ALCANCE, alliance of communities supporting children and their continuance in education : increasing the impact of community remittances on education in El Salvador

ALCANCE is an innovative transnational pilot program initiated and funded by USAID/El Salvador and implemented by the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) in partnership with World Vision and over 20 Salvadoran immigrant groups in the United States. This one-year pilot program (July 1, 2004-June 30, 2005) sought to address three broad objectives simultaneously: (1) improving access to education and retention of poor, rural Salvadoran primary schoolchildren; (2) leveraging and channeling support of the private sector and U.S.-based Salvadoran groups for educational programs in their communities of origin; and (3) developing a sustainable implementation model that could involve transnational support to improve overall educational attainment in El Salvador beyond the one-year timeframe. Educational interventions included needs-based school assistance packages that supported student enrollment, retention, and educational quality, focusing on the neediest children in rural schools. ALCANCE s focus was to link these interventions to community remittance flows by learning more about Salvadoran hometown association (HTA) contributions and how these groups could play an effective role in education initiatives in El Salvador.