The West Foundation’s Impact on CoCoDA

For the past eight years, The West Foundation has invested in the lives of Central Americans through their support of Companion Community Development Alternatives (CoCoDA). CoCoDA works in El Salvador and Nicaragua on grassroots, democratically determined social and economic development with rural communities.

From contributing writer, Jim Mulholland, Executive Director, Companion Community Development Alternatives (CoCoDA)

Thanks to the support of The West Foundation, CoCoDA has been able to accomplish the following even in a pandemic…

• Fifty high school and university students continued their studies in person and online in El Salvador and Nicaragua. These are rural students whose education would have ended without this support.
• Contributed $14,000 and counting for Covid-19 relief to our NGO and clinic partners.
• Provided $7,000 of support to the La Mora Clinic in El Salvador and the work of midwives in Cuscatlan, El Salvador.
• Provided continuing education to over 50 Salvadoran doctors and physicians on Covid-19 treatment through a collaboration with the Indiana University Medical School.

In all of this, The West Foundation’s flexibility has made it possible for CoCoDA to experiment.  The foundation sponsored our first Sun and Water Conference in 2017. This investment of $10,000 on an untried approach to raising solar powered water system dollars has leveraged over $300,000 and brought clean, affordable water to over 5,000 men women and children in the past four years.

At the link below, you can see a short video about how one of these projects eliminated the need for woman and children to make “the Walk of Death” in Aguacayo, El Salvador.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAlrMCROLlo