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Plan Peru

Cusco

Update on... Santo Tomas 1

This is an update about life in the area of Santo Tomas 1, as seen through the eyes of the children and families who live there. Santo Tomas 1 is made up of various communities and the situation and the activites described are representative of the area as a whole.

Strengthening capacities of local management for development

One way to strengthen community capacities was to expand on community development plans, and this was used as a foundation and tool to elaborate on the district development plan. Now peasant families participate in public space for decision-making. Until two years ago, this was reserved for people with political and economic power.

In Santo Tomas 1, eight community development plans were designed by families. These plans will allow the families to negotiate and manage their projects with the municipalities, whose duty it is to listen to their proposals of projects that will benefit every one, not only the settlers of the urban areas.

Families marching to demand respect for their rights

"We`d never participated in meetings with the authorities before; we were always scared that they`d laugh at us, because most of us do`nt know how toread or write. But one day , our friends from Plan came and motivated us.They told us that we have rights and that weare equal to the people in the city. We have values and strengths, and we must make others listen to our ideas"(Alberto Ccoscco, 45 years old, community leader)

As mentioned, just two years ago rural communities had no part in deciding allocation and management of their economic resources. But now, thanks to the initiative of social organisation, famers can participate in public space with proposals designed in their own communities.

One of the most important achievements of this project was the strengthening of capacities of the families, including the men, women, boys and girls who participated in the design of the development plans. They all expressed their opinions and were listened to.Even teenagers and young people presented their projects to local government authorities, who unfortunately, are still resistant and sceptical of the value of development plans designed by the families in their own communities.

"For most of the authorities. it`s hard to believe that peasants, who can barely write, already know how to make proposals and design a project profile. I remember that when the peasant leaders presented their projects, everyone was surprised because they expressed everything with sense of security and strength."(Elmer Barrinuevo, 46 years old, teacher)

A peasant leader presenting a project

During the workshops, families first identified the issues that affect them most.Then they planned some actions to solve these issues using their own resources and strengths.

The families want to continue to take an active part in running their community because they want it to be a better place for their children to grow up in.

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Community health surveilance

On the issue of health, the families said that wise use of water and the installation of toilets in all the communities were urgent needs to be addresed in order to avoid illnesses that would affect children.

Within this projects, there is an important activity called "Boys, girls and teachers' rights to registration and identity". The objective is to register boys, girls, teenagers, adults and elders, and to issue their identity documents free of charge.

Adolescents and children protesting for their rights to obtain identity documents

One the most critical problems is that boys and girls had never been registered. for several reasons, such as lack of money and the distance from the communities to the provincial capital. In some cases,children are not recognised by their fathers because they were conceived as a result of rape.

"To register a newborn child, we have to walk two days to get to the registration office in the city of the municipality. But this time, it was free of charge and they came to community;something which had never been done before."(Hida Ancalla, 27 years old housewife)

Another reason for children not being registered is that during the landowners's exploitation of the peasants, the peasants did not have the right to get identification documents;not even the right to go to school and receive education. By the end of the 1960s and 1970s, some peasants had identification documents, but the landowners burned their houses and they lost all their belongings.

Filling in applications for identity documents

Nowadays, all Peruvians,peasants or not, have the right to identity documents. However, a high percentage of adults and children do not exist according to the records of the country. Given this situation, the municipality of Santo Tomas 1, in agreement with Plan, organised awareness-raising campaigns on birth registration so that no child remains without an identification document that proves his or her existence and supports exercise of his or her rights.

The camaign was intially designed for three months, but the demand was so big that it was extended for three months more. The campaign will continue for the next few years so tha every boy and girls registered and issued with a birth certificare.

In the first stage, 160 boys and girls and 70 adults were registered and now have legal identification documents.

Children showing their identification documents