ocotal Sister City Project remains to foster friendship and mutual understanding of the people of Ocotal and Hartford and through their relationship to build a more just and sustainable world.
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