Empowerment and Education
(Empoderamiento y Educación)
Many educational institutions throughout the Quispicanchi region lack the resources to provide students with equitable access to education. Working in partnership with these institutions, and others, we support and promote initiatives that increase educational access and which promote basic human rights.
Other communities of creators and learners exist across the region, and the Project seeks to empower these communities to reach their full potential, particularly their economic potential.
CURRENT PROJECTS
CLASSROOM SUPPORT
Through the Project’s Encuentro program, we support teachers and classrooms at four different educational institutions in Quispicanchi. Companions (university students) collaborate with our partners in the region to provide additional classroom support every June and July. Additionally, Companions support three regional social service centers providing after school academic support to local children from both public and private schools. In 2024, our Companions contributed over 1,600 hours of instructional support to local educational institutions.
(Learn more about the Project’s Encuentro Program.)
FÁBRICA
Founded in 2022, through our social enterprise we partner with established organizations and entrepreneurs living in the rural and remote regions of southern Peru who both teach in the artistry of traditional handicrafts, equipping women with new skills and who also share our hopes for employing and empowering the women and families in their communities.
Throughout the year Project staff collaborate with local artisans to design new product lines, not only considering sales potential in the United States but that also provide women the opportunity to learn and practice new techniques. The products produced in the Quispicanchi and Ayacucho regions of southern Peru are then resold in the United States in order to provide consistent employment for more than 50 women throughout the year. In 2024, our artisans received roughly 40% of their annual through their partnership with our social enterprise alone. (Learn more about Fábrica)
PROMOTION OF BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS
Regions in southern Peru suffer from some of the highest rates of human trafficking. Combating the epidemic begins by educating children on their basic human rights.
In collaboration with our partners from the Wayra Association, the Project sponsors a Family Accompaniment Program which seeks to educate children and youth, ages 6 - 18 about their rights to life, education, safety, health, family, nutrition, housing, and more.
Our human rights education also includes workshops teaching youth how to resolve their differences and disagreements in peaceful and constructive ways that leads to deeper levels of respect for one another.
RECENT PROJECTS
AÑO 2022
Through our Encuentro Interns Program we provided a dedicated teacher to provide additional English instruction for high school students at the Virgen del Rosario school in Sullumayo. For people wishing to improve their employment and economic outlook, exposure to and proficiency in English language is critically important. Additionally, the COVID pandemic lead to almost 2 full years of lost learning in rural regions of Peru. The summer of 2022 was our first opportunity to provide such targeted classroom support. Since then, support for English language instruction has become the foundation of our classroom support efforts.
