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.

In 2025, Centro Santa Angela continued to work with the neglected and underserved pueblo joven Culpón, in José Leonardo Ortíz, to reduce pollution and promote a culture of environmental stewardship. The centre also developed and accompanied a new network of local ecological committees from the five neighbourhoods where Centro Santa Angela has worked in previous years with Heart-Links’ support.

Culpón’s action plan, developed by the community itself, included waste reduction and recycling, environmental sport and recreation, production of awareness-raising murals and theatre, tree planting, and recovery and greening of public spaces. To fortify these efforts, Centro Santa Angela sought partnerships with programs offered by the municipality, the Ministry of Education, the National Water Authority and other environmental organizations. Participants formed three environmental organizations—for children, youth and adults—which will continue to take action to improve their communities’ environment.

The “environment observatory,” an online platform launched in 2024, continued to monitor the state of the environment across José Leonardo Ortiz, improving knowledge and awareness about the environment and promoting actions to improve its health.

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.

In 2023, Centro Santa Angela worked for a second and final year in the neglected and underserved pueblo joven of San Miguel to consolidate strides made in reducing pollution and promoting a culture of environmental stewardship. In 2024, using the same model developed in San Miguel, V Sector Urrunaga, and Víctor Raúl, the Centre began to “green” the neighbourhoods Beatriz El Palmo and Culpón, also located in José Leonardo Ortiz.

Activities in these urban neighbourhoods included waste reduction and recycling, environmental sport and recreation, production of awareness-raising murals, development of an environmentally friendly market, organic gardening, and recovery and greening of public spaces. They each formed three environmental organizations—for children, youth and adults—which continue to promote environmentally sound practices and take action to improve their communities’ environment.

This project also launched an “environment observatory,” an online platform to monitor the state of the environment throughout José Leonardo Ortiz, improve knowledge and awareness about the environment and promote actions to improve its health.

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.

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:

Last year, Centro Santa Angela wrapped up five years of work in the marginal urban neighbourhood of Urrunaga, leaving in place an ecological library for children, an Eco Club for youth, a nursery run by women, environmental committees for each of the neighbourhood’s 21 streets and a coordinating committee that will work with neighbours and with city hall to ensure Urrunaga continues to take steps to protect the environment and promote sustainable, healthy habits.

In 2022, Centro Santa Angela’s work to “green” urban neighbourhoods in José Leonardo Ortíz has moved to the neglected and underserved pueblo joven of San Miguel, whose public park had barely a single plant growing in it. This project is the first half of a two-year initiative.

Centro Santa Angela will run programs for children and youth to teach them about the importance of protecting our environment as well as what they can do to help. Participants in these programs will develop their own environmental initiatives, such as cleaning garbage from their streets, recycling, planting trees and community gardens or rescuing parks, and also promote good practices among their peers. Organizing families into block committees dedicated to caring for and improving their immediate environment was very successful in Urrunaga, so the centre will follow the same strategy in San Miguel.

An environmental committee of community leaders will seek accreditation so they can press municipal authorities to assume their responsibilities in garbage collection and other basic services. Through these efforts, the people of San Miguel hope not only to make their neighbourhood a happier and healthier home for themselves and their children but also to set an example other neighbourhoods might follow.

“I’ve learned that it’s important to live in harmony and in balance with nature and with the community.”
—Angélica

“Now the families that started with five laying hens have approximately 30 laying hens per family. We have 90 chicks, eggs that we eat ourselves and also sell when there are enough. And our family’s situation has improved, and we are learning how to improve our breeding. It also helps us to have better livelihoods and to be able to feed our children better. It’s important income for all our families.”
—Savina Vargas

This project, run by Centro Esperanza, built on last year’s project to strengthen community organization and sustainable income generation among rural families whose houses, lands, crops, animals, irrigation system, and water supply were damaged or destroyed in 2017 by flooding caused by El Niño.

In 2021, the families developed an organic chicken hatchery that produced eggs and meat for themselves and the market. In solidarity with impoverished families who do not belong to their association, each family donated 5 chicks to families in need. Centro Esperanza provided workshops in community organization, gender rights, marketing, cost analysis, strategic alliances, and business planning.

Participation by women in leadership positions continued to be a focus. Women now take part in decision-making in the community and the home. Three women sit on the community association’s board of directors.

The project helped these small farmers develop personally and as a community, drawing on their own skills and resources as well as on the expertise of workshop facilitators to organize, share resources, follow environmentally sound practices, promote the participation of women in leadership roles, and negotiate with state bodies.

This project forms part of Centro Santa Angela’s five-year strategic plan to address environmental challenges in the impoverished José Leonardo Ortiz district of Chiclayo. After training their own staff in environmentally sound practices, the centre began to work one by one with the neighbourhoods around them. It is an area choked with garbage where green spaces are rare.

During this phase of the project, Centro Santa Angela worked with the women, men, youth and children of Urrunaga to “green” this neglected and underserved pueblo joven. Volunteer committees encouraged residents to keep the streets and sidewalks clean, fill the local park with plants and trees, introduce recycling, repurpose used materials and reduce waste. Community leaders also pressed municipal authorities to assume their responsibilities in garbage collection and other basic services.

Through these efforts, the people of Urrunaga hope not only to make their neighbourhood a happier and healthier home for themselves and their children but also to set an example that other neighbourhoods might follow.