Hurricane Ida left behind a trail of destruction when it slammed into El Salvador last November.
In the town of Monte San Juan, women’s groups are spearheading the reconstruction effort with the help of a programme that keeps their families fed.
The project has helped women like Carmen Perez become community leaders.
After the storm, she and her four children survived on emergency food rations supplied by WFP.
Months later, she’s still receiving corn and bean rations, but now as a form of compensation for her efforts to rebuild her community.
POWER TO THE WOMEN
Since the hurricane struck, women’s groups like the one to which Carmen belongs have taken the reins of the reconstruction effort.
Over 90 percent of the participants are women, who have organized committees that oversee every aspect of the work, from project management right down to worker attendance.
They’ve also been a major source of feedback, both for the government’s reconstruction effort and for NGOs and aid agencies like WFP.
