CARE in El Salvador
Years of conflict have left many parts of El Salvador impoverished, with almost one-third of the population forced to survive on less than one dollar a day.
In El Salvador we:
- improve access to quality education
- help people set up small businesses so they can earn a living
- build and repair water and sanitation facilities in rural areas
- improve agriculture, for example by training farmers on new techniques
Many children have to work to contribute to meagre family earnings by doing hazardous work, for example using machetes to cut sugar cane on plantations. We’re tackling child labour by improving access to primary education and helping parents of working children to earn more so, they can afford to send their children to school for longer.
We began working in El Salvador in 1956. But a violent civil war from 1979 to 1992, in which 75,000 people were killed and more than a million were forced to flee their homes, threatened our operations. The situation had deteriorated so much by 1980, that we were forced to suspend our work. Between 1985 and 1988 we returned temporarily and provided prosthetic limbs to war victims. We were able to fully return to our work in 1993.
CARE in action:
Combating child labour
We work with other international organisations to reduce child labour and exploitation in Central America and the Dominican Republic by improving access to quality education. At least 26,000 children in this region are being exploited, many working in slave-like conditions. We target children living in poor rural areas and around cities, raising awareness of the importance of education and the dangers of child labour. We’re helping to strengthen the government’s education and child labour policies to help working children go back to school and reduce their dropout rates.
Improving health, water and sanitation
We’re working to improve the health of 20,000 people in rural communities by making a 40 per cent reduction to the number of children under five years of age who suffer from diarrhoea. Diarrhoea is easy to treat and prevent, but it is a major cause of death among small children, so we’re working with communities and local government to provide health education and install water and basic sanitation services.
Earning a decent living
CARE, the Inter America Development Bank and local enterprises in El Salvador have together created a fund to finance rural development initiatives. Improving the lives of rural families in some of the poorest communities, the fund supports projects that have substantial economic impact, are innovative, sustainable, environmentally sound. They also work with vulnerable groups, and work in partnership with private companies.
What we do
