Aftermath : women"s organizations in postconflict El Salvador

By war"s end, more than 100 WOs existed in El Salvador, each generating local and regional projects and frequently working in the national political arena as well. By contrast with Latin American nations, the women"s movement in El Salvador has grown stronger in the postconflict period of emerging democracy. The case of El Salvador, documented in this summary of a recent CDIE study (PN-ACG-616), suggests that helping WOs establish autonomy and stability during, rather than after, a conflict may be crucial to ensuring women"s activism and a vital civil society. A critical accomplishment of Salvadoran WOs during and after the war has been the stimulation of public debate on women"s issues such as child support, domestic violence, reproductive rights, prenatal and health care, rape and trauma, and unequal economic opportunities and working conditions. Working with the attorney general, the Salvadoran Institute for Women"s Development, and various government ministries, WOs have influenced government policy and trained government employees to integrate gender concerns into their services. But what has earned Salvadoran WOs legitimacy is the host of vital services -- projects to generate income and provide health and child care -- they now supply. These programs, many of which began in the 1980s, are now receiving funding from international donors. In the postconflict period, Salvadoran WOs have built national and international coalitions to accomplish their goals. These organizations have also pressed to increase women"s participation in electoral politics and to influence the political platforms of major parties. Some have developed projects using new funding channels, such as solidarity committees, small international foundations, and NGOs. El Salvador now has a corps of hundreds of articulate, educated, and politically skilled women leaders who can help generate policy. But many remain untapped resources. The involvement of these politically savvy women is essential for the further empowerment of all Salvadoran women. Recommendations are as follows: (1) Integrate the development work of Salvadoran WOs into the overall process of recovering from the conflict and rebuilding the country. When important national projects are defined in health, education, democratization, rural development, and the environment Salvadoran WOs should be part of the planning and evaluation process. (2) Encourage government institutions and the private sector to support, acknowledge, and work with WOs. Salvadoran WOs have a wealth of experience and expertise in many areas important to government institutions. The expertise should be used as a resource in reconstructing Salvadoran society. Comprehensive gender-sensitivity training and gender- oriented programs are needed in almost every branch of government and in many private sector institutions. (3) Support coalition efforts between WOs and different sectors. Such links are a key to empowering women in the larger Salvadoran society. (4) Provide greater autonomy in funding models that permit WOs to focus on their own agendas. Until the early to mid-1990s, many Salvadoran WOs were funded by small foundations and international support committees. That afforded more egalitarian relationships between WOs and their supporters and allowed the WOs to develop an autonomous vision for their work. Future funding should follow that model. (5) Support financial stability and institution building among Salvadoran WOs, which often overlook financial sustainability because of the more immediate problems they confront. Institutional strengthening of WOs will decrease their dependence on donors. (6) Treat WOs as planning partners and allow them to help determine project time lines and funding cycles. This could result in better projects and more consistent outcomes. Donors should consider multi-year funding and longer project time frames. (7) Reexamine funding methods. WOs are concerned about receiving USAID funding through third parties -- often other NGOs or government- sponsored programs. While direct funding of WOs is preferred, USAID may be unable to handle the related management burden. Alternatively, the Agency could give more attention to the selection of the third party and establish streamlined procedures for subgrant approval and implementation. (8) Continue to provide WOs with accounting, monitoring, and evaluation training. Many WOs have responded positively to such training, which should be expanded to reach new organizations.