Since 2013, we have been working in El Salvador to strengthen the financial capabilities of women receiving conditional cash transfers and to support their financial inclusion. In collaboration with the Social Investment Fund for Local Development (FISDL), we designed and implemented the pilot project “Mujeres Ahorradoras” in 2014. As part of this initiative, 60 women leaders were trained in in-person financial education, and they, in turn, replicated the training with 1,000 participants. 

We expanded the financial education program following a pilot evaluation conducted by FLACSO El Salvador and IEP Peru. In 2015, 150 community leaders were trained, who then shared the knowledge they had acquired with 6,000 people. For the expansion phase, we developed a simplified version of the financial education program focused on savings, called "12 Financial Education Capsules." These capsules consisted of 12 modules aimed at building skills for resource management, saving, goal setting, family involvement, and expense control. More than 76,000 participants were trained between 2015 and 2016. The model was approved by FISDL due to its simplicity, low cost, and ease of implementation.