Central Santa Angela helped 8 low-income women develop microbusinesses to sustain themselves and their families. The women, who are members of the José Leonardo Ortiz Women’s Network for Equality and Non-Violence, receive training in pastry making and food preparation. They also learned about small business management, book-keeping and how to draft a business plan.

Our thanks to Cambia Development Foundation for supporting this project.

In 2025 ACIES built on their work over the last two years to “Love the Ravine” by helping Indigenous children and their families learn about and care for their immediate environment. Families and children in Quiritimayo and Pomobamba planted gardens, recycled and reused materials, started composting and took part in a cleanup day in each community.

Children in both communities recounted their experiences in a weekly comic strip that was shared with their families and the broader community. Painting and craft workshops took place as well.

In a new initiative, two Indigenous elders took part, sharing their knowledge of medicinal plants and ancestral stories. The children’s grandparents were invited to share their knowledge, stories and games, too.

The project also funded craft and taxtile workshops with 15 women in Quiritimayo and 15 in rural Pomabamba. The women sold their creations at quarterly municipal fairs and through a new online store.

 Our thanks to the Peterborough KM Hunter Charitable Foundation for their support of this project.

In 2025, Centro Esperanza continued to work with rural women in Coloche, Lambayeque province, to help them develop successful small businesses that improved food security and household incomes. Thirty-two women organized in the association Women for a Better Future recieved training in self-esteem and leadership as well as technical workshops in guinea pig breeding, nutrition, disease prevention, pest control, sanitation, hydroponic barely.

During the year, the women sold their guinea pigs at 5 regional fairs and drew interest from a large buyer of organic guinea pigs. They also contined to build their association, drawing up statutes and holding elections for a new board.

Participants were encouraged to show solidarity with their neighbours and other communities by donating a portion of their litters to others in need.

For a second year, Centro Santa Angela provided training to local officials aimed at challenging assumptions about gender roles and developing new concepts of masculinity and paternity that embrace relationships of equality and respect. The centre provided this training to a second cohort of 25 lieutenant governors in the districts of José Leonardo Ortiz and Mórrope.

Lieutenant governors, most of whom are men, represent the Ministry of Justice at the community level. They are key players in ensuring safety and security, promoting citizen engagement and connecting Peruvians with state services. Victims of gender-based violence often turn first to their local lieutenant governor, especially in rural areas.

Workshop topics included gender roles and stereotypes, the culture of violence, gender-based violence, responsible paternity, self-care, and male health. Centro Angela also helped connect these local officials to emerging grassroots leaders in their communities.

Heart-Links is grateful to Cambia Development Foundation for supporting this project.

In 2024, Centro Santa Angela worked with forty lieutenant governors and two subprefects in the districts of José Leonardo Ortiz and Mórrope to examine and challenge assumptions about gender roles and to develop new concepts  of masculinity and paternity that embrace relationships of equality and respect.

Lieutenant governors, most of whom are men, represent the Ministry of Justice at the community level. They are key players in ensuring safety and security, promoting citizen engagement and connecting Peruvians with state services. Victims of gender-based violence often turn first to their local lieutenant governor, especially in rural areas.

Workshop topics included gender roles and stereotypes, the culture of violence, gender-based violence, responsible paternity, self-care, and male health.

Heart-Links is grateful to Cambia Development Foundation for supporting this project.

Latidos’ project “GROW” improved the environment and resilience of women, children and seniors in the Zaña Valley by creating strong local support networks.

Latidos worked with women to strengthen their leadership skills and potential, with children and adolescents to reduce psychosocial risks exacerbated by the pandemic and with the elderly to address their needs and harness their knowledge. They also ran three community libraries, planted 1,600 trees, and ran campaigns to promote health care, including mental health, nutrition and food security.

A special program carried out in nine primary and secondary schools resulted in 200+ new “Ecoguardians” commited to caring for  their environment.

Latidos trained and accompanied community leaders, connecting them to government ministries and other institutions that can lend support. As a results of these interventions, nine grassroots community organizations gained legal standing and will be able to access government programs. Another three are preparing their documents. Eighty-five seniors were registered with the national comprehensive health care service.

Heart-Links is grateful to East London Rotary Charity Foundation for their support of this project.

This project, run by ACIES, took as its theme loving and caring for the Quiritimayo neighbourhood, which is built on a steep ravine on the outskirts of Cajamarca.

Through guided explorations, 30 children who attend the afterschool program at Quiritimayo Cultural Centre observed the environmental degradation of their local stream and used what they learned to inspire original storybooks. They wrote and illustrated their own narratives — part autobiography, part environmental testimony — culminating in the powerful collection Voices and Expressions of the Ravine That I Love. The book has been distributed to their familes, schools and libraries.

Children also participated in campaigns to clean up their neighbourhood, grew and cared for plants and helped make a mural that celebrates children at the centre and the natural world.  Through idividualized learning plans, they developed their reading and writing skills but also pride in themselves, their culture and their community.

The project also funded knitting circles and gender workshops with 10 women in Quiritimayo and 15 in rural Pomabamba, who in turn began to teach a second generation of 15 knitters, both boys and girls. The women have sold their products locally and in Germany.

Our thanks to the Peterborough KM Hunter Charitable Foundation for their support of this project.

Following on the success of a similar project in neighbouring San Isidro, Centro Esperanza worked with 25 impoverished families in the rural community of Coloche, Lambayeque, to bring their dream of food security and improved, sustainable incomes to life. Centro Esperanza provided 20 women and 5 men with training and initial inputs (guinea pigs, seeds, baking tools and supplies) for breeding guinea pigs for themselves and the market and making and marketing pastries.

Early in 2023, this community had been stranded by flood waters and lost crops due to Cyclone Yaku, making Centro Esperanza’s intervention even more critical.

Community members learn to use moringa seeds to purify river waters stirred up by Cyclone Yaku.

Trainings included community organization; business planning; record keeping; pasture growing; guinea pig care, production and reproduction; feed preparation; disease prevention; organic farming and composting; environmental insecticides and pest control; pen disinfection and deworming; and pastry making. Related activities for youth and children also took place.

The project helped these families establish a legally incorporated association so they could organize and share the work of their new community businesses, respond and report to the association membership, develop their own leadership skills, access state services, and partner with other organizations and institutions.

Community knowledge and resources were maximized, and sustainable and environmentally sound farming methods promoted. Gender equality and strengthening leadership by women was a priority as was developing leadership that is democratic, transparent, supportive and ethical.

During the project, participants showed solidarity with their neighbours and other communities by donating a portion of their litters to others in need.

This Centre, run by ACIES, serves the children, youth and adults of Quiritimayo, a marginal neighbourhood in Cajamarca made up principally of Indigenous families who have recently migrated to the city. These families face increased racism and discrimination in the city as well as the dismissal of their culture. Children are often alone for long periods while their parents work (the public school day ends at 12:30 p.m.). To respond to this need, the centre offers afterschool education and homework support that values their Indigenous heritage.

This project will provide children with reading and writing workshops 6 days a week. As a special hands-on project, the children will each make a small bookcase they can take home with books to fill it. To learn about sustainability, they will plant and care for vegetables and herbs and learn about their traditional uses. A therapist will be available weekly for those children who are struggling.

In the wake of COVID-19, which kept schools closed for 2 years, educational support is needed more than ever. The centre prioritizes sustainability and care for the natural environment in its programs, using local natural resources and recycled and reused materials in their workshops.

Weekly craft and personal development workshops for women will offer a space for mutual support and empowerment as well as providing a way to generate income. Three community members will be employed as assistants, providing them with an income and experience.

Our thanks to the Peterborough KM Hunter Charitable Foundation for their support of this project.

The families of San Isidro have come a long way since 2017, when they fled their community because of floods that damaged or destroyed their houses, lands, crops, animals, irrigation system, and water supply. With support from Heart-Links partner Centro Esperanza, they have installed a reliable, community water supply, developed environmentally sustainable practices such as making their own organic fertilizer, animal feed and biogas heaters, and established a community chicken hatchery. Families began with 5 chicks and now have 30 laying hens on average. Their community association, led by a board of 3 women and 5 men, is legally recognized, allowing them to negotiate improvements with the local municipality.

For 2022, the community had initially planned to expand their production of animal feed. However, steep inflation and food shortages nationwide led them to modify their proposal to include market crops. Drawing on expertise within the community, they will collectively invest in a hectare of land where they will grow passion fruit. They will also plant vegetable gardens and continue to care for and rely on their laying hens, chicks and newly acquired sheep for income and food. Centro Esperanza will provide workshops in relevant agricultural practices and standards, bookkeeping, and marketing.

Leadership training and promoting participation by women in leadership positions and decision making continues to be a focus of this project, as does strengthening community organization and collaborating with other communities. Involving youth is a new priority.

Listen to our podcast episode to learn more: