History
Agua Para La Vida’s first project was completed during the war in 1987, by Gilles Corcos and Charlie Huizenga. They traveled to northern rural Nicaragua, an area devastated by the war, and realized the great need for clean water and sanitation.
Together with Anne Corcos they implemented their first project in San Caetano, near the small town of San Dionisio, south of Matagalpa. In 1989, Gilles and Amy Luers worked with the community of San Andreas de Boboké to build APLV’s second project and then began to create the NGO Agua Para La Vida.
In 1996, we decided to acquire a permanent presence in Nicaragua, with an office, local technicians, a workshop, a (used) van and a warehouse in Rio Blanco, and began planning for the start-up of the Technical School for Drinking Water (ETAP).
In 2002, a French branch was created in Paris with the same name. The policy decisions of the two councils were coordinated through a common Executive Director. Our goal had long been to encourage the creation of an independent or autonomous, fully Nicaraguan NGO.
In 2011, we succeeded in establishing a legally recognized Nicaraguan organization, however, it continues to have significant support from the two APLVs, external to Nicaragua, both for a transitional phase and self-sustainability, as well as for financial assistance and future technical innovations.
“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water”