Peru

We work with the poorest and most vulnerable children in Peru, mainly in the highlands and in Lima. We get them into schools, support bilingual education for Quechua-speaking children, stop violence and abuse, and help fragile mountain communities to deal with climate change.

• Peru has one of the highest economic growth rates in the world, but 35% of people live below the poverty line.
• In Huancavelica in the highlands, the proportion of people living in poverty is higher than in Sierra Leone
• Only 11% of Peru’s 1 million indigenous children are taught in their native language, Quechua.
• In the first three months of 2011, there were more than 900 cases of violence and abuse against children. In 2010 we reached 910,000 people.
• In 2010 we reached 910,000 people.

The challenges

Five thousand metres above sea level, the grass is dying and the alpaca are struggling to survive.  The onset of the fiercest cold in memory is freezing Peru’s Andean highland villages, the product of climate change-induced melting of the glaciers.

In the Andean mountains children are succumbing to sub-zero temperatures along with bronchitis, pneumonia and hunger. Even before the cold began to bite, 40% of rural children were stunted from malnutrition, and Huancavelica, an Andean region where we work, had levels of human development similar to Liberia and below that of Kenya. Now things are worse. In 2010, the Ministry of Health reported that 250 children under five died of intense cold.

In Lima and other cities, children also face the challenges of poverty: long hours of work, schools which resort to corporal punishment and exclude nearly 90% of disabled children, the lack of a robust government system of protection. Violence is a huge problem, with up to eight out of 10 children suffering physical or psychological violence at home in 2008/09.

What we’ve achieved

Our new agreement with the Ministry of Health means that 7,000 children under five in Cusco and Huancavelica, two of the country’s poorest regions, will receive comprehensive healthcare, nutrition and protection from violence over the next five years.

• In 2010 we helped thousands of Quechua-speaking students get an education in their own language. We got thousands of disabled children into school and educated parents, teachers and headmasters about disabled children’s rights.
• 845 municipal protection offices nationwide have processed more than 400,000 cases since the government adopted our pilot project.
• In response to the Vote for Children campaign of which we are a member, the mayor of Lima created a metropolitan children’s council to give children a say in policies affecting their lives.
• After the fatal 2007 earthquake in Ica, we helped 20,400 people, repairing schools and creating safe places for children. Our emergency response is faster and more effective.

What’s urgent now

• Our priorities are bilingual education, education for children with disabilities, creating a protection system, and helping under-fives with healthcare and nutrition.
• Peru is the third most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Read about our work in the Guardian
• As the government decentralises child protection, we’re strengthening regional protection systems, working with provincial authorities to protect Peru’s most vulnerable children.

What you can do

Help protect children from the worst effects of climate change.

Contribute to our EVERY ONE campaign for child and maternal survival in Peru.

More on our work

The Guardian: Peru's mountain people face fight for survival in bitter winter

Save the Children Peru (in Spanish)

Save the Children on Facebook (in Spanish)