Empower the Youth Development in El Salvador

Greeting Donors,

This project contributed to the strengthening of the Daycare centers of Amando López, Octavio Ortiz and El Presidio. Additionally, this project added an installation of a new satellite internet service in the office of ACUDESBAL to allow members to be able to effectively communicate with us as well as with other organizations. This service also extends to the surrounding community giving the population access to fast internet access and improving theirs also. Access is extended to the Health clinics in Nuevo Amanecer and El Zamoran as well as to the Renal Disease Treatment Center in Cuida Romero. This project developed a sports tournament and capacity building component involving more than 500 young men and women. This new project allows for the participation of the majority of families in the communities that seek to harmonize the coexistence of young people and to reduce the probability that they engage in anti-social activities through soccer and greater community unity. The chart below outlines the things we were able to accomplish with the past project from 2011-2014 year.

Specific achievements of the project: 

1 - Reduction of number of underweight children in the three centers

• 12% of children in centers reported as chronically underweight (20 in all) 20% reported as underweight (32 in all)
• 8% of children in centers reported as underweight (14 in all) zero cases of chronic malnourishment

2 – Supported the development of the educations of the centers

• Support for bi-monthly travel to capital for additional education
• Funds saved due to nutrition project used to purchase equipment needs in the center
• Greater parental involvement in centers through continued capacity building workshops

3 - Improvement to the physical structure of the centers.

• Construction of a kitchen and dining area Amando Lopez Daycare Center  
• Replaced the fence perimeter of the daycare center in the community Amando Lopez to prevent neighboring wildlife from entering the center.
• Constructed new fence perimeter for the daycare center in the community El Presidio  to prevent neighboring wildlife from entering the center
• Assisted in constructing new bathroom facilities in the three centers to improvement the children and employee’s sanitation and access to clean facilities.

4 - Develop a process of educating and training the parents and staff of the three centers in order to contribute to the improvement of the handling of food, sanitation, nutrition, and oral health. 

• Three workshops on oral health
• Three workshops on food handling
• Acquisition and delivery of 161 oral hygiene kit
• Purchase of three refrigerators, 14-square foot in size.

5 - Install internet service for the institutional communication and access for the organization ACUDESBAL 

• Installation of  the internet service
• Establish satellite internet access to the ACUDESBAL main office

6 – Expansion of the annual Bajo Lempa Soccer tournament to include more communities and a greater number of capacity building workshops.

• 29 communities participated in the tournament
• 552 individual community members participated in tournament
• Six violence prevention workshops
• Six drugs and alcohol prevent workshops.

We have expanded our partnership with ACUDESBAL to encompass more of the residents in Bajo Lempa. This project aims to support the youth of the Bajo Lempa Region, as they are one of the most vulnerable group affected by the social phenomena linked to crime within the country.

For the coming year of 2015 will as Globemed at Penn State will complete our partnership with ACUDESBAL after reaching the goals set forth in our Memorandum of Understanding. In the future, Globemed at Penn State will continue to support the drive for global health equity around the world and we hope that you continue to be a part of our journey as we continue to grow and develop as students and future leaders.

Thanks to your support, we have been able to achieve much success in improving the health and quality of life in the Bajo Lempa Region of El Salvador. With your donations, we can continue to work in the communities and achieve good, sustainable results.

Thank for your contiuned generosity 

Globemed At Penn State