In 2025, Madre Oliva Association focused on providing weekly food aid and accompaniment to 25 impoverished families in the rural hamlet of Nuevo Mocupe. They delivered medication for family members with chronic illnesses and helped with transportation to medical appointments. Families received counselling and guidance and took part in weekly craft workshops.

In 2024, Madre Oliva Association continued to close gaps in children’s education and contribute to food security in the impoverished rural hamlet of Nuevo Mocupe.

The program provided 25 boys and girls, ages 4 to 11, with personalized academic support, a nutritional snack, and recreational activities. Educators offered structured, nurturing environments adapted to the learning needs of each child. Parents were invited to attend sessions focused on learning support, play-based education, how to detect learning disabilities and nutrition.

Many parents reported feeling more confident in their ability to help their children succeed and more connected to other families facing similar challenges.

The project also provided food aid and medicine to the most impoverished families and individuals in the community.

Our thanks to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joesph of Canada for their support of this project.

Lingering gaps in children’s education were the focus of this project.

In the impoverished rural hamlet of Nuevo Mocupe, Madre Oliva Association provided 25 boys and girls, ages 4 to 11, with afterschool educational reinforcement and a nutritional snack 6 days a week. Preschoolers attended Mondays and Tuesdays while primary schoolchildren attended Wednesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays were dedicated to interactive learning in groups. And on Fridays and Sundays, the whole family was able to take part in arts and crafts. Therapists offered workshops every two months to the children’s parents on topics such as mental health, how to detect learning disabilities, and parent-child relationships.

For 3 children who had been unable to attend school because their parents could not afford to pay for the required supplies, travel or uniforms, these were provided.

Our thanks to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada for their support of this project.

Educational and nutritional gaps exacerbated by COVID-19 are the focus of this project.

In the impoverished rural hamlet of Nuevo Mocupe, Madre Oliva Association will provide these children with afterschool educational reinforcement and a nutritional snack 6 days a week. Families in greatest need will receive additional food aid to offset skyrocketing food prices. Therapists will offer workshops every two months to the children’s parents on topics such as mental health, how to detect learning disabilities, COVID-19, and parent-child relationships.

This project also includes purchase of a computer and printer to strengthen the ability of Madre Oliva Association to carry out this and other projects.

Our thanks to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada for their support of this project.

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership

“In the workshops, I found some relief from the sorrow of losing my father, uncles, cousins and friends during the pandemic.”
—Malyly

Run by Madre Oliva Association, this program was a continuation of previous projects aimed at empowering women in the communities of Zaña and Nuevo Mocupe. Twice a week, the women received materials and instruction in making handicrafts that draw on local cultural traditions and every two months they attended workshops on topics such as self-esteem, gender equality and women’s rights. They sold their handicrafts in local and regional fairs.

With food security still a grave concern in 2021, Madre Oliva Association continued to provide adults and children with developmental disabilities with medical attention, food, educational support, and life skills training. They also helped them register with Social Security to receive comprehensive health coverage. Madre Oliva Association worked with the school, the minicipality and the local health unit to ensure people living with developmental disabilities in their communities receive appropriate attention and do not face discrimination.

For a second year, Heart-Links is funding a project, run by Madre Oliva Association, that provides much-needed support to a group of families in Nuevo Mocupe, a number of whose members (children and adults) have developmental disabilities. The project delivers medications, diagnoses by specialists, and psychological and life skills counselling.

By the end of last year, Madre Oliva Association reported substantial progress. The school-aged children were in school and family incomes had increased. Significantly, the follow-up project the Association submitted to Heart-Links for consideration did not include supplying food.

Then COVID-19 hit. Lockdown orders prevented many families in Peru from going out to make a living. The Peruvian government offered aid but it did not always reach the most in need. In response, this year’s project will continue to provide food, as well as masks and cleaning supplies, and will help families access government pandemic benefits.

Madre Oliva Association continues to work with the school and the local health unit to ensure people living with developmental disabilities in their communities receive appropriate attention and do not face discrimination.

Heart-Links is grateful to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada for their financial support of this project.

5.1 End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.2 Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls
5.5 Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership

This project was designed by the Madre Oliva Association to assist 15 girls between the ages of 11 and 14 who are struggling. Some have been the victims of sexual violence. Others face troubles at home. These girls are often burdened with caring for younger siblings and the family home, making it hard for them to continue their studies or follow other paths.

“It’s a support for us to have a safe space to be free to think and imagine other possibilities, and forget for a while some of the bad things that happen at home,” says Nayelí, one of the program participants. “We learn how to cooperate and show solidarity with each other.” Nayelí says one day she wants to become a lawyer so she can “defend people from injustice.”

The program provides the girls with counselling as well as a space where they feel comfortable, safe and valued. The girls participate in workshops that build self-esteem, help them learn to manage relationships and help them understand their rights. They also set and achieve goals through small hands-on projects such as making jewelry they can sell.

In the second half of the year, participants will carry out studies in their communities to determine needs and will then develop and carry out initiatives that respond to the needs identified. As emerging leaders they will endeavour to involve other youth from the area in their chosen projects.

This year, Heart-Links is funding a project, run by Madre Oliva, that seeks to provide these individuals and their families with more robust and sustained support and to work with local institutions to overcome barriers to accessing services and to enjoying full participation in the life of their communities.

Madre Oliva will provide medications, food and psychological and life skills counselling and will work with the school and the local health unit to ensure people living with developmental disabilities in their communities receive appropriate attention and do not face discrimination.

Heart-Links is grateful to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada for their financial support of this project.