Plan Peru Annual Progress Report 2009

A YEAR IN

PERU SUMMARY REPORT

09

ST VINCENT & ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES THE GRENADINES ST VINCENT & ST VINCENT ST VINCENT & & THE GRENADINES THE THE GRENADINES GRENADINES BARBADOS BARBADOS

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BARBADOS GRENADA GRENADA

Cartagena-Bolívar Cartagena-Bolívar Cartagena-Bolívar Cartagena-Bolívar Cartagena-Bolívar Sincelejo Sincelejo VENEZUELA PANAMA Monteria VENEZUELA PANAMA Sincelejo Monteria Sincelejo Sincelejo Cúcuta VENEZUELA Cúcuta PANAMA PANAMA PANAMA Monteria Monteria Monteria VENEZUELA VENEZUELA Chocó Chocó Chocó

NCH ANA

Cúcuta Cúcuta Cúcuta Medellin Medellin Chocó Chocó Medellin Medellin Medellin

Bogota Bogota Cauca-Valle Cauca Bogota Bogota Bogota deldel Cauca CaliCauca-Valle

Cali Cali

ECUADOR

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Our priorities in Peru • Ensuring that children under five years are well cared for and have good health, nutrition and attend nursery

BRAZIL BRAZIL

• Enabling children aged six to 12 to realise their potential through education, develop skills, and take part in decision-making • Supporting young people aged 13 to 17 to continue education, develop life-skills, learn about reproductive health and take part in decision making

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COLOMBIA COLOMBIA

Piura Piura Piura Piura Piura BRAZIL Crisnejas BRAZIL Crisnejas Tocantins Pucallpa BRAZIL Pucallpa Trujillo Crisnejas Crisnejas Crisnejas Trujillo Pucallpa Pucallpa Pucallpa Trujillo Trujillo Trujillo Huaraz Huaraz Huaraz Huaraz Huaraz Tarma Tarma Lima Lima Lima Tarma Tarma Tarma Lima

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Lima

Lima Lima Lima

ProgrammeProgramme Unit Programme Unit Unit

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Lima LimaCusco Cusco BOLIVIA BOLIVIA Cusco Cusco Cusco BOLIVIA IcaIca Puno PERU Puno PERU Arequipa Arequipa Puno Puno Puno Country Office PERU PERU PERU Country Office Arequipa Arequipa Arequipa Programme Unit Programme Unit Country Office Country Country Office Office Tacna Tacna Ica Ica Ica

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BOLIVIA BOLIVIA

• Helping poor families to improve their incomes and ensure they get adequate food, water, healthcare, and housing • Getting children, families and communities, and local and national institutions involved in promoting and recognising children’s rights

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PARAGUAY PARAGUAY

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• Violence, ill-treatment and abuse are widespread, and children’s rights are not generally recognised by families, communities or the state

Iquitos Iquitos Iquitos Iquitos Iquitos

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COLOMBIA

FRENCH FRENCH

GUYANA GUYANA GUYANA • A third of children do not attend secondary school

COLOMBIA COLOMBIA ECUADOR ECUADOR

FRENCH FRENCH GUIANA GUIANA SURINAME FRENCH SURINAME GUIANA

GUYANA

A girl shows off her new registration card.

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GOOD REASONS why Plan works in Peru

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO TRINIDAD TRINIDAD & TOBAGO & TOBAGO

GUIANA GUIANA • A quarter of children under five years have stunted growth due to poor nutrition SURINAME SURINAME GUYANA SURINAME

Cauca-Valle Cauca-Valle del Cauca-Valle Cauca deldel Cauca Cauca CaliCali

ECUADOR ECUADOR

BARBADOS BARBADOS

TRINIDAD &GRENADA TOBAGO GRENADA GRENADA TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

CHILE CHILE CHILE

PARAGUAY

PARAGUAY PARAGUAY

ARGENTINA ARGENTINA CHILE CHILE ARGENTINA

ARGENTINA ARGENTINA

Children are proud of their new toilets.

Grande

PERU FACTS Capital: Lima Population: 27.2 million Language: The official languages are Spanish and Quechua Climate: Peru, unlike other equatorial countries, does not have an exclusively tropical climate; the influence of the Andes and the Humboldt Current cause great climatic diversity within the country. The costa

has moderate temperatures, low precipitations, and high humidity, except for its warmer, wetter northern reaches. In the sierra, rain is frequent during summer, and temperature and humidity diminish with altitude up to the frozen peaks of the Andes. The selva is characterized by heavy rainfall and high temperatures, except for its southernmost part, which has cold winters and

seasonal rainfall.

Economy: Peru is a developing country. Its 2008 per capita income was US$4,452. 36.2% of its total population is poor, including 12.6% that is extremely poor. Historically, the country’s economic performance has been tied to exports, which provide hard currency to finance imports and external debt payments. Although exports

have provided substantial revenue, self-sustained growth and a more egalitarian distribution of income have proven elusive.

“Plan Peru continues to work hard to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of Peruvian boys and girls” – Horacio Torres, Plan’s Country Director

A YEAR IN

PERU SUMMARY REPORT

09

FOCUS ON: CARE FOR CHILDREN UNDER FIVE Plan helps children under five get a good start in life. We improve mother and child health, and help provide clean water and better sanitation. We help children to have the chance to develop confidence and enjoy learning, both at home and at nursery.

Many children are not treated well, so Plan supports parents to care for their children, and helps communities make sure children are protected. We promote children’s rights; birth registration is crucial to this, as children who aren’t registered are vulnerable to exploitation, and can’t use state services such as healthcare and education..

BIRTH REGISTRATION – GIVE ME MY IDENTITY

T An activity as part of the Children Learning for Life project.

The Bigger Picture

Plan is working with children, families and whole communities to address the problems that Peru faces. This report can only tell a small part of that story. As a further insight, last year we also: • Trained 1,035 farmers in crop management and raising livestock. 1,428 families were trained in using organic fertilisers and growing fruit • Supported a pilot project to improve educational quality in 10 schools in Piura, which has expanded to 120 schools, helping 14,000 children improve their literacy and mathematics • Helped distribute medical care, clothing and blankets to 11,026 children and pregnant women affected by intense cold weather in Cusco • Supported eleven groups of “junior reporters” to take part in a television series, broadcast on 30 channels, which promotes children’s rights Your support as a sponsor is crucial to achieving these positive results. So on behalf of the communities, partner organisations, and most of all the children we work with – thank you!

“Registration identifies children as people, as human beings, with rights. It’s essential to a community’s development” To learn more about Plan’s work in Peru visit plan.org.au/ourwork/southernamerica/peru

Produced for Peru by the Australian National Office.

he municipality of Casagrande, in north-west Peru, is a deprived area with many poor communities. Around 7% of children don’t have birth certificates, and many more have certificates which are not legally viable, because information was inaccurately recorded or recorded in the wrong registers.

Ruperto Masias Fernandez, Mayor of Casagrande, explains why birth registration is so important: “If children aren’t registered, they don’t have access to state services, healthcare and state education.

Registration identifies children as people, as human beings with rights. It’s essential to a community’s development.”

To make sure that every child can exercise their right to an identity and enjoy the benefits that this brings, Plan set up a project in Casagrande in January 2006. Our partners were RENIEC (the National Registrar of Identity and Marital Status), and the local authorities in Casagrande.

We carried out a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of birth registration among families, community leaders, municipal authorities, and registration office staff. The campaign’s motto – “Give me a name. I need you” – was chosen by children themselves. The campaign was launched with local media support, and used radio programmes, fliers, brochures, and T-shirts to publicise the issues.

Getting involved Community members were enthusiastic about getting involved. Zoraida, a health promoter, says: “The community took part by attending assemblies, and distributing fliers and awareness materials.

A team of young people who are involved in community development supported all the project’s activities.”

Families were keen to take part and have their children registered. Community-elected workers made a crucial contribution. They visited families house by house, helped them make sure they had the documentation they needed, and helped with

“The project has helped us a lot because children feel better with the right to have a name, an identity”

the awareness campaign.

Plan, RENIEC and the municipal authorities worked well together. Plan co-ordinated the project and ran the awareness campaign, RENIEC provided free identity cards, and the municipal authorities supported the awareness campaign and provided free birth certificates.

Impressive results The project has been a great success. More than 3,000 children now have identity cards and a nother 1,672 have birth certificates. Angelina Arroyo, Secretary of the Municipality of Casagrande, is pleased: “We have advanced a lot.

Now 98% of children have identity cards, and all of them are registered.”

Children’s confidence and self esteem has increased thanks to the project. Eleven-year-old Eber says: “The project has helped us a lot because children feel better with the right to have a name, an identity. We use this at school, for our healthcare, and if we travel.”

The community have learned a great deal from their involvement, which they can apply to other projects in the future. Perhaps most importantly, they have learned that if they work together, they can change their lives for the better. Angelina Arroyo says: “I have learnt that working in teams you can get many more things, if we count on the participation of everybody.”

Practical lessons have also been learned. Marita Sandoval, who is in charge of civil registration for Casagrande, says: “Having seen so many mistakes in the official books, I am now more careful when I register, for example, with names and sex.” Parents now take their identity cards with them when they register their children, which also prevents mistakes.

The project’s importance is summed up by Ana, a mother from Casagrande: “Now my son can exert his rights, just like any other person.”

Plan will continue to work with the community in Casagrande, and others throughout Peru, to ensure that all children have an official legal identity, and the chance of a better life.

Some names have been changed for child protection and privacy purposes.

plan.org.au