About Alistar - Common Questions

Common Questions

1. What is Alistar International?
Alistar is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of Washington. The IRS has granted the tax-exempt status so that contributions can be tax deductible if the donor so desires. Alistar International is the philanthropic partner of Alistar Capital Corporation, a merchant banking business.

2. What does Alistar International do?
AI funds and operates community development programs in the Caribbean Basin and Central America. We also support community initiatives in Seattle, Washington. We want to help poor people live equitably in communities and environments, which are mutually sustainable.

3. Where is the Alistar office?
Alistar is based in Bellevue, Washington in donated office space given by Alistar Capital Corporation. We also have a program office in Managua, Nicaragua.

4. How did Alistar get started?
Alistar International started with a family who wanted to support children who did not have families in Central America. They worked closely with the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos orphanages, and through those experiences learned of other needs in Central America.

5. What are Alistar's programs?
Alistar never operates programs independently, but rather partners with groups working for the same purposes as we are. We collaborate with Alistar Nicaragua in community and environment development programs in the BOSAWAS Reserve, (a large rainforest in northern Nicaragua) and in similar efforts including vocational training on the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. Our role is to train and empower local leaders and community members to have the kinds of communities that will be self-sustaining, not in need of outside assistance. This includes managing their natural resources so that they too will be self sustaining.

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6. What are Special Services?
Special Services include an engineer/geologist and an accountant who help the orphanages and the Alistar Nicaragua team with accounting systems, engineering, construction, water & waste systems, and designing and implementing appropriate technology tools to meet specific needs.

7. What is appropriate technology?
Appropriate technology is the kind of technology that is appropriate for the users and the environment that it is in. This would include transportation, construction, power, agricultural techniques, and other applications being used in the communities. Appropriate technology usually means a kind of technology that can be maintained and repaired by those that use it.

8. What is Alistar Research about?
We believe that it is important to understand the people and environment where we work. We try and discover the current realities of the communities in which we work, which will help us all discover the steps needed to move in the desired direction for the development of the community. We also evaluate our activities as to their effectiveness in achieving their desired outcome. We also want to document the lessons learned in all of these activities and processes.

9. Who does research for Alistar?
Research is conducted by people in the communities and by outside research specialists. Outside researchers are used when the skill or knowledge is not available within the communities themselves. These might include anthropology, health, education, natural resource management, appropriate technology, and other disciplines that might be required to reach a goal.

10. What does sustainable agriculture mean?
Sustainable agriculture is the use of seeds and techniques that does not damage the environment, is self-sustaining with minimal use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides, and where the seeds and plants are self-propagating.

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11. What is economic development to Alistar?
We believe that every person, every family and every community needs to be economically self-sufficient, in ways that promote justice, and environmental sustainability.

12. What is natural resource management?
Natural resource management is the caring for the natural environment in ways that allows that environment to not only sustain itself, but to thrive. This would include knowing and understanding the range of plant and animal life and how to propagate the natural ecological systems, including the integration of people into those systems.

13. What kind of healthcare do you do?
While we train women in the communities to treat the most common diseases in very simple health clinics, our main objective is teach practices that prevent people from getting sick. These techniques include using clean water, sewage methods, understanding healthy diets, and having personal and social practices that promote health.

14. What are indigenous rights?
Indigenous right are really human rights. The original culture/people in most countries of the world are now often the minority population and culture in that country. Most often they do not have the same rights and opportunities as the majority population. Some of these rights include the right to own land, practice their beliefs, and govern their society. We assist them in leadership development training, organizational development training, in order for them to have the ability to conduct business with the government and outside organizations.

15. Who are Forest Guards?
Because the BOSAWAS is a Biosphere-Reserve, (like a national park) it needs to be protected from people on the outside who want to use its resources (wood, minerals, and the land itself). The indigenous people who live inside the Reserve have the responsibility to patrol the forest and its boundaries to make sure that it is not being exploited. Forest Guards are somewhat like our park rangers.

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16. What is Alistar's role in education?
Alistar supports education at several levels. We financially support some teachers where the government does not; we arrange teacher education courses and workshops; we help with school supplies; we give scholarships to students to go on to high school, and technical school. We support bi-lingual education for learning in Spanish and their own language.

17. What is Christ Temple Church?
CTC is located in Seattle's Central District. We are working with the congregation to finish the construction of their church building. It is anticipated that the church will meet community needs through the use of the building.

18. What is NPH?
Nuestros Peguenos Hermanos is a group of six orphanages, founded by an American, Catholic priest. The orphanages are located in Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

19. What does Esperanza mean?
Esperanza means, "hope" in Spanish. Esperanza International is a not-for-profit organization working in the Dominican Republic. Their primary program focus is in Micro-Credit with poor women. Dave Valle, retired major league baseball player, and his wife Vicky, founded Esperanza.

20. What is the Youth Soccer Outreach Program?
Alistar has joined together with Seattle University, Vision Youth, Coalition for Community Renewal and several Seattle businessmen to develop a "club level" soccer program for inner city young women. The pilot program will be run with Zion Prep Academy.
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