Press & News
US Ambassador to El Salvador Announces Grant for Convoy
Madam Mari Carmen Aponte, the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, recently announced a grant to support Convoy of Hope. The $60,000 award will provide critical funding for Mothers’ Club programs in El Salvador that were developed to equip poverty-stricken women with entrepreneurial skills to support their families.
“This program is important in that it allows women to make healthy financial decisions that will help improve their well being and the sustainability of their families and communities,” said Aponte.
In announcing the grant, Aponte said women in the program would have access to seed capital to start their own businesses and will develop co-ops and savings groups.
“In El Salvador, we are encouraging micro-enterprise and women in business by minimizing barriers to their success,” says Convoy of Hope Latin America Regional Manager, Andrea Frey Metzger. “We’re extremely grateful for the support of Ambassador Aponte and the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. This will help us provide women in the program with long-term financial and emotional security.”
In addition to the thousands of children Convoy of Hope feeds in schools and orphanages in El Salvador, the organization has made an investment of more than $150,000 towards training women in healthy nutrition, hygiene, literacy, agriculture and emotional care. Since Mothers’ Clubs started in 2011, 503 women have graduated from the program which is expanding into Honduras and Nicaragua. The Mothers’ Club program is part of Convoy of Hope’s broader Women’s Empowerment work which educates and supports poverty-stricken women and their families in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
