History
Catholic Relief Services has worked in El Salvador for more than 40 years, delivering emergency aid, carrying out integrated development projects, and promoting charity, justice and solidarity. CRS' first activity in El Salvador was a food program in 1960.
Since the 1992 peace accords ended 12 years of civil war, CRS El Salvador—in collaboration with our local partners—has implemented development projects in the areas of agriculture and environment, health, HIV and AIDS, microfinance, peacebuilding and civil society. Since its inception, CRS El Salvador has also carried out emergency response and reconstruction efforts to assist Salvadorans affected by the civil war and numerous natural disasters including earthquakes, hurricanes and tropical storms.
Partners
Caritas El Salvador
Caritas El Salvador is the national Catholic agency for social assistance and development of the Episcopal Conference of El Salvador. Caritas works in collaboration with local parishes and other actors in all eight dioceses of the country to ensure that the needs of the poor and marginalized in even the most remote areas are addressed. Catholic Relief Services partners with Caritas nationally and at the diocesan level in numerous projects including disaster mitigation and relief, sustainable agriculture, integrated water resource management and migrant rights.
Fe y Alegria
Fe y Alegria (Faith and Joy) is an international education movement founded in Venezuela in 1955 by a Jesuit priest. Today it provides quality education to more than 1 million children in poor communities in 16 countries in Latin America. Fe y Alegria operates an extensive school system as well as vocational training centers that empower children and young people in their personal development and participation in society. Fe y Alegria seeks to bring about social transformation based on Christian values of justice, participation and solidarity. Catholic Relief Services El Salvador partners with Fe y Alegria in its Youth Builders program for at-risk youth.
ACUGOLFO
ACUGOLFO is an association made up of representatives from local groups, organizations and government who work together to promote the recuperation, protection, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, with particular attention to the watershed that drains to the Gulf of Fonseca. Consistent with sustainable human development, ACUGOLFO promotes awareness, participation and coordination of communities in identifying needs and managing water resources in their area.
Programs
Agriculture
Catholic Relief Services and our local partners work with rural families and communities to improve farming systems; support diverse production-crops, livestock, trees and fish; promote soil and water conservation; expand access to markets and agro-enterprise opportunities; and strengthen farmer organizations.
With the support of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and through the Bridges from Scarcity to Security project, CRS works with producers in coffee-growing areas to increase and diversify their sources of income, ensuring stability throughout the year. In addition to technical assistance, the project promotes community-based savings and lending groups to encourage management of scarce resources as well as to foster social cohesion and organization among communities.
Catholic Relief Services El Salvador and our partners work with at-risk youth to address three key problems the country faces: high levels of youth unemployment and inactivity, high levels of violence in which young people are both victims and perpetrators of violence and the creation of alternatives to migration for young people.
Through its Youth Builders project, CRS provides at-risk youth vocational and entrepreneurial training, job-placement support, life skills and leadership development, and community service opportunities. In addition, CRS works with Caritas to implement My New Life Plan, strengthening diocesan programs to work with at-risk youth through a network of community and government agencies. And most recently, CRS is working with the United Nations Development Program, local governments and the Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce to provide job and income generating opportunities for gang-involved youth.
The disproportionate impact that natural disasters and climate change have on the poor make it essential for vulnerable communities to improve their resiliency and ability to manage these events. In El Salvador, Catholic Relief Services and our partners work with communities to strengthen their capacity to prevent and mitigate loss from natural disasters and to manage the post-emergency recovery process. CRS responds to major emergencies through its partner Caritas El Salvador and is currently implementing a youth-led disaster risk reduction project with Caritas San Vicente for communities in the highly vulnerable Acahuapa River watershed, with support from the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance.
In partnership with Caritas, the microfinance institution ENLACE, and other civil society partners, Catholic Relief Services El Salvador promotes the formation of community savings groups in the poorest regions of the country. The groups target all members of the community—youth, women, men—and provide them a safe and self-managed way to build community savings and access to credit. The groups provide a way for members to increase assets on their own without relying on financing from external sources such as banks or donors. The savings groups constitute an important vehicle for community organization and for the empowerment and leadership development of women and young people in particular.
Catholic Relief Services promotes peacebuilding in El Salvador through our youth violence prevention programs and integrated watershed management initiatives. CRS and our local partners are helping marginalized youth more positively participate in civic and economic life in El Salvador through skill-building workshops and community service programs, which seek to build trust and reconciliation between youth and their communities.
Catholic Relief Services is currently implementing a water and sanitation project, known as SWASH, in schools in rural El Salvador. The project works in close collaboration with community stakeholders—parents, teachers, students, local organizations and governments—who contribute labor and a portion of the financial resources to ensure the project's successful completion. As a result, students and teachers in eight schools benefit from increased access to drinking water as well as toilet and washing facilities.
