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Meet the local nonprofit collaborating with community members to build micro-finance collectives and provide ovarian cancer screening and health checks for women.
Who Are They?
Anades is run by a team of local development professionals united in their passion to improve economic opportunities and access to healthcare for vulnerable women. Through a distinctly participatory process of development, beneficiaries themselves are empowered to design, manage and evaluate micro-finance projects, as well as access quarterly health screening in their communities.
"Working directly with communities means we can create more durable programs".
"We design each park to fit the unique needs of every community".
Why is their work so important?
RURAL ECONOMY
38.8% of rural El Salvadorian households live in poverty and 10.1% live in extreme poverty.
INEQUALITY
Women only hold 11% of national land titles, meaning they don't have access to collateral by which they can leverage credit.
HEALTH
Given the limited healthcare budget in El Salvador, preventative health and screening is rarely available, particularly in rural areas.
Explore this Nonprofits amazing work first-hand.
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MICROFINANCE FOR WOMEN
What do they do?
Anades work directly with local women to create small collectives that form the basis of their projects. Under the guidance of Anades facilitators, these collectives manage micro-finance and preventative healthcare programs with the support of qualified economists and healthcare professionals.
Financial Literacy and Access to Credit
Community micro-financing is a development tool allowing locals to access small lines of credit from a ‘community-account'. It is proven to be successful in small communities where social links are leveraged to support the repayments of credit, and the interest can then be re-invested into providing larger future loans. Instead of running the project themselves, Anades has empowered 150 local women in 8 collectives with the skills they need to manage their accounts independently. Under the guidance of an Anades facilitator, they meet monthly to collect repayments and approve small loans amongst the group. Loans have allowed women to purchase cows which are used to gain regular income from milk, and has allowed some women to access emergency funding for healthcare.
Preventative Healthcare Screening
Many women in El Salvador are unable to access healthcare due to cost, social-barrier and remote locations. Anades work with local collectives of women to offer free preventative healthcare screenings directly in their communities. Anades provide transport and funding for a doctor and lab technician to visit communities, performing tests for ovarian cancer, HIV and other infectious diseases. They also offer sexual and reproductive education sessions for young women and monitor for malnutrition amongst young children.
What do locals think?
Quina,
Anades local facilitator
"Economic empowerment is not about giving women money, it's about tools to take their own decisions."
Patty,
Micro-Finance Beneficiary
"I bought this calf 2 years ago for $200. I also paid $20 for vaccination, and now it is worth $750 at the market "
Sal
Micro-Finance Beneficiary
"I pay back $29/month on my $300 loan which I used to buy goats that I am now breeding."
