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CIS
Boulevard Universitario #4
Colonia El Roble
San Salvador, El Salvador
Centroamérica
Tel/FAX: +503 226-2623
cis@netcomsa.com
Six Month Report: April - September 2001, and Projections
The CIS initiated a new grassroots organizing project in
April of this year in areas affected by the January and February earthquakes.
The objectives of the project are aimed at facilitating community organizing so
that communities can work together for their reconstruction. Given the levels of
poverty and lack of dignified employment, it is virtually impossible to rebuild
without community participation. The community organizing is focused on
fomenting participation and critical thinking so that communities can work
toward long-term solutions to the perpetual economic earthquake in El Salvador
rather than looking for short-term handouts. With community organization it is
possible to access development projects. The community organizer plays a key
role in facilitating these contacts.
The CIS program is being carried out in communities in the Departments of La Paz, Cuscatlan, and La Libertad. The CIS prioritized communities based on the following criteria: significant level of earthquake damage; a strong enough level of existing organization to maximize the efforts of having a full-time organizer; areas that have relations with the CIS. The requirements for organizers include commitment, political/social vision, and that at least half be women.
In the first six months, the organizers have worked non-stop in organizing their communities to achieve concrete results. We want to share with you a more extensive report on this program and welcome your comments on the project or potential ways to generate long term funding for grassroots organizing.
Below is a synthesis of some of the context and progress in the municipalities:
SAN PEDRO MASAHUAT AND SAN LUIS LA HERRADURA, LA PAZ
:Carlos Martinez has been organizing in the Coastal Zone of La Paz since it was affected by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. The CIS cut back some of its organizational support to the zone because of lack of consolidation of community organization and because of persistent assistential attitudes. The zone, which was occupied by the National Guard during the entire war, is used to getting handouts because of its role in hosting military forces during the war. This has made it very difficult to motivate community members to work together and put in their part toward self-sustainability. As a result, the area is plagued with shanty houses, lack of basic services, etc.
Nonetheless, after the earthquake, instead of giving more materials for provisional shelter already received after Mitch, Carlos decided to dedicate his time to the villages most interested in organizing to look for real solutions instead of band-aide approaches. Carlos has focused on organizing participatory forums and community committees for disaster prevention. Below are some of the activities and achievement from the past six months:
 | Formation of emergency committees in San Marcelino, La Victoria, Las Isletas, Las Hojas, San Marcos Jiboa, Las Moras, El Porvenir, Achotal, and Astoria. |
| Workshops in conjunction with the Comandos de Salvamento and Equip Maiz on leadership, organization methodology, Emergency Plans, gender, community participation, law on seeds, and others. |
| Facilitating community participation and contribution of labor in water project in the village of Las Isletas. |
| Strengthening community campaigns to stop the extraction of sand from the Rio Jiboa by construction companies, a practice that is damaging the environment around the river. The campaign includes petitions, legal work, and press work. |
SAN PEDRO PERULAPAN, CUSCATLAN.
Delmy Valencia has been working with the Mesa Ciudadana (Citizens Roundtable) with the support of the Social Initiative for Democracy (ISD) for the past two years. The CIS has also collaborated with this organizing and continued supporting Delmy's organizing work when the ISD project ran out of funds in April. San Pedro Perulapan was the area of many massacres during the war and is still controlled by ARENA. The people in the isolated villages, who are the majority, are often ignored because they lack of financial and political power. The people in these areas have formed the Mesa Ciudadana to pressure the local government to respond to their needs. Only a few years ago, 7 or 8 people would show up to a village meeting; now normally 100 or so show up to work to build community consciousness and participation. Below are some of the achievements in the past 6 months:
| Consolidation and support to the Mesa Ciudadana in various villages. Formation of new community board in San Agustin. |
| Establishment of a central office for Citizens Roundtable. |
| Election of second Board of Directors |
| Organization and distribution of emergency tarp to 312 families and tin roofing to 220 families most in need in the municipality and left out of local government plans. |
| Organization and reception of 12 students from Colorado Mountain College living with families in El Espino Village and projects to fix rural roads and build a basketball court. |
| Organization and reception of Books for Peace Delegation to support mobile libraries in the schools of El Espino, Mira Flores, Buena Vista, and San Agustin. |
| Leadership training and welding workshop for youth with the Institute INSAFORP. |
| Diagnosis of the conditions in the municipality, with participation of ISD and the Mesa Ciudadana in each village. |
|
SAN RAFAEL CEDROS (SRC), CUSCATLAN.
Iris (Dora Alicia Alas) is a former combatant with the FMLN and grassroots health promoter. She was an unemployed single mother turned dynamic community organizer, and now regularly visits the villages in SRC helping form community organizations and planning workshops. Iris is working with the support of the City Hall of San Rafael Cedros in working to make and carry out participatory reconstruction plans. Some of the accomplishments to date include:
| Organization of 7 local committees: Canton Jiboa, Canton El Copinal, Canton Espinal, Canton Palacios, Canton Cerro Colorado, Canton Soledad. |
| Formation of 6 reconstruction committees in Canton Cerro Colorado, Canton El Espinal, Palcios, Jiboa, Barrio Concepcion Las Delicias. |
| Formation of 2 women's committees. |
| Fundraising and organization of reforestation project. |
| Fundraising and organizing of the construction of 150 permanent homes in Cerro Colorado. |
| Formation of council to oversee operation of brick-making machine (donated through CIS grant) in Canton Palacios as a base for permanent construction. |
| Organization of sewing and baking workshops with 60 women. |
| Training for community leaders. |
| Community participation of 56 people in the protest against dollarization. |
| Organization of legal support for families to get title to their land. |
| Coordination with CIS, FMLN, REDES, CORDES, ASOSAL, and City Hall. |
COMASAGUA, LA LIBERTAD.
Rafael Vásquez Martínez (Lito) is the organizer in Comasagua. Like many of his neighbors, he lost everything he owned in one of the towns hit worst by the January 13th earthquake. Comasagua became famous with the participation of the military reconstruction Brigade from Venezuela that arrived in El Salvador on January 14th. The Salvadoran Government sent the Venezuelan military to one of their strong ARENA towns. Unfortunately, the ARENA Mayor was not really interested in responding to the needs of the devastated families. As the Venezuelans became popular with local people, the Mayor's lack of concern became more apparent. The Mayor had wood and tin from the national government that he did not distribute to the people. Then in coordination with ARENA, the Mayor tried to get the Venezuelans kicked out. He did nothing to resolve the land problem for the people who would have enabled them to receive permanent and dignified housing from the Venezuelans. The smear campaign against Venezuela began after President Flores visited Washington D.C. and was told the U.S. was not happy with Venezuela's presence in El Salvador because of President Hugo Chavez's policies in favor of the poor in Venezuela and his friendly relationship with Fidel Castro.
Rafael and the communities have been able to organize the following:
| Protests and publicity when the Government tried to kick out the Venezuelans. Popular outcry and rage made the local and national government look shameful and retract their statements. |
| Formation of reconstruction committees in the following villages: Barrio El Centro, El Faro, La Cuchara, Las Violetas, Colonia Venezuela, Colonia Arcoiris, and Los Patios. |
| Meeting and organization to defend families from Barrio La Lupe from being evicted. The families settled on unoccupied land after their homes collapsed in a high risk area. |
| Land takeover by 40 families left homeless in Los Patios and fundraising to purchase the land where they have settled through a CIS donor. |
| Purchase of land for 23 families through CIS grant and fundraising for temporary housing. |
| Community films and forums |
| Community fundraising to build monument recognizing the Venezuelans contribution to rebuilding Comasagua. |
ZARAGOZA, LA LIBERTAD.
Manuel Batres is a well-known schoolteacher in the municipality, having worked there for the last 20 years. He is now dedicating half of his time to community organizing in conjunction with the Committee for Local Development (CDL) in Zaragoza and with the City Hall. With the backing of the city hall and the local development committee, Zaragoza has been able to organize in its communities much more extensively. Manuel has been focusing on consolidating community organization in 10 of Zaragoza's communities with the following achievements:
| 12-community analysis and strategic planning processes. |
| Formation of 12-community neighborhood watch committees to strengthen security. |
| Formation of 6 education and cultural committees in Asuchio, La Fuente, El Zaite, La Miramar, Corinto, Los Cedros and La San Antonio. |
| Leadership training for community leaders. |
| Community participation in May 1st labor march, Vigil for Peace and other national activities. |
| Construction of two water tanks for schools in El Zaite and Los Cedros without running water with participation of the Books for Peace delegation. |
| Coordination with Books for Peace delegation and distribution of mobile libraries in schools. |
| Coordination with the following NGOs: CREFAC, CECI, CIS, Books for Peace, UCA, COAR, FundaUngo, CORDES, and CIDEP to be able to carry out the above projects. |
Inaguaration of Bridge in Tepecoyo
TEPECOYO, LA LIBERTAD.
Blanca Luz Martínez Durán, former health promoter, is the current organizer in this zone. This zone has not been previously organized, so it has been difficult to cover more than Tepecoyo. Nonetheless, here are some of the accomplishments:
| Organization of donations and distribution of materials for provisional housing for 98% of those not taken into account by City Hall. Because of the misery people live in, they are generally satisfied with receiving hand-outs for immediate needs and it has been difficult to maintain local self-sustaining organization. |
| 63 people participated in forming an emergency committee in Tepecoyo; 96 people participated in the May 1 labor march; participation in other national mobilizations. It is worth mentioning that previously, there has never been participation from Tepecoyo in national marches or activities. |
| Organization of emergency food distribution and fertilizer distribution for earthquake affected farmers, with support from the Mayor of Nueva San Salvador and the Lion's Club. |
| *Organization of the re-construction of a bridge with a donation from CIS, that unites 4 marginalized communities. |
| *Formation of 3 emergency committees of the projected goal of 6. |
TAMANIQUE, LA LIBERTAD.
Tamanique was added onto the project in June. Because of the initiative and leadership of women in the community, the CIS decided to take on this additional municipality. Mayra Romero and Maria Margoth Arias have been sharing the responsibilities as community organizers. 1528 families lost their homes from the earthquakes here. From the report below, you can see that these women with community participation have done more that the city hall itself to respond to the needs of the people in Tamanique:
| Formation of 18 emergency committees; 14 of these are consolidated and functioning with elected councils. (Communities: El Terreno, Las Cumbritas, Santa Lucia, El Cerro, El Jobo, Tarpeya, Cuyanigua, Loma Linda, El Progreso, Los Molinos, El Palmarcito, La Lima, El Salamo, San Alfonso, San Isidro, La Cruz, and El Jobos). |
| Census of earthquake affected families |
| Distribution of food and mattresses to 990 families in 11 communities. |
| Housing and tin for 186 families in 2 communities: La Lima and El Jobo. |
| Construction materials for 88 families in the community of San Alfonso and elsewhere. |
| Food and construction materials for 300 families. |
| Agricultural package including fertilizer and seeds for 345 families. |
| Construction of 107 permanent houses and 45 partial constructions. |
| Mobilization for May1st labor march, protest for dignified housing, and other national activities. |
| Leadership training and training in building houses with improved adobe. |
| Coordination with the following institutions to achieve the projects mentioned above: CORDES, CIS, CODA/FECOC, FECORACEN, CODESMA, Catholic sisters from England, MAESTRA SUPREMA CHIN HAI of Tawaiin, FMLN Deputies, and Equipo Maiz. |
Projections for 2002
The CIS needs support to strengthen and continue this project. It is difficult to raise funds for grassroots organizing, since most foundations like to see concrete results in construction or other projects. At the same time, most development projects are non-sustainable or fail without community participation and organization. If organizations would like to commit financial support to the project, CIS will evaluate broadening the project to other municipalities based on needs, criteria, and financial resources available.
Continuation of the above project
Organizers: $3,575 per organizer for 12 months x 7 organizers = $25,025 (Includes stipend and mobilizing costs for organizer.)
Organizational Support: For community assemblies and transportation to community or national events. Evaluated based on criteria and requests: $ 4,800
Total funds needed: $29,825
If your organization would like to sponsor an organizer or contribute to this project, please contact us at: cis@netcomsa.com