THE PROMOTORAS
Much of the success of Saving for Change in El Salvador can be attributed to these promotoras, who saw something worthwhile in the method and persisted in organizing savings groups despite conditions that would make most people give up.
Carmen told me, “What you read in a report does not represent even one quarter of the sweat and blood it took to reach those numbers. It is very easy to trivialize what was accomplished if you do not know what it cost to organize the women, to convince them to join, and to ensure that the groups did not fall apart.” I learned a lot from the pro- motoras of Chalatenango. I learned that you cannot be halfcommitted to do something, and that commitment takes a lot of work. The groups are delicate, and with only a single misunderstanding they can fail.In 2Qi3, I returned to Chalatenango to interview the staff and volunteerpromotoras of Caritas and CCR to better understand why the program had met so much resistance in its early phases and to ask what it was that caused the promotoras to continue with such dogged persistence to organize savings groups. What I found was a group of women who had survived the extremes of poverty, machismo, and conflict. Many of these narratives of hardship coexisted alongside empowering stories of grassroots (and, in some cases, guerilla) organizing. Milagro explained that she sought out experience and dedication in her staff. “What made the difference was that we contracted women with a high degree of commitment to their communities, women who saw this as providing a service more than a job.”17 No wonder so many continued to organize groups even when they were left on their own. Here is one of these stories. What struck me was that every promo- tora and volunteer I spoke with had been active in their communities since the age of thirteen or fourteen.
Blanca Miriam Ayala Mejia, former president of the board of CCR, summed up how Ahorro Comunitario had influenced her organization, beginning by telling me about the transformative impact of being part of the program. “Sometimes when women came to the [Saving for Change] meetings they were afraid to even move out of the house, they couldn’t speak, they were embarrassed, and they were afraid.... The organizational capacity, creativity, and solidarity between women has increased. At first the men were opposed but little by little they were convinced, and some even joined groups.” Then she went on to say:
Now there are women who are part of the village councils and who are mayors. Before there was jealousy among the men of the CCR board of directors about
our work with women. Now this problem of jealousy has been resolved. They are not the women they were before, who would only vote for men to be the directors. Now we elect a man and we also elect a woman, and this helps the women think and participate.......................... If
you focus on what this organization does, women are the ones getting things moving and doing everything........................................................................................................
There are empowered groups that will not fall apart easily. Saving for Change has created solidarity among women, and this strengthens the groups. CCR’s support is important because with CCR’s support the groups can go beyond savings.18