Health and Development for 11 Andean Communities

Community participation is key to the work that we do at DESEA Peru as it promotes community ownership of development efforts and enhances project effectiveness while providing for long-term success. For example, last year, the DESEA Peru team trained members of the community of Chaupimayo on water system repairs and worked alongside them to fix pipelines feeding into a reservoir that had been abandoned for about four years. It was exciting to see the reservoir fill up after a long day's work under the rain. With this knowledge and training, community members themselves are able to maintain systems for years to come without the need of outside support.

DESEA Peru also recognizes the importance of involving all staff and community leadreship in the planning and implementation of appropriate and culturally-sensitive programs in project areas.  For this reason, qhalis (DESEA’s community health workers) were brought together in October to conduct an evaluation of the present needs and assets of each of their communities in order to create relevant and focused planning of projects in 2018.  Through a series of interactive activities qhalis identified malnutrition/anemia and inadequate waste management as issues that continue to affect all communities. DESEA Peru staff facilitated fruitful conversations around the causes and effects of these problems to understand points of intervention and qhalis also shared their ideas for solutions.

With feedback from community leaders, the DESEA Peru team is currently working on developing a multi-component project to combat malnutrition and anemia in children under 3 years of age that provides safe water and latrines, increases access to iron-rich foods, provides nutritional supplements and education.  We are hopeful that in working in partnership with communities, we will see successes with this project.

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