2009

Community development in five municipalities of Morazán (El Salvador)

The context

According to the report on Human Development of 2005, the Department of Morazán presents high poverty rates: there is more than 33% of the population living in extreme poverty, and an index of relative poverty over 31.74%, which rises the population of the Department who lives in poverty up to a 64.7%.

Although international cooperation is very present in Morazan, there are very few interventions in rural areas of the Department. In the rural communities of the five municipalities that make up the area of intervention, the only present support is the national solidarity network program, which has a very variable coverage.

The project to evaluate

In the decision of Intervida to speak in the Department of Morazán, the high rates of poverty were considered, as well as different requests made to reach the organization from government agencies and some municipalities in the area.

The programme was initiated in 2007, establishing the strategy of developing a strong theoretical and practical training work with four key organisational sectors within communities:

• Strengthening partnerships for community development
• Conformation and consolidation of the support to the promotion of health groups
• Groups of interest in productive sector
• Strengthening of community associations for education and school boards

The evaluation wants to be the sum of the assessment of the actions carried out in the two years of implementation of the program, its design and results, which will allow you to orient the actions of intervention in the Department of Morazán and will provide the decision making for the future implementation of the programme in this Department and its multiplication in other areas.