The country has suffered devastating natural disasters including earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding as well as massive political turmoil.

Many rural families are so poor they rely on their children to work, meaning youngsters just don't get the chance to go to school.

The Sheffield-Esteli Society was set up in 1979 as a partnership between Sheffield and the municipality of Esteli – the third largest city in Nicaragua and the administrative and commercial centre of the northern part of the country. The two cities were twinned in 1987.

Since then the society has worked on many crucial projects as members travelled to Nicaragua for hands-on work as well as fundraising back home.

Over the years the group has supported school building, furniture and library facilities.

Adrian Look has been a member since he moved to Sheffield in 1990 and, despite numerous visits to Esteli, says nothing can prepare visitors for the heart-rending poverty there.

"When you visit people in their homes it is not just that they have mud floors but they lack any kind of facilities or electricity," he said.

"It is the lack of any kind of comfort, simple things are a luxury, beds are often made of salvaged wood.

"The depth the poverty reaches is so stark and, even though I have seen it many times in Nicaragua, I am still moved to tears."

The society launched the same year as the unpopular Somoza dictatorship was overthrown in a revolution that saw thousands of people die in fighting.

Nicaragua's Sandinista government has now declared a policy to guarantee full primary education to all children, but nobody knows just how many families still aren't being reached.

The Sheffield group is supporting a new project helping people in Esteli get children into education including improving nursery school provision in the more remote areas.

It also wants to support communities with plans to build classrooms or adapt existing buildings as well as getting parents more involved.

Adrian believes a lack of money isn't the only thing that stops children in the most rural areas accessing education.