CARE Peru

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
October 2007

Many doors open for 1,393 members of Peru’s Chopcca community who have been helped by CARE to obtain Identification Cards so that they may exercise their right to vote. Photo courtesy of CARE.

A DRL grant to CARE sought to enable the Chopcca population's participation in political and civic life in Peru. To do so, the program first worked with RENIEC (the National Identification and Civil Status Registry office) to help almost 1400 Choppca citizens overcome economic, institutional, and cultural obstacles in order to acquire their National Identity Cards and/or Birth Certificates so that they could obtain an identity card. CARE utilized a public awareness campaign to educate citizens about the benefits of holding a national identity card. Obtaining an identity card contributed to increased voter participation in the 2006 elections in both Paucarà and Yauli. Within the Choppca region, the 2006 district elections saw an increased voter turnout of approximately 40%.

This program also sought to improve the capacity of the Choppca population to identify, develop, and advocate for proposals that address their concerns within their communities. 129 Choppca citizens completed the three-part leadership training school, 53 of which were women. Training modules included topics such as community leadership, cultural diversity, human rights, and local development management. The training enabled participants to positively impact the community, through developing proposals to be considered in the participatory budget process and through helping to build consensus during community assembly meetings.

Finally, the program helped Choppca training participants and other citizens to develop a Choppca Community Development Agenda. The five-year Agenda achieved approval at an assembly attended by over 1000 people and was presented at four public events so that Choppca priorities were included in election agendas of political parties and in the participatory budgets. Additionally, community programs were developed and Choppca citizens lobbied for their inclusion in the budget. One project that was developed during the program was included in the 2007 budget.