Mission

EcoViva supports community-led social justice movements in Central America implementing innovative solutions to poverty, environmental degradation, and climate change.

Vision

Healthy ecosystems and thriving communities that offer a model for living well and in harmony with the earth.

Our Unique Approach

Since our founding in 1996, we have supported a democratic movement for peace, justice and environmental sustainability in the Lower Lempa River Estuary and the nearby Bay of Jiquilisco Biosphere Reserve of El Salvador. With our continual and focused support, this grassroots movement has grown to include over 100 villages with a population of approximately 35,000 people. Together, our partner communities in El Salvador have created a model for grassroots participation in integrated and sustainable community development that may be unparalleled in Central America. They are building a green rural economy, addressing the effects of climate change, and empowering young people with information and education while protecting the largest mangrove forest left in the region.

In El Salvador, we offer direct financial support to our local partner organizations and provide them with ongoing technical assistance with program planning and policy advocacy. We help them build strategic alliances locally and internationally, and recruit skilled volunteers to support their efforts. We bring over 100 people from the United States a year to El Salvador on Community Empowerment Tours to learn about what’s happening and build grassroots support for our work in the United States. We also connect our partners with national policy initiatives and major international funding streams from which they would otherwise be typically excluded.

In addition to our ongoing work in El Salvador, for the last five years we have begun to channel funding to similar community-led initiatives in Honduras and Panama. Over time, we seek to grow those relationships into strong and successful partnerships that replicate the success of our work in El Salvador.

Values

• We respect the dignity of each person.
• We are committed to social justice, non-violence, and peace.
• We are committed to environmentally sensitive ways to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
• We place the highest priority on projects that can be sustained over the long-term.
• We encourage diversity and inclusiveness in our partners, our leaders, our board members, and all with whom we work.
• We require accountability and responsibility from ourselves and the communities with whom we work.
• Democratic participation at the grassroots is the foundation of our work.