In our previous message from the Vivir Juntos board we wrote that “the clock is ticking and that we have reached the half-way point of our assistance to the Ruach community”. At this moment the prospects for fundraising in Juigalpa and Nicaragua to decrease dependency on ‘overseas’ funding are not rosy.
Therefore there has been intensive communication between the Vivir Juntos and the Ruach boards. It soon became apparent that the Ruach Board would like to extend the period of Vivir Juntos support by two years from 2020 to 2022. The Vivir Juntos Board has agreed to this, albeit with decreasing annual amounts, and assuming of course that Vivir Juntos’ own fund raising is successful. The Ruach Board was very pleased with this outcome.
The plan for the project for 2019 – 2022
Vivir Juntos raises funds from invidual donors/persons and through so-called capital funds. In the past we annually organized a financial campaign for these capital funds. We have recently started another campaign, and we wholeheartedly hope that with this latest campaign and individual donations we will meet our target amount for support to Ruach. This would settle the nerves of the Ruach Board, as well as our own!
Evaluation
We also agreed with the Ruach Board that the project will be evaluated, both in terms of the provided care and the way the project is managed. Strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and challenges will be assessed and discussed. The two Boards also agreed that the evaluation should be carried out by an independent external consultant. We are at the stage of selecting the consultant; the incumbent will start working as soon as he/she is selected. The consultant’s report will contain recommendations that will be incorporated into Ruach’s plans.
Special campaigns
Several well-wishers wonder how they can support the project financially, resulting in special campaigns, reports of which regularly appear in our newsletter. In the last two months we were pleasantly surprised by two people in Rotterdam and Leiden who celebrated their anniversaries by asking for a gift to the Ruach community. Many many thanks!
From three to two board members
Not very long ago we wrote that the Vivir Juntos board was at full strength again after Frits Leene had been recruited. Unfortunately Frits had to conclude after some months that the volunteer work on our board was not suiting him.The remaining members of our board, Niko Tetteroo and the undersigned, subsequently decided not to restart a search for the third member of the Board. The reason for that is that the two of us receive more than excellent support from Annelies Witz-Vlaardingerbroek en Michiel Witz (who are in charge of the design and the updating of our website), and therefore the continuity of our work is guaranteed.
Jeroen Boggia
Chairperson, Vivir Juntos Board