EL SALVADOR
Nejapa, El Salvador
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Improving health and food security with a gender perspective.
During 2023, in Nejapa, El Salvador, the project "Improving Health and Food Security with a Gender Perspective" was implemented with the aim of enhancing healthy living conditions for 125 rural families in poverty from 5 communities in the municipality of Nejapa, Canton of Tutultepeque. Special attention has been given to two main aspects: improving sanitation conditions to reduce water source contamination risks, and simultaneously enhancing food security and nutrition through small-scale food production in backyard gardens.
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To achieve these objectives, the following actions have been undertaken:
The local counterpart
The Asociación de Educación Popular CIAZO is an educational institution that conducts its work with the philosophy of Popular Education. Its purpose is based on the articulation of different sectors of civil society in the search for solutions to key problems that affect them, such as: low educational levels, limited technical-productive and methodological knowledge, lack of cultural dynamics, little impact at the local level, lack of a sustainability perspective in the projects they develop, and organizational and leadership problems, among others.
1. Community health training process for families emphasizing the importance of health care, hygiene practices, the significance of using composting toilets, and their contribution to a healthy environment. Training includes human rights awareness sessions for women, focusing on the right to water, alongside sensitization for men and empowerment of women regarding gender equity in community development and household dynamics.
2. Training process for caregivers on adopting hygiene and health practices, as well as dietary habits at home.
Each workshop has promoted specific practices, such as the importance of maintaining family gardens, hygienic food handling, preparation of healthy recipes, and the promotion of cultivating medicinal herbs for women's health.
3. Improvement of food and nutritional health through the establishment of family gardens. Food security has been enhanced by creating nutritional gardens with locally adapted varieties, aiming to raise awareness about benefiting from the resources available to the community and municipality. The project adhered to the principles of the Farmer-to-Farmer methodology: promoting multiplier effects, experimenting on a small scale, achieving quick and recognizable success, limiting the introduction of technologies, and starting gradually and on a small scale.
4. Construction of dry composting toilets, related to agroecology through the production of compost, which serves as one of the inputs for fertilizing family gardens. Due to the urgent need for sanitation in the Canton, there is a demand from families who lack toilets. This situation worsens during the summer when, due to water scarcity, many families must use water from springs or streams for activities such as bathing or washing clothes, much of which is contaminated by open defecation. A total of 98 families have been identified as not having any type of toilet in their homes. In 2023, 26 composting toilets were successfully constructed.
We share with you the Recipe Book that we have prepared thanks to the recipe preparation workshops
Tutultepeque RECIPE BOOK
With the support of: