Capital: Lima
Area: 1,285,216 km²
Population: 28.3 million (July 2006)
Ethnic groups: mestizos, European, African and Asian descent
Official language(s): Spanish and Quechua
Religion(s): Roman Catholic, Protestant
Currency: 1 new sol = 100 céntimos
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
It was in 1972 that the Swiss couple Ernesto and Elvira Senn were sent to Peru as representatives of the Swiss promoting association Schweizer Freunde der SOS-Kinderdörfer. It was these people that brought Hermann Gmeiner's idea to this country. The first families were able to move into the first Peruvian SOS Children's Village in Zárate, five kilometres from the centre of Lima, the capital of the country in the Andes in 1975.The terrible economic crisis of the 1980's caused many families to become destitute. The social deprivation of the weakest members of society, the children in need, was ever-increasing. Because of the great demand, more SOS Children's Villages were built throughout the country, such as both SOS Children's Village Esperanza and Rio Hondo in Chosica. SOS Youth Facilities were also built in which the youths can prepare themselves to be able to live on their own. When armed conflict broke out against Ecuador in 1995, a four-month long SOS Emergency Relief Programme was set up to provide refugees on both sides of the border with food.
In 1998 the north of Peru was hit by strong rainfall and flooding as a result of the El Niño. During an SOS Emergency Relief Programme, which lasted for two months, SOS Children's Villages Peru distributed urgently-needed food and medicine.
In 2002, SOS Children’s Villages started to operate Family Strengthening Programmes, which enable children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. To achieve this, SOS Children’s Villages works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers.
In August 2007, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit the Central West coast of Peru that made 36.000 people homeless. SOS Children's Villages in Peru has launched an Emergency Relief Programme and was coordinating it together with other institutions and organisations. Around 1,425 children have been provided with tents, water, daily food and clothes. The family committees in Ica have also been able to build sanitation facilities and three kitchens with help from Médecins Sans Frontières giving advice on health and hygiene matters to more than 800 families. SOS Children's Villages has already planned a long-term family strengthening programme which will continue after the emergency is over and is intended to prevent families from breaking up in the long term.
At present there are eleven SOS Children's Villages in operation, one SOS Children's Village under construction, SOS Youth Facilities as well as SOS Social Centres at nine locations and an SOS Vocational Training Centre in Peru.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Peru
(available in Spanish)