Help 1,100 Venezuelans rebuild their life in Peru

We are glad to share with you that we are launching a new initiative, Boss Women to boost the empowerment of migrant and refugee Venezuelan women, in association with our partner APPV (Association fot the Protection of Vulnerable Populations, in Spanish)

Boss Women adds to our current efforts to promote the integration of refugees and migrants in Peru, through migration status regularization, the recognition of foreign higher education degrees by local authorities and access to health and other services. Boss women consists of three main lines of work:

Boss Lab: Economic and gender empowerment laboratory, consisting of a series of workshops on women's and migrants' rights, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence identification, prevention and response, female economic empowerment and development of a life project. Peru is one of the countries with the highest rates of gender-based violence (GBV) in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Venezuelan women are particularly exposed to it, both because they are hyper-sexualized by Peruvian society, and because of economic dependence resulting from their socioeconomic and migrant/refugee status. 

Boss Confidential: a safe space for the women, in which they will have the support of a psychologist/therapist, who will help them improve their self-esteem and recognize the boss in them.

Female Power: a network of women empowering themselves and other women, through which they can exchange experiences and knowledge, foster a sense of belonging and improve their integration into Peruvian society. 

It is an ambitious initiative, but together we can achieve anything! Thank you for your support!

Warm Regards,

Andrea Gandolfi

Dear Supporters,

Here in Lima, Peru, many aspects of everyday life are slowly going back to a certain degree of pre-pandemic normality. However, one crucial sector is still far from resuming its regular activities: education. Classes are still given completely online. In a developing country like Peru, where income inequality is extremely high and the access to technology and the Internet is very unequal, this represent a great challenge for children and adolescents from low-income households. For migrant and refugee Venezuelan youngsters, the lack of access to proper education and schooling adds to the disruption already caused by the migration process and makes their integration in their new communities harder. 

In an effort to reduce the negative impact of the pandemic on their education and social life, we created a new program called “Future Leaders Lab” and, with the support of the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives (FCIL) and your generous donations, we were able to include 70 adolescents, between the ages of 12 and 17, in the initiative. The “Future Leaders Lab” is an eight-month programme that will have improved their social skills, commitment to their local communities, understanding of civil rights and gender equality and will allow them to implement small projects for the improvement of their community. Moreover, the participants have received a tablet each, with a prepaid data plan, to reduce the digital learning gap they are facing.

We are grateful for the chance to expand our service to the migrant and refugee community in Peru and for your continued support. Thank you!

Warm regards,

Andrea Gandolfi