This spring we are grateful for the contributions of Alvaro Rodriguez as we wish him well in his retirement after fifteen years serving as our Nicaragua country director. Alvaro brought an entrepreneurial background, a social passion, and a local savvy to his role, strengthening his ability to further lasting and impactful change for families while navigating the trials and intricacies of leading a team through often challenging times. As a wise mentor, he has been a steadfast sounding board.

With his entrepreneurial spirit, he has shaped our market-based approach. Driven by his commitment to social service, he has been critical to extending our safe-water reach across Nicaragua and into Honduras. As co-founder of EOS Nicaragua and after so many years of serving our mission, we are not quite ready to let him go. We are grateful that Alvaro will continue to serve as a trusted advisor and will continue to bring his commitment to drive change as a member of the Cova board of directors.

Alvaro has always encouraged reflecting on the past to help inform the future, and his ruminations will live on. The way he tells it, he and co-founder, Wes Meier, huddled together in a small dirt-floor office fifteen years ago setting their intention for the organization. He envisioned having grand impact in multiple countries and being recognizable as a trusted social enterprise. He then went on to make it so.

Thank you, Alvaro, for raising us up to be a premiere water quality services organization.

We are pleased to announce that Ivette Morazan has now joined our team in the role of Nicaragua Country Director. Our organization has grown considerably since our early dirt-floor office days, and we are looking forward to continuing to grow in knowledge and in network as Ivette shares over thirty years of experience in the rural Water and Sanitation sector, including experience in the NGO sector as director of Water for People Nicaragua and in the government sector as a WASH consultant with the Inter-American Development Bank. The way Ivette tells it, when she read the Cova job description, she felt like all that was missing was her name at the top. And we were more than happy to add it! Welcome, Ivette.

We are excited to have Ivette join Diana Calix, our Honduras Country Director, adding another strong female voice and leader to not only the Cova team, but to the WASH sector as a whole, a space where her collaborative spirit and progressive thinking especially benefits those we seek to serve.

I am excited by how quickly the quality of life of families can be improved by simply providing access to drinking water and decent sanitation.  – Ivette Morazan