Restoration projects revive public spaces in El Salvador - Creative

SAN SALVADOR — Families in more than 40 communities around El Salvador are enjoying new parks, playgrounds, sports fields and community centers thanks to an ambitious effort to rehabilitate formerly abandoned or underutilized public spaces.

The El Salvador Crime and Violence Prevention Project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by Creative, worked on the public space restoration initiative in partnership with municipalities and local residents, who lent their ideas and volunteered time to help with the work.

A total of 41 communities are benefiting from the results in the municipalities of Apopa, Ahuachapán, Colón, Mejicanos, Ciudad Delgado, Olocuilta and Zacatecoluca.

The goal of the projects was to reduce feelings of insecurity in public spaces and build community cohesion and identity. More than 130,000 people will enjoy the new spaces, which were built near existing Outreach Centers to create hubs of play and learning in vulnerable areas.

Click through the photos below to see the inauguration of a few of these transformational projects.