FOCUS
Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Alleviating Hunger
Creating Economic Opportunities
Rebuilding Communities after Disasters

MDGs ADDRESSED
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
MDG 5: Improve maternal health
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
MDG 8: Create a global partnership for development

OVERVIEW
Salvadorans have endured major hardships over the past twenty-five years. A decade-long civil war ended in 1992. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch killed hundreds and destroyed half of the nation's crops. In early 2001, two major earthquakes and ten thousand aftershocks left an estimated 1.5 million people homeless. The combined disasters brought economic and social development to a standstill in the rural areas.

Today, almost 50% of the population lives in poverty. Underemployment is rampant, and many struggling Salvadorans survive on the remittances sent by family members who are living in the United States. In rural areas, access to health care is limited and villages suffer from inadequate sanitation systems. Sixty-one percent of homes do not have running water. One-quarter of Salvadoran children under five years old living in rural areas suffer from malnutrition.

Our PARTNERS
Episcopal Relief and Development is partnering with the Episcopal Diocese of El Salvador, which has approximately 2,000 members, and oversees 12 parishes and four schools. On-the-ground technical expertise is provided by two NGO partners: CREDHO in the northern and western regions, and the Association El Mangle in the eastern region.

Our CURRENT PROGRAMS
Episcopal Relief and Development is providing long-term solutions for productive, healthy, and self-sufficient families and communities in El Salvador.

Episcopal Relief and Development is continuing its partnership with the Diocese of El Salvador in the three villages that Episcopal Relief and Development rebuilt, which included housing, churches, clinics and schools to serve 750 residents. This program has transitioned from relief and rebuilding assistance to long-term, integrated community development focusing on strengthening health care, economic stability, and agricultural sustainability.

Through its partnership with CREDHO, Episcopal Relief and Development is bringing integrated agricultural development and health education programs to 28 rural communities in western El Salvador. These programs focus on community gardening and sexual health education and HIV/AIDS prevention for youth.

Together with the Mangrove Association, Episcopal Relief and Development is working in the municipalities of Usulután and Jiquilísco in eastern El Salvador to improve sanitation systems and introduce smokeless cook stoves that prevent respiratory problems and conserve firewood, serving more than 600 people. Community members provide the labor and, in turn, learn valuable construction skills.

Promoting Health and Fighting Disease
Episcopal Relief and Development is providing health education, treatment, disease prevention, and improved sanitation through community-based clinics and health promoters.

• Medical clinics in the Episcopal Relief and Development-constructed villages provide diagnoses and treatment and dispense free medication. Pastoral counseling is also available for patients.
• Community health promoters teach prevention and treatment of common illnesses such as diarrhea, respiratory ailments, and fungal infections, as well deadly diseases such as cholera and dengue fever.
• Youth health promoters educate their peers on reproductive health, STDs, HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy.
• Composting latrines that are simple and environmentally sound provide adequate sanitation to prevent disease.
• Potable water systems supply safe, clean, plentiful water to 300 families.
• Smokeless cook stoves that use less wood and are vented outside the home prevent respiratory illnesses and conserve fragile mangrove forests.
• Solid waste disposal systems provide a channel for hygienic disposal of trash and recyclables, while training community volunteer participants to eventually operate it as a business.

Alleviating Hunger
Episcopal Relief and Development is preventing malnutrition by helping families increase their supply of nutritious food.

• Organic gardening workshops teach farming techniques to primary school students and their families.
• Family gardens provide high-nutrition foods and help save on food costs, while creating new sources of income through sale of surplus produce.

Creating Economic Opportunities
Episcopal Relief and Development is providing opportunities to increase the value of food products that can be grown in the community in order to develop new sources of income.

• Training in processing techniques and basic marketing increases the value of family-grown produce and gives women access to less-competitive local markets.
• Small animal husbandry and honey production provide nutritious food and create opportunities to earn income.

Our PAST ACHIEVEMENTS
Episcopal Relief and Development’s partnership with the Diocese of El Salvador began in 2001 in response to the devastating earthquakes. Since 2001, Episcopal Relief and Development has accomplished the following:

• Constructed three new communities that provided 750 people with earthquake-safe homes, health clinics, and churches.
• Provided affordable mortgages for families in these communities.
• Constructed a school, clinic and sanitary facilities in the community of San Juan de Letran.
• Built two Anglican primary schools to educate children in the communities of San Jose (El Congo) and Melalio (at the Maizal compound).
• Repaired and rebuilt several diocesan properties including parishes and schools.
• Trained residents in community organization methods, including how to select leaders and develop decision-making processes for the community.
• Launched micro-finance programs that helped people start businesses.
• Built 60 smokeless stoves and 60 composting latrines in Usulutan and Jiquilisco.
• Developed youth health training programs that reached 19 communities in western El Salvador.