Siramá in El Salvador

Access to Training and Income Generation for Poor Women is a project of Reledev Australia Limited, AusAID and Asociación de Fomento Cultural y Deportivo (AFCD) in El Salvador. This Central American country has a population of 6.5 million people, of these about 37% are in poverty.

Launched in July 2005, this project targets women with as little as 3 years of schooling and who come from rural or marginal-urban locations of San Salvador. It aims to train them in skills that can be used to start a home-based enterprise. These skills include: bread making, sewing, crafts, and hairdressing. The women are also provided with small business skills and technical support when starting a business.

Illiterate women access piñata/paper-flower making and small business skills. The training enables these women to generate income for their families while making it compatible with their family obligations.

Technical support verifies how the business is being run, emphasises the need for hygienic practices for food handling, appropriate storage of materials, production and packaging of goods, cleanliness, the administration of production costs, selling techniques, etc. The supervisor and the beneficiary draw up plans for the development or growth of the business and for personal and family improvement. With technical support, women feel more secure about making decisions and facing the challenges of a small enterprise.

The project improved women’s self-esteem. Their spouses and children respect and admire them for what they have achieved. Furthermore, they have an income, achieve greater efficiencies from scarce resources, and maintain hygienic conditions in their homes. Their children can study and receive medical attention. These changes are noticeable to others in the community. It is no wonder that 60% of beneficiaries have come through women who had participated in the project.

Reledev’s Program Manager met some beneficiaries and visited women who are starting small businesses. The women are determined to achieve a better future for their families. Some travel from as far as 75 K out of San Salvador to receive this training. Women overcome family prejudice about their ability to learn an income generating skill as adults. They are motivated and encouraged by shared experiences of other women.

Here are some testimonials from participating women:

Martiza Trujillo, who lives in San Bartolo (located outside San Salvador) makes and sells piñatas at home. Piñatas are a week-end highlight for Salvadoran families and communities. Since her children are very young, she believes that it is important for her to work at home. Her husband helps her sell her creations when he has no work. She earns US$65 per month from piñatas alone.

Martha Estela Lopez’s family lives on a ravine in Santiago Texacuangos. The family subsists on earnings made through the sale of sweet bread at parks and bus stops. Her husband, youngest son and mother are involved. The family makes US$190 per month on sweet bread sales alone.

Blanca Marisol de Jesús, 23 writes: I enrolled in the bread making course in March 2006. I had an oven and was already selling two kinds of bread. As I progressed in my training, I broadened the radius of my activity. I now have a saleswoman who sells for me and I sell the rest of my products to a shop. My income has risen to US$240 per month. This enables me to take care of my two preschoolers. My husband helps in the evenings when there is such a demand. We are planning to move to a location with a better market and to open a small bakery in order not to depend on others for the distribution. This will also enable me to lower the price of bread and attend to customers directly. I also intend to diversify my production to include pastry. The bookkeeping and personal development classes have been of great help in my business as well as family life.

Marta Alicia Hidalgo is a single mother. She now sews baby clothes in a workshop. She is happy about being able to provide something for her family.

Maria Delfa Nieto did hairdressing. She installed a salon in her own home and feels happy about being an independent business woman who can at the same time take care of children.

Updated: October 2006