Nicaragua and the Movimiento no Pago

There's been some interesting activity lately in Nicaragua, with the "Movimiento no Pago" (a non-payment movement among groups in the North of the country) protesting against microcredit loans. Things have got a lot harder in the country since the economic crisis. Kiva put out this statement:

"Recent information indicates that the situation may be improving as the President of Nicaragua has spoken out against this law and would not support its passage in its current form. The network of microfinance institutions in Nicaragua (ASOMIF) has been negotiating with the government in support of an alternative proposal. Kiva, along with 25 other funders from 9 countries, has signed onto a letter to the Nicaraguan government urging a resolution to this situation without enacting a moratorium on debt repayment. The potential passage of the debt moratorium increases the risk of lending in Nicaragua."

There's a copy of the anti-movement advert available on David Roodman's blog that gives a really good picture of exactly which microfinance organizations are operating on the ground there.

At the moment, I can't find much information on who's in Movimiento no Pago and what the extent of support for them is among ordinary people, but I'll keep looking.

book on microfinance

NGOs, IGOs, and the Network Mechanisms of Post-Conflict Global Governance in Microfinance by Anna Ohanyan

Source: Amazon.com
Product Description

Partnerships between international organizations and NGOs are central to delivering services in post-conflict settings. This book examines how such partnerships and policy networks comprising large international organizations and NGOs generate policies to heal the wounds of war-torn communities and build institutions of the post-conflict state for long-term governance. Exploring the international community’s application of microfinance in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina, this book follows how these policies were subsequently transferred to and modified for Kosovo and Afghanistan. Drawing on multiple, varied cases this book offers a new framework of policy analysis in post-conflict zones, and bridges global policy studies with conflict resolution. For details, click here .