Chronic malnutrition, or stunting, is a serious problem in Central America. Stunting rates in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama are greater than 20 percent and the cost of malnutrition in these countries is estimated to range from 2.3 to 11.4 percent of GDP.1 A growing number of studies show that community-based growth

To improve the management and delivery of health services to its citizens, and address equity, efficiency, and access gaps in its public health sector, the Government of Nicaragua engaged in an exchange with Argentina.

The Nicaraguan Government, aiming to promote social and rural development and poverty reduction among its indigenous populations, recognized the much-needed task of building capacity for effective marketing among the small-scale cocoa farmers and their communities at local and national levels.

Strong property rights crucial Uncertainty over land tenure can have several negative conse­quences.

The Governments of El Salvador and Nicaragua faced a mutual challenge on how best to protect recent investments in new and sophisticated medical equipment.

The Government of Nicaragua (GoN) supports indigenous communities in the Northern Atlantic and Southern Atlantic Autonomous Regions (RAAN and RAAS) in their efforts to take ownership and manage their own forest resources---a policy that helps reduce poverty in the communities while also fighting ecological degradation.

Through this grant, Nicaraguan participants have increased their capacity and skills for designing and implementing policies to develop the IT-ITES sector, and as an ultimate objective, to implement one of the pillars of the National Development Plan. The exchange helped strengthen the collaboration between government, academia and private sector