Thirty-one CRIPDES communities in the Cabanas and Cuscatlan region have obtained their legal status as Community Associations thanks to the Salvaide project "Organizational Strehgthening & Development of Rural Communities". This project funded in part by twins communities in Canada has allowed these Salvadorean communities to have a new legal status that opened up a number of posibilities for them to participate in Salvadorean life at the regional and national levels. This is one of the concrete results that the project completed in March 1998 has achieved and a proof that the Salvaide Twin Program in Canada is having quality impacts in El Salvador. Others results were:

The project has contributed to the identification of the primary needs of these communities -including those of women and youth-. The consensus obtained in the consultative process is expressed in a regional platform.

The project motivated the communities to act on the issue of the forgiveness of the agrarian debt. This issue was resolved on March 28, when the government approved a special law forgiving 100% of the debt of the peasants affected by the Land Transfer Program

The project has strengthened civil society in the region by giving these communities the capacity to make proposals to find solutions to their problems. In this manner, they are active participants in the national process of democratization.