• For our 2007 Progress Report, click here.

• See SHARE’s 25^th Anniversary Poster.

The year 2003 was one of opportunity and reflection for SHARE. Answering a call from our partners, SHARE refocused and broadened our advocacy in work in 2003 to address the impact of neoliberal economic and social policies on our Salvadoran sisters and brothers in a more comprehensive manner. SHARE invested a great deal of is resources to educating and mobilizing our grassroots base around issues such as the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) which threatens to push the majority of the Salvadoran population into deeper levels of poverty. CAFTA will also increase environmental devastation and displace the rural population, the majority of whom already live in poverty.

Over the last ten years, SHARE supported over 50 local development initiatives in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador. There are many successes to note from these partnerships. Over the last several years, SHARE supported the organization of CRIPDES women’s committees in 29 communities and in 2003, the local communities responded by electing an unprecedented 56% of the women who ran to community presidencies - the most important role in community leadership and development. In addition, one of the municipalities in the Lower Lempa, Tecoluca, was highlighted by the European Union (EU) as the most organized municipality in San Vicente where the EU is executing a multimillion dollar investment called “Productive San Vicente” of which Tecoluca will be both recipient and protagonist. At the request of the EU, Tecoluca´s community will share its model of organization with other municipalities

Using our successes in the Lower Lempa as a model, we are moving our local development work to a new region of El Salvador in 2004. In preparation for the relocation of our local development work, SHARE created a transitional plan together with our partners in the Lower Lempa. This plan called for a paced withdrawal process of two to three years (2001-2004), allowing for the groups in the Lower Lempa to access additional funding, if necessary, with SHARE’s support. SHARE will honor current commitments to our partners, funding certain groups in the Lower Lempa into 2004. SHARE will also fund exchanges between groups in the Lower Lempa and Chalchuapa and Atiquizaya (SHARE’s new focus regions) to share experiences.

I. Advocacy Program
In just two years the face of El Salvador has changed. US President George W. Bush’s March 2002 visit and announcement of plans to pursue a free trade agreement with Central America (CAFTA), as well as the beginning of implementation of the Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP), an ambitious $10 billion infrastructure, utility and commercial integration mega-project affecting 62 million people living in Central America, have obliged Salvadoran organizations to refocus their work for economic, social and political justice by incorporating opposition to these neoliberal proposals into their scope of work.

SHARE’s advocacy program promotes the rights of the Salvadoran rural population to shape the development paths for their country by advocating for sustainable rural development policies and programs at the national and local levels. SHARE accompanies and strengthens advocacy efforts of partners in-country, and coordinates international advocacy initiatives in support of our Salvadoran partners.

In 2003 SHARE had three main themes to its advocacy work which were:

• Addressing and offering alternatives to economic policies that deepen poverty and eliminate vital safety nets for the poor, including privatization of healthcare, the extension of free trade policies through negotiations of a Central American – US Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and infrastructure projects such as the Plan Puebla Panamá (PPP).

• Financial support and technical assistance so that Salvadoran organizations could carry out a host of educational and organizing activities including support for demonstrations and gatherings of civil society groups opposed to CAFTA and strengthening advocacy proposals that would make life in rural El Salvador more prosperous such as having access to credit, farm-to-market roads and better access to education and healthcare.

• Building support in the United States by educating SHARE’s base regarding free trade initiatives and the impact that they will have on the lives of everyday Salvadorans and especially the rural population; creating momentum among DC-based NGOs that represent a diverse constituency, especially Salvadoran Americans and traditional solidarity organizations, in favor of fair trade over free trade and promoting sustainable development policy alternatives through visits, tours and meetings with US policy makers.

Photo: White March to Protest the Privatization of Healthcare

II. Local Development Program

The Local Development Program of the SHARE Foundation provides grants, advocacy support and technical assistance (i.e. help developing workplans, business plans, writing proposals and reports, tracking of grant monies, evaluations and outreach) to Salvadoran organizations. The local development projects that SHARE supports contain three integrating principles as outlined in our 2002-2006 strategic plan: they are women’s empowerment, citizen participation and leadership development.

A sampling of projects that SHARE supported in 2003 include:

• The Melida Anaya Montes Women’s Movement micro-finance program in Zacotecoluca. Through this program, over 125 women received credit and training for small businesses, food production and sales.
  
• The CIDEP Violence Prevention Project that combines community education and permanent community structures to address and combat domestic violence. With this year’s support, CIDEP expanded its work to 15 new communities.
  
• The Marta Gonzalez Cattlewomen’s Cooperative made grants to 253 women to purchase cattle in 2003. This year, SHARE supported the line of credit, as well their comprehensive plan to train promoters to provide technical assistance and finance skills to new members. The cooperative expects to be self-sustaining soon.
  
• CRIPDES San Vicente Women’s Committee through which 29 different women’s committees have been formed to advocate for women’s issues at the local and municipal level, including development issues and free trade issues.

• Municipal Development Council of Tecoluca: The municipality of Tecoluca is a model for El Salvador when it comes to citizen participation. Governed by the FMLN since 1994, Tecoluca´s municipal government has been successful because it has welcomed all actors and sectors to work together to prioritize needs each year and to spread out the municipal budget so that over a period of time every community has been reached with many projects varying from potable water to farm-to-market roads, schools, electrification, housing and more. On November 16, 2003, with the support of SHARE, San Nicolas Lempa inaugurated a market for their community. This market will allow local vendors from the community to create economic opportunities for themselves and be a space for local people to purchase what they need. Furthermore, this is no ordinary market but really a community center. The local community provided input into what they needed in the market and the local government responded. The market includes a bank, pharmacy, childcare center and clinic. In addition, meeting spaces are designated for women’s and environmental organizations, as well as a space for cultural activities.

III. Grassroots Program

The Grassroots Program of the SHARE Foundation is an exciting initiative driven by international, cross-cultural cooperation over 20 years strong. This initiative has brought together Salvadoran Americans, US women religious, US Sistering committees and a host of actors from throughout Salvadoran civil society. This cross border collaboration or accompaniment has not only yielded education and inspiration in both countries, but also funds for local development projects and direction for advocacy aimed at creating systemic solutions to the obstacles to development faced in urban and rural El Salvador.

Sister Communities: Facilitating Cross-Border Solidarity
In 2003, approximately 50 US parishes continued historic sister relationships with 21 rural communities (administered by our Salvadoran local partner CRIPDES) and four urban parishes. These personal connections continued to bring forward the faces, stories, and lives behind SHARE’s support for initiatives for social and economic justice in El Salvador. US sister committees accompanied communities in El Salvador through personal exchanges, advocacy, and financial support. A volunteer network of eight promoters served as the US links to parishes in six regions. These promoters hold an annual retreat that includes crossover time with SHARE’s annual staff retreat in September.

Working with the Salvadoran American Community
For the past five years, SHARE has been hard at work building relationships with a talented and diverse pool of Salvadoran organizations and individuals. SHARE’s Salvadoran American committees and SHARE’s relationships with Salvadoran and Central American organizations in the United States, such as MILPA, CUS, SANN and CARECEN have created spaces for Salvadorans in the United States to articulate the relationship between rural development policy in El Salvador, poverty and immigration. In September, SHARE attended the first conference of Salvadoran associations in the US in Los Angeles, an important step in information sharing among this vibrant and diverse community.

Photo: ACAP explaining Highway Bypass to a delegation

On December 7, 2003 SHARE, MILPA and the Quijote Center mobilized approximately 150 – 200 members of the Salvadoran and solidarity communities to march in opposition to CAFTA. The march served as a catalyst that led to daily noontime vigils for the two weeks while the final round of negotiations were taking place in Washington, DC. During December, SHARE also served as the liaison between Representative Hilda Solis and Dr. Salvador Arias from the legislative assembly in El Salvador, setting up meetings for the Congresswoman in DC and facilitating communication in January to bring Dr. Arias to Washington, DC for a Congressional briefing. We also helped integrate the Salvadoran community representatives and Dr. Arias into a press conference at the National Press Building.

On June 27, 2003, members of the SHARE San Francisco Salvadoran American Committee ran as “Team El Salvador” in the San Francisco Chronicle Marathon to raise money and awareness for SHARE’s local development partners. The committee is working on creative ways to do more than just send back vital remittances to El Salvador. By supporting initiatives aimed at creating sustainable local economies, the committee hopes not only to ameliorate poverty in El Salvador, which drives people north, but to also combat the roots of this poverty. .

Delegations, Tours and Special Events
Nine sistering delegations visited El Salvador this year. SHARE also hosted a group of theological students from San Francisco, and two general delegations, one of women religious and a second of other SHARE supporters including Board Members and donors.

2003 Program Report:

Contents:

• Introduction: A Review of our Programs and Institutional Priorities
• Advocacy Program
• Local Development Program
• Grassroots Program
• Organizational Update
• Summary

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