Global Agendas – Local Realities: Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Chinandega, Nicaragua—“A Break from Their Ordinary Life…”

In the past two decades, there has been a proliferation of attention at the international and local levels, on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE) of children in Nicaragua. National policy and legislative changes, task forces and strategic plans aimed at criminalizing the demand side (consumers) of CSE have yielded minimal results. Using the concept of community trauma within an ecological framework, where relationships and social interactions are the foundation building blocks of the larger mezzo and macro setting, we ask: What then does looking from a community perspective teach us, and how can we incorporate these learnings to prevent, reduce and eradicate the exploitation of children in Nicaragua? This article contextualizes the phenomenon of CSEC, to investigate its expansion and community perceptions that shape its presence in Chinandega, Nicaragua to begin to close the geography of place and mezzo level knowledge gap. The study involved a total of 105 participants (54 females and 51 males). Data was collected in Spanish, via in-depth and situational interviews and focus groups. What was found was CSEC as “common knowledge” in their communities’ and a central organizing feature.