Project SEMILLA board members affiliated with UCLA have worked for several years to strengthen ties between UCLA and the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) in León, Nicaragua. Over the past five years, faculty members at UCLA and UNAN have collaborated through project SEMILLA on a wide range of projects, offering opportunities for medical students, residents, and faculty to collaborate. These efforts lead to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two universities on February 16, 2017. The document was signed in a meeting with the rector of UNAN León, MSc. Octavio Guevara. Special thanks to Dr. Jorge Aleman, Dean of the faculty of medical sciences, UNAN León, and Dr. Tom Coates and the Center for World Health at UCLA for their support in the process. This is an important step both for the continued support of current collaborations and for the goal of fostering of new partnerships in the future.