Peru

The Peru strategy of the Bernard van Leer Foundation focuses on approximately 483,000 indigenous children aged between zero and eight living in rural areas, plus around 113,000 children of the same age range living in the urban slums of Iquitos. 47.7% of urbanites (9.6 million people) in Peru live with at least one of the deprivations that constitute living in a ‘slum’ - overcrowding, precarious house construction, no access to water, no access to sanitary services or no land tenure.

We chose Iquitos because the percentage of urban dwellers with at least one deprivation is highest in the jungle region (74.5%), and Iquitos is the city with the largest slums in the region. The overall theme is to ensure all children are Peru are healthy, protected and able to take  advantage of Peru's progress. Our three goals in Peru are:

National increase in the percentage of indigenous, rural children under 3 with access to quality home visiting programmes that integrate birth registration, health, nutritional support and parent education 

As of 2008, only 4% of all children under 3 (2% in rural areas) had access to early learning programmes.  The few programmes that exist are typically center-based and urban-biased. Reaching rural children in their homes can connect them to a range of services and to help parents support their children’s learning from birth. 

This is most critical for the approximately 190,000 indigenous children under 3, of whom more than 85% live in rural areas.  Nearly four-fifths of those children live in poverty; in regions where more than a quarter of the population is indigenous, chronic malnutrition rates range from 27% to 59%. While nine in ten indigenous children have their births registered by age three, only 44% are registered in the first year, indicating a lack of early connection with state services.

A reduction in violence in families with young children living in urban slums in the city of Iquitos and indigenous, rural communities

An estimated 41% of women who have had partners have experienced intimate partner violence, and this is more likely to occur in homes with young children: WHO research found that 15% to 28% experienced physical violence during pregnancy and UNICEF estimates that 37% of mothers with children under 5 experience physical violence.  This implies an estimated 1.85 million children aged under 8 live in homes where their mothers are beaten.  Furthermore, small scale studies have found that up to 96% of Peruvian children experience physical punishment in the home, with the most common forms being ear pulling, slapping, and hitting with a belt. 

We chose to target our efforts on urban slums and indigenous rural communities because they are the most under-served by public works and they live in conditions that are correlated with family violence in a wide variety of literature on the subject.

A reduction in the prevalence of gastro-intestinal and respiratory infections among young children growing up in unhealthy physical environments in urban slums in the city of Iquitos

Peru spends around 3% of its GDP on treating illnesses caused by poor water, sanitation and hygiene, and those most affected are children growing up in urban slums. In Belen, a slum area of Iquitos where 16,600 children under 8 are living, rates of acute diarrhea and respiratory infection among three year olds are 34% and 36%, while chronic malnutrition is 36%. More than half of homes have no sanitation and just under half have no potable water.
 
 In all, nearly half of Peru’s urban population (9.6 million people) live with at least one of the deprivations that constitute living in a ‘slum’ – overcrowding, precarious house construction, no access to water, no access to sanitary services or no land tenure – and one in five live with two or more of those deprivations. This affects all aspects of children’s lives, not only health: it limits opportunities to play, creates stress on families, and drives violence.

Programme strategy

Download a summary of our Peru strategy, outlining how we are approaching the goals summarised on this page, and a shorter two-page handout in English or Spanish.

Feedback

Do you have comments on our goals in Peru? Please contact our programme officer for Peru, Leonardo Yanez: leonardo.yanez@bvleerf.nl