In CEPAD the highest level of authority lies with the General Assembly, formed of thirty-three representatives from various evangelical denominations, departmental pastors' committees and Christian institutions. They meet at least three times per year to discuss issues of business and the social-political state of the country. They also participate in educational assemblies on topics ranging from conflict transformation to Biblical interpretation. The Assembly seeks to raise a prophetic voice by denouncing all sinful attitudes regardless of where they come from, for the sake of the prevalence of justice, love and solidarity with those excluded from the system. The Assembly nominates and elects a Board of Directors. Members of the board serve for a period of three years to govern and direct the institution through the work of more than sixty CEPAD staff assigned to the execution and management of the programs.


Board of Directors 2007-2009

1. President: Mrs. Lilliam Reyna, Carazo Pastoral Committee
2. Vice-President: Pastor Favio Flores (International Baptist Mission )
3. Secretary: Mrs. Sandra Velásquez, Association of Pentecostal Evangelical Churches 'Bride of the Lamb'
4. Treasurer: Pastor Roberto Baltodano (American Baptist Association)
5. First Member-At-Large: Mrs. Tania Anderson ( Moravian Church )
6. Second Member-At-Large: Pastor Freddy Solorzano (National Apostolic Assembly)
   

The new Board will be inaugurated during a special service in February.

Honorary President: Dr. Gustavo A. Parajón D.
Executive Director: Dámaris Albuquerque

General Assembly

Denominations:

1. National Apostolic Assembly
2. Mount Zion Apostolic Association
3. American Baptist Association
4. Association of United Apostolic Churches in Nicaragua
5. Association of Evangelical Pentecostal Churches 'Bride of the Lamb'
6. National Church of the Nazarene Association
7. Nicaraguan Baptist Convention (cbn@ibw.com.ni)
8. International Baptist Church Mission Convention
9. Christian Missions Churches Convention (iglmc@ibw.com.ni)
10. Brotherhood of Evangelical Mennonite Churches of Nicaragua
11. Faith in Christ Jesus Apostolic Church
12. Church of God in Nicaragua
13. Church of the Nazarene
14. Episcopalian Church of Nicaragua
15. Moravian Church
16. Evangelical Alliance Mission of Nicaragua
17. 'Brothers in Christ' Evangelical Mission in Nicaragua
18. The Early Church Evangelical Mission
19. Hispano-American Mission
20. Pentecostal Mission of Christian Churches in Nicaragua

Ministries

1. Restoration Ministry

Institutions

1. Alfalit of Nicaragua

Pastoral Committees

1. Managua
2. León
3. Oriente
4. Nueva Guinea
5. Matagalpa
6. Jinotega
7. Waspán
8. Bluefields
9. Río San Juan
10. Teustepe

Dr. Gustavo Parajón, Founding President of CEPAD, is also a member of the General Assembly.

CEPAD is a part of the following networks:

NATIONAL:

• CODENI (Nicaraguan Coordinator of Childhood and Adolescence)
• CONADES (National Development Commission)
• FUNICA (Foundation for the Technological Development of Farming, Livestock and Forests in Nicaragua)
• CCER (The Civil Coordinator)
• CEPAD is a founding member of the Nicaraguan Federation of Non-Governmental Organizations since 1982.

INTERNATIONAL:

• REDNA (National and Central American networks to implement a gender focus)
• ALIET (Association of Theological Education Institutions of Latin America), CCM (Mesoamerican Christian Community)
• The Emergency Response Program of Church World Service (CWS-ERP)
• Action by Churches Together (ACT)

CEPAD represents the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nicaragua since 1998. UNHCR's objectives in Nicaragua include promoting the approval of a refugee law to obligate the government to protect the refugee population; giving aid to refugees and asylum-seekers; strengthening a regional network to provide protection and aid to this population; and doing advocacy work for Central American refugees with more than three years in the country to help them obtain their Nicaraguan residency or citizenship. UNHCR's main office operates out of CEPAD's central offices in Managua, but the program works in the border zones of the country as well. Currently there are more than three-hundred beneficiaries in the UNHCR Nicaraguan program, mostly from Central American and African countries as well as Cuba and Colombia.

CEPAD also has close ties with PRESTANIC.
The Nicaraguan Community Development Fund, or “PRESTANIC”, began as a CEPAD micro-lending program in 1991. In 1999 it became an independent lending institution. Since its inception until the end of 2005, PRESTANIC has lent more than US $43 million through nearly twenty-three thousand loans. PRESTANIC currently handles a portfolio of US $4.7 million and works with 4,000 clients throughout Nicaragua through ten offices throughout the country.

Most of PRESTANIC's clients are small farmers, while about 28% are small urban business owners. Nearly half of PRESTANIC's clients are women. Loans of US $100 to US $5,000 are offered to clients with an average payback time of twelve months. PRESTANIC's current fixed annual interest rate is about 24-30% -- more favorable than the typical Nicaraguan bank that provides personal loans of a minimum of US $5,000 or more, at a comparable or only slightly lower interest rate.

“We accompany people in a process of natural human growth by providing credit to them. But if the loan is given to a small business owner who has no discipline and no desire to improve his situation, the money will be ill-spent,” comments Armando Gutiérrez, PRESTANIC's General Managua. Mr. Gutiérrez adds that PRESTANIC lends money with a conscience; if their credit officers sense that a client can manage a loan of just US $1,000 rather than US $2,000, PRESTANIC will provide the US $1,000 loan – no matter how good the client's collateral is. “We are not in the business of taking away people's belongings and properties,” Gutiérrez says.