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Like many Latin American countries, Peru has a sizeable population (over 54 percent) that lives in poverty. For the country's indigenous population, the levels are even higher--as much 70 percent in some areas. Given the lack of infrastructure in significant portions of the country, large populations are often isolated from the necessary resources they need to survive.
Following a magnitude 7.9 magnitude earthquake in August 2007, destroying close to 95,000 homes southeast of the capital city, Lima. CHF International worked with rural, underserved communities in the Department of Ica, including the towns of Ica, San José de los Molinos, and Parcona, to rapidly rebuild. With the help of local NGOs, community members, and the local government, CHF International provided transitional shelters, classrooms, communal dining halls, and latrines to prevent an impending health crisis.
CHF International has been a leader in providing safe, transitional shelter, most recently in post-tsunami Indonesia and Sri Lanka, post-hurricane El Salvador, and post-conflict Sudan. Because of this expertise, we were not only the first organization to begin building shelters in Peru following the disaster, but we are also providing training the Peruvian and German Red Cross in best shelter construction practices in exchange for vital shelter materials. As a result, the Red Cross will be able to provide 4,000 transitional shelters to families in Peru, and CHF International completed 700 shelters within three months of the earthquake.
Learn more about CHF's response by downloading the final report, watch the video above or listen to a podcast with one of our Emergency Response Team members who worked with these communities from the very beginning.
Past Work in Peru:
CHF International worked to improve living conditions for thousands of residents in the mining town of Cajamarca, a colonial city 600 kilometers northeast of the capital city, Lima. Cajamarca is the second poorest area in Peru and sits 9,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains. Among other critical issues, the community's high unemployment rate had created a social imbalance and a housing shortage for the town's residents.
In response, CHF International created a local Peruvian microfinance institution, PROGRESO, and developed a financially sustainable microfinance program focused on the housing needs of low-income residents in Cajamarca. It's design (based on CHF’s successful Home Improvement Lending Program methodology originally developed for Gaza/West Bank) was structured in such a way that, once operational in a specific community, it could be easily replicated in other areas with similar socioeconomic conditions. PROGRESO’s clients were mostly from the informal sector and did not have fixed incomes and/or did not have the titles to their land inscribed in the public registry. Consequently, most local banks and other financial institutions were not equipped or were unwilling to give construction or home improvement loans to these low-income families. For many of PROGRESO’s clients, this was their first loan.
Most local banks and other financial institutions are not equipped or are unwilling to give construction or home improvement loans to these low-income families. For many of PROGRESO’s clients, this was their first loan.
The program provided progressive housing loans for starter homes, and expansion, improvement and finishing of existing homes. The loans include the provision of technical assistance to borrowers in the form of plans and budget preparation, as well as construction monitoring to assure the quality of the work and materials. PROGRESO has signed agreements with three entities: the Municipality of Cajamarca, the regional government and a local private university, to allow salary discounts for loan payments. In addition, PROGRESO directly supports the local construction industry by purchasing materials and labor to implement the projects.
Our programming in Peru demonstrates a commitment to reaching the most economically-isolated communities, and linking them to the resources they need to realize the goals of prosperity and self-sufficiency.