Virtual Tours Peru

Because Peru is a land of so much beauty, culture and archeological significance, it's easy to forget that more than half of Peru's families suffer in poverty. According to UNICEF, 3.8 million people in Peru live in extreme poverty, on less than $1 a day -- 2.1 million of them children. The consequences of this poverty are at their worst in rural areas where health care is more distant, wage-paying jobs are few and banks have few, if any, branches.

Rural areas are also less likely to benefit from infrastructure improvements such as electricity, adequate sanitation and potable water. In fact, only 66% of rural communities have any access to improved water sources and only 33% are using adequate sanitation facilities. These conditions contribute to Peru's under-five mortality rate of 34 deaths per 1000 children (compared with 8 per 1000 in the U.S.).

Freedom from Hunger in Peru

Access to credit to build home-based businesses as well as education on topics such as child health and nutrition, hygiene, business management and other lifeskills can immediately improve the prospects of poor families living in Peru's rural areas. That's why Freedom from Hunger brought its proven Credit with Education service to Peru in 2003.

Peruvian Woman
Women in the highlands of Peru now have access to loans and vital education on topics such as childhood illnesses through Freedom from Hunger's collaboration with local organizations and our shared commitment to serve rural areas.

As in other countries, Freedom from Hunger works with strong local organizations that share our commitment to bringing self-help services to people living rural poverty. Our Peruvian partners, Prisma, Confianza, and FINCA Peru are full collaborators in the delivery of these services and contribute their own resources, such as staff and loan funds, to Credit with Education programs. Freedom from Hunger's goal is to fully transfer our skills and knowledge in microfinance and effective adult education to these partners so they will sustain and grow the programs over the long term.

Working in the departments of Huancavelica and Junin our plan is to bring Credit with Education to about 20,000 women by 2010 ensuring that they and their 90,000 family members receive the documented benefit of the women's participation.

Each of our local partners is a strong organization that was already providing some microfinance services when we launched our partnerships with them. Now, through Freedom from Hunger's training, systems support and financial assistance, these partners are able to provide microfinance services to poorer, more rural communities and bring essential lifeskills training to women in self-help groups.

The education developed by Freedom from Hunger to help women and their families is participatory, conversational, and builds on the knowledge and skills women already have. It isn't necessary for them to know how to read or write to participate (an important factor since many women over the age of twenty in rural Peru can do neither) but it is necessary for the women to work together. And over time, the women in each self-help group build the courage not only to make changes in their health, nutrition and business practices, but also to encourage each other to overcome the many challenges they face each day.

Credit with Education in Peru follows on Freedom from Hunger's success in bringing this proven self-help solution to other Andean countries, such as Ecuador and Bolivia. A study on the impacts of Credit with Education in Bolivia documented significant improvements in women's income, knowledge and empowerment. Similar outcomes are expected in Peru.

In fact, a recent impact study from Peru confirms that women who receive business education along with their loans reported higher income than women who received just loans. But the study revealed that the real difference was seen in "slow months" when profits typically drop. Women participating in Credit with Education were able to smooth their income in these slow months -- meaning they were less likely to cut back on food, take children out of school, or turn to moneylenders. Learn more about this rigorous, independent study.

Freedom from Hunger is proud of its partnerships with local organizations in Peru and the powerful self-help changes that come from women's participation in Credit with Education. Expansion plans will take program growth into new rural areas and to even more remote communities as Freedom from Hunger helps its local partners to grow and sustain the program for the long term.

"Last year, with the support of Freedom from Hunger, we decided that it was the right time to expand our services into the 3 poorest provinces of Peru. Our commitment and the opportunity to work with a partner with the values and ethics of Freedom from Hunger were the decisive elements to initiate a significant expansion in the program and that will, without doubt, make the program a success." Iris Lanao, FINCA Peru.