A memory of 27 years of university cooperation with Central America

Date: 2024 December 20

Research, publications, cultural activities, training, conferences, masters, and post-graduate degrees: for 27 years, the Central American Cooperation Programme from the University of Alcalá (UAH) has been promoting solidarity and joint work with various Latin American universities, fostering and raising awareness around global problems.

In light of the wave of support brought by the Nicaraguan Revolution, various Spanish and European universities signed framework agreements for collaboration with Nicaraguan universities in the late 1980s. In the case of the UAH, the jump off point was a 1988 agreement with the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN-León).

The challenges that this programme had to face initially were those arising from “learning to cooperate” through quite distinct and unfamiliar realities on both sides, and bringing together an appropriate team of “cooperating” individuals in solidarity and with the will to do so. In addition, it was necessary to secure sustained financing.

After various years of work, the initial cooperation with Nicaragua led to the creation of the Social Campus in Central America and the GIRA Network (Inter-University Network of Cooperation for Central American Development). This initiative intended to strengthen the ability to face common human development problems in the Central American region, particularly and primarily those involving its most vulnerable and excluded social sectors.

Among the publications of the UAH’s Central American Cooperation Programme, of particular note are the works Si yo te contara... Nicaragua en la mirada de los universitarios de Alcalá (2004), Se hace camino al andar o Aprendiendo a cooperar entre universidades del Sur y del Norte (2005) and Caminos de solidaridad universitaria (2008). In total, this initiative produced eleven publications that can be consulted at the Hegoa Documentation Centre, currently in physical form only (paper and/or CD).

We at Hegoa would like to thank this programme’s team for their trust, and we hope to serve as guardians not only for their most significant publications, but also their valuable journey of cooperation and solidarity.

As with the Central American Cooperation Programme, the launch of Hegoa was also connected to a wave of solidarity with Nicaragua. Over the course of these 37 years, the cooperation has been evolving to the point where it became what it is today, through both success and missteps, all while maintaining the key aim of making the world a more just and liveable place for all people.

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