The programme supported the MFI FUSAI (Fundación Salvadoreña de Apoyo Integral) in El Salvador, in its project “Offering value of non-financial services to the clients of the community social program, through the implementation of the stoplight for integrated development”. This project aims to provide support in the development of self-diagnosis and family life plans to 100 clients of the Community Social Program (CSP) in 10 rural and/or peri-urban communities.
The stoplight methodology is a tool that allows families to measure their poverty level according to different indicators and to identify personalised strategies to meet their needs. The methodology covers 6 dimensions broken down as follows: 1) income and employment; 2) health and environment; 3) housing and infrastructure; 4) education and culture; 5) organization and participation; and 6) interiority and motivation. Each indicator uses traffic light colors to measure the level of poverty:
– Red: extreme poverty
– Yellow: poverty
– Green: no poverty
This tool is filled out by the client and uses simple images and text to help families identify and visualise their poverty level in an understandable way.
FUSAI has institutionalised this methodology and its indicators in the Salvadoran context, so that they can be applied in vulnerable communities in their intervention areas. FUSAI has also become a hub, meaning that it is authorised by Fundación Paraguaya (creators of the tool and methodology) to transfer the methodology to other institutions. With this approach, families are self-managers of the process, from their self-assessment to the implementation of solutions, and FUSAI can link their needs to complementary financial and non-financial products and services offered.
Results of the support
Through the implementation of the project, FUSAI has made a significant contribution to improving the quality of life of many entrepreneurs in Salvadoran communities. The clients were able to reflect on their reality and became aware of the results of the actions implemented by monitoring their own indicators.
FUSAI continued the work of transforming the “Income and employment” indicator and complemented this activity with financial education, offering workshops to increase sales, develop a business plan, prepare a budget, identify areas of opportunity to increase the supply of their products, among others.