The Peace Project

Our Mis­sion

The Peace Project is a com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tion work­ing to expand edu­ca­tional oppor­tu­ni­ties, fos­ter envi­ron­men­tal stew­ard­ship, and facil­i­tate com­mu­nity devel­op­ment in Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua.

Who We Are

The Peace Project began as a com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tion in August 2011 to bol­ster local edu­ca­tional efforts and expand oppor­tu­ni­ties for youth of Laguna de Apoyo. As the com­mu­nity requested, the pro­gram focuses on Eng­lish lan­guage edu­ca­tion. Eng­lish is a key skill in order to get jobs in the grow­ing tourism indus­try in the community. Additionally, three founders from the Uni­ver­sity of Mary­land — Caitlin Mar­shall, Lara McK­aye and Sarah Dob­son — laid the foun­da­tion for all pro­grams in peace edu­ca­tion. Peace edu­ca­tion can be inter­preted as the inter­ac­tive process of learn­ing to love and respect one­self, oth­ers, and the environment.

The Peace Project has adapted its mis­sion to now focus on edu­ca­tion, the envi­ron­ment and com­mu­nity devel­op­ment and has expanded its reach to the adults of the com­mu­nity as well. In an effort to become sus­tain­able, The Peace Project has merged with the hos­tel where the direc­tors and vol­un­teers are housed. All hos­tel prof­its sup­port the com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tion and projects. The Peace Project is cur­rently in the process of becom­ing a reg­is­tered Nicaraguan NGO.

The prop­erty where The Peace Project is located is the McKaye's fam­ily home. They gen­er­ously opened their doors to The Peace Project and give free room and board to the co-directors. The space is shared with sev­eral other orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing The Span­ish School (the first in Laguna de Apoyo which opened in 1993), The Bio­log­i­cal Sta­tion, and Proyecto Eco­logico which the McKaye's began and con­tinue to manage.