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Program for Indigenous and Peasant Women, Peru |
 Background | Project Overview | Activities | Outcomes and Implications | Resources | Questions PROGRAM OUTCOMES AND IMPLICATIONS |
 PeruMujer is an NGO which is dedicated to issues for the betterment of the
lives of Peruvian women. They do not limit their activities just to Andean
women, but in the case of this particular project, they are working with
indigenous peasant women in Cajamarca. CADEP (Centro Andino de
Educacion y Promocion, the Andean Center for Education and Promotion) is
a non-governmental organization whose main focus is primary education and
literacy of the Quechua populations in and around the departments of Cuzco
and Apurimac, especially in the provinces of Anta, Chumbivilcas and
Cotabambas. It conducts educational programs geared towards both
elementary age children and female adults. The specific program discussed in
this report is only for Quechua women, however. APED (Asociacion para la
Ecologia y el Desarrollo, the Association for Ecology and Development) is
an NGO whose primary function is to contribute to the development and
betterment of the populations of the Andean region. They have implemented
this literacy program in 42 communities in the provinces of Calca, Cuzco
and Paruro, which are in the department of Cuzco.
Attitudinal/Social Outcomes Women who have participated in these literacy programs were very positive about the outcomes they experienced. In follow-up interviews, several women indicated the favorable impact of being able to read in their native language. Some expressed how beneficial it has been to them in their expanding roles as community leaders. One participant pointed out how helpful being able to read and write in Quechua was for the members of the Women's Federation and for the members of the town council. Now they can keep all their meeting notes in Quechua, and have a permanent record of actions and decisions. She also pointed out that it was after she learned to read and write in Quechua that she was elected to the town council. Before that point, the men did not want to recognize her potential effectiveness in such a role. In addition, on a purely personal level, many women now feel more confident and competent about themselves because they have this new skill that was previously denied to them. They feel more empowered because now they can help their school-age children with their homework. They feel a stronger sense of solidarity with the other women in their community. In short, it has helped their self-esteem immensely. Quicktime Movie: The Importance of Educating Women T1 Connection (1.2 MB)
Statistical Outcomes
Shortcomings of the Program One concern expressed by administrators in the CADEP program is the difficulty of finding a good starting point for teaching Spanish literacy to the Quechua speaking women, and it is likely that APED has experienced similar difficulties. Some of the women have received previous schooling, but most dropped out at different grade levels. Thus, there are many different levels of previous experience in Spanish, and it has been very difficult to design an elementary Spanish literacy program or course because there is no curriculum currently in print that takes diverse levels of knowledge into account. Another weakness of the Spanish literacy component arises from the fact that the literacy trainers are members of the communities in which they teach. Very often, this means that they themselves do not know Spanish well enough to teach it. To address this issue, CADEP is preparing materials for teaching Spanish at two levels: one for the literacy trainers themselves, and one for the women in the literacy classes. In addition, they want to put together an "empowerment team" for teaching a second language, which they are optimistic will improve the Spanish literacy component of the program. |
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Personal testimonials are one means of judging the success of a program.
Concrete statistics are another, and to funding organizations, more important
measure. The CADEP program alone has achieved a 90% success rate, at
least in Quechua literacy. This means approximately 1350 of the 1500
women who have participated to date have an appreciable level of Quechua
literacy. APED (with 800 participants) and PeruMujer (number unavailable)
show similar levels of achievement. This is impressive, but are the women
using this new-found literacy in their daily lives? The gradually increasing
participation of women in community governance in all three areas
(Cajamarca, Cuzco, and Apurimac) would seem to indicate that they are. It
also testifies to the success of the programs' other goal of civic education. 
