At Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM) we believe in "working together in a divided world." Our success is hinged upon partnering with other organizations to serve the poor. It's through these partnerships that we are able to bring justice to an unjust world. The following is a list of our current project partners.
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| Asociación Nuevo Amanecer De El Salvador (Association New Awakening of El Salvador)
San Ramón, San Salvador, El Salvador
The vision of ANADES is that through the promotion of solidarity, equality, justice, peace, ethics and the love of life that the Salvadoran society will be transformed and dignified. ANADES desires that the natural beauty of El Salvador be protected through political policy so that shelter, dignified work, education and health are protected for the generations to come.
ANADES also supports a government that is just, independent, autonomous, transparent, and truly participative and more so one that sustains international relations based on respect of the rights of all people. The vision of ANADES is to be an institution strengthened by reflection on experience based in a critical social conscience, technical training, human resources, and the materials and financing that permit the development of processes of education, health and community development that promote the values of love, solidarity, justice, respect of life and the environment.
ANADES is committed with human and social transformation lived from a preferential option for the poor. ANADES is currently runs programs in the areas of education, community development, health and emergency response to natural disasters. Also ANADES works in ecological sustainability and ecotourism on their farm in San Jorge.
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| Olivia together with the children of Programa Velazco at ANADES in San Ramon. |
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Servicio Social Pasionista
Servicio Social Passionista, or SSPAS, works in the parish of San Francisco de Asís in Mejicanos, El Salvador. There are four Passionist priests from Spain who work in the parish as well as a dozen or so seminarians from various Latin American countries.
SSPAS has four main areas in which it works. Prevention of and Attention to Violence, which also encompasses the youth programs and the women’s groups. The other sections are the Leadership and Political Participation Area, which works with the leadership of each community and encourages participation in politics; the Training and Employment Area, which encompasses the training programs which teach community members skills like jewelrymaking and cosmetology and also includes programs that help people find regular employment; and finally the Heath Area, under which fall the health clinic and various other preventative health care programs.
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| Maggie with a group of students |
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The SHARE Foundation
"VMM has provided the SHARE Foundation and its partner comunities with invaluable human resources needed to advance our work for long-term, sustainable solutions to poverty and under-development in El Salvador. The missioners VMM has brought to SHARE have been outstanding people both professionally as well as personally. Two, in fact, have moved on to direct our programs States-side and lead SHARE as an organization. Not only have these VMs left their imprint on SHARE's work for justice in El Salvador; they have also touched the lives of hundreds of people in the United States and in El Salvador through their warmth, commitment, spirituality, and strength of character. Thank you VMM!"
The SHARE Foundation helps to build economic, social and political justice and democracy in El Salvador by empowering civil society, especially women, and strengthening sustainable development alternatives. Since 1981, SHARE has worked with North American faith communities, Salvadorans in the U.S. and economically marginalized people in El Salvador to forge community to community links that cross the boundaries of gender, race, nationality, age and economic status in pursuit of the vision of the martyrs of El Salvador for peace with justice.
To this end, SHARE accompanies the efforts of communities to create their own models for social and economic development, to reclaim basic human rights, fundamental civil liberties, and degraded environments. SHARE programs promote women’s empowerment, citizen participation, leadership development.
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CEIBA (Construyendo Espacios Integrales para el Bienestar Ambiental), Constructing Integrated Spaces for Environmental Well-being
CEIBA developed in response to Tropical Storm Ida's (2009) devastating effects on Santiago Texacuangos and are working to become an established NGO with a focus on disaster prevention through community organizing and agricultural revitalization.
CEIBA's mission is to give community members the tools to organize themselves in order to generate: environmental consciousness, alternatives sources of income, food sovereignty, risk management, mental health, and gender equality while being a foundation that promotes sustainable community organization that manages the natural resources, well being, and social development of Santiago Texacuangos.
CEIBA aims to:
1. reconstruct crops and/or build food gardens in 3 communities;
2. organize community leaders and build capacity so they can engage in participatory democracy and speak directly to their government, denounce corruption, gather truthful data and prioritize needs in every communities in the municipality (3 communities);
3. execute a mental health program focused on youth and disaster stressors (called social-cultural animation) and work with an NGO for children's therapy in the most affected community of joya grande;
4. include poetry programs and a painting program focused on youth disaster trauma therapy.
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Friends of Batahola
The Centro Cultural Batahola in Managua, Nicaragua, is a technical training and holistic education facility for women and youth, founded in 1983 by Father Ángel Torrellas, OP, and Sister Margarita Navarro, CSJ. Over the past 24 years the Center has helped over 2,000 women and youth to defend their rights, find and develop new sources of income, and improve their living standards.
The Center currently offers a varied program of basic adult education and vocational training that is approved by the National Technological Institute (INATEC) and coordinated with the Ministry of Education (MECD). Approximately 500 students enroll in 11 different technical and domestic arts courses each year. The Center provides a rich environment conducive to learning, including a scholarship program to help young people continue their formal education and a 5,000-volume library. It also seeks to support the healthy development of young people through the arts, offering classes and performance opportunities in folkloric dance, music, painting and theatre. Since 1994, the Center has enabled more than 100 young people from poor families to finish their studies (primary through university levels) and become trained professionals. They have become lawyers, doctors, translators, social workers, journalists, business administrators, physical therapists, engineers, and musicians.
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| Amanda and Greta at a retreat for the staff of the Batahola Community center where they volunteer. |
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CAPAZ
Capacitacion en Produccion Agropecuaria para la Zona, seeks to combat poverty by assuring a more diversified and wholesome food supply through an integrated, practical and tailored livestock training program, with emphasis on the active participation of the farmers. The CAPAZ organization has: 1) built a Training Center for the training and practice of managing livestock farms for rural farmers; 2) has built an experimental farm with eight lines of livestock; 3) developed a training curriculum; 4) provided specialized training and on-going support to other organizations and promoters (extensionists) who return to their own communities to communicate what they have learned; 5) trained students at two universities in Guatemala; and 6) produced manuals for further distribution of the knowledge and techniques learned at the Center.
In addition, CAPAZ has set up alternative energy generating systems of solar panels and, soon, a biodigestor plant. The Center is creating training programs for the farmers in these alternative energy systems and working with microcredit organizations so that these sytems can be available to rural farmers, saving energy costs and reducing deforestration and subsequent soil erosion.
CAPAZ works in areas where the indigenous Mayan population is concentrated - in Peten, Huehuetenango, Quiche, Alta Verapaz, San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Solola, Retaluleu, Suchitepequez, Sacatepequez and Totonicapán, regions with limited resources, and the highest rates of illiteracy and mortality in the country. The inhabitants live in extreme poverty, with families surviving on less than $1 a day.
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| Pieter teaching a group of students about animal care at CAPAZ |
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Oikos Solidaridad
Oikos Solidaridad strives to improve the quality of life of the people of El Salvador while promoting programs aimed at new forms of food production and water quality in the countryside. They train local citizens to use new technologies and organize themselves to design strategies that will improve the quality of the land, prevent soil erosion, provide preparation for future disasters and prevention, increase biodiversity, and improve the general health and well being of their communities while keeping in harmony with nature. The program also focuses on informing the national government of the local people's interests through education, radio broadcasts about the programs and the results, and empowering local participants with the knowledge and capacity to become involved in their political community. They are committed to accompanying those they serve in sustainable change through social justice.
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