El Salvador, Program for Prevention and Mitigation of Flood Disasters in the Lower Lempa River Basin
This case study, developed under the ProVention Consortium’s Community Risk Assessment and Action Planning project, examines a flood disaster risk reduction and sustainable development initiative carried out in the Lower Lempa River Valley of El Salvador between 2000 and 2001. Commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources and financed by the Inter-American Development Bank, the project produced an integrated diagnosis of the zone and proposed an intervention strategy aimed at substantially reducing flood risk while improving human welfare and creating new opportunities for sustainable development.
The case study focuses on the conceptual and methodological tools used in implementation, the results achieved, and—central to the project’s approach—the active, participatory role of the local population and their organizations in understanding risk and shaping the risk reduction strategy. A core theme of the study is that risk is not a purely technical dimension but a socially determined one, shaped by cultural, economic, political, and institutional factors that vary from context to context. The case situates this argument within the specific history of the Lower Lempa Valley, tracing how agrarian reform, civil conflict, post-war resettlement, and the location of new communities in flood-prone areas combined to create high vulnerability among a predominantly poor population—vulnerability made starkly visible by the flooding associated with Tropical Storm Mitch in 1999. It also explores the influential but often divided role of local NGOs and community associations, such as CORDES and the Coordinadora, whose differing strategies around levee construction, early warning, and agricultural development illustrate the challenges of building consensus in participatory risk reduction. The study offers practitioners a grounded reflection on why pre-packaged, homogeneous approaches tend to fail and why locally informed, dialogue-based strategies are essential.