El Salvador

A young boy in El Salvador on an annual march in memory of Oscar Romero.

My name is Carmen Medina. I’m Progressio’s country representative in El Salvador.

Our tiny country is the most densely populated in the Americas. Many of its problems today stem from a stark division of wealth between a ruling elite and the majority of the population, many of whom live in absolute poverty.

This is what led to the civil war in the 1980s. Seventy thousand people died. A series of natural disasters followed, leaving 1,200 dead and 1 million homeless.

A change of government in 2009 brought hope, but for many years the popular feeling here was that the government was doing nothing to address the poverty in El Salvador. There are high levels of crime, and the presence of violent gangs; high unemployment; dreadful labour conditions; low government social investment; continual environmental deterioration; and, despite some successes of the women’s movement, limited women’s rights.

But at Progressio we are trying to address the problems of the Salvadorean people.

Our development workers are helping our partner organisations to expose policies that have a bad effect on the lives of local people and propose alternatives.

They’re trying to influence environmental policy, campaign for better access to water, encourage people to share their knowledge of sustainable agriculture, and improve the lives and status of women.

We are now also running the ICS Empower scheme for young volunteers in El Salvador.