Why we workThe country’s economy in recent years has undergone a significant transformation: the political and social instability deriving from the economic crisis of the 1990s, and the effects of the introduction of the dollar into the local economy as an exchange currency, have led to an increase in poverty and violence in the outskirts of large cities such as Quito, the capital, and Guayaquil, the most densely populated city in Ecuador.
In the country’s most rural areas, the situation is even more critical, worsened by the devastating climatic phenomenon El Niño: its effects, droughts and flooding, lead to epidemics of yellow fever, typhoid, cholera and dengue (known as the 'bone-breaking' fever), as well as millions of dollars worth of damage.