Helping women build a future in Peru
Goal: $40,000
The project In Peru targets two areas of extreme poverty: Huancavelica, one of the poorest areas in Peru; and a slum in Lima. Many suffer from chronic malnutrition and lack adequate housing, clean water and sanitation. Most have migrated from rural areas and are uneducated; only15% can read. Often women can’t find employment.
Many of the women who will benefit from this project are single or abandoned mothers who have families to support. They have the skills to earn a living but need a loan to set themselves up in a micro-business. In addition to providing working capital for these savings and lending groups, the project also allows members to receive training in: business planning, personal development, product development, sales and marketing. Pastoral care by the local Anglican churches and the Biblically based curriculum encourage spiritual transformation as well.
Our partner, Five Talents International, is working with the Anglican Church of Peru (a missionary diocese in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone) and the Ecumenical Church Loan Fund of Peru to implement these projects. Past microfinance projects in these communities have succeeded in transforming lives and had a high rate of loan repayment.
You can read an inspiring account of one Peruvian family whose lives were transformed by a microfinance loan that allowed the parents to set up a business making and selling traditional crafts.
Archbishop Tito Zavala, Primate of the Southern Cone, in approving this project, expressed his gratitude saying: “I really want to thank God and support the work and ministry of The Anglican Relief and Development Fund (ARDF) in partnership with Five Talents International (FTI). As the Lord has sent us to proclaim his Good News of salvation and to serve society, ministries like ARDF and FTI help us to fulfill the Great Commission He gave us.”