15 successes over 15 years
15 years ago, Amantani started working towards social and economic equality in Peru. This is not an easy task, but we haven’t been alone on our journey!
The amazing positive changes in our communities have been achieved in partnership with all the individuals and institutions that have joined us along the way. Amantani’s accomplishments are thanks to our students’ perseverance, the commitment of the parents, our artisans’ dedication, our team’s motivation and the generosity of our donors. Amantani is the result of years of effort, of sometimes feeling that the odds are against us, of realising we still had a lot to learn and of humbly celebrating our victories.
To commemorate 15 years of Amantani on the 20th of May, we have selected 15 milestones that highlight our journey. Come and re-live these moments with us!
1. Creation of the Boarding Houses Project
In 2008, Amantani started its first project: a boarding house in Ccorca. This enabled girls to stay in a safe place instead of walking up to 8 hours a day to and from school. By staying at Amantani's Boarding Houses, each girl avoided approximately 737 hours of walking per year. Instead, they could use this time to do their homework, explore different activities and play.
2. Inclusion of boys in our Boarding House Project
In 2011, we extended our programme to include boys. They had many of the same challenges as our female participants and, together, they created strong bonds of friendship, companionship and support.
3. Meet My World international film screenings
As part of the Meet My World Project (Tiqsimuyuyta Riqsinki), a group of children wrote scripts and produced short films to showcase their talents, ancestral traditions and favourite hobbies. These short films were screened in Lima, New York and London in 2014 and 2016.
4. Our Ethical Trade Project begins
After the success of our craft workshops in the Boarding Houses, we launched our Ethical Trade Project alongside some of the mothers in Ccorca. These talented women began to produce hand-woven bracelets that were later sold in Peru and the United Kingdom.
5. Creation of the ICT Suites
Between 2015 and 2017, we opened ICT Suites and ran weekly classes in Microsoft Office, email configuration and web navigation at local schools, reaching more than 400 children and young people.
6. Open Book Campaign
In 2016, we launched a campaign to encourage reading, increase vocabulary and improve the reading comprehension of primary and secondary school students.
7. Launch of the Transitions Project
Our Transitions Project also started in 2016, to help young people in Ccorca with the transition after secondary school. The project includes the Pathways Programme to prepare young people for studies after school and the Scholarships Programme to accompany them throughout their further education.
8. Paqari Wayna Youth Hub Opens
We opened our Paqari Wayna Youth Hub in Cusco so that the scholarship students in our Transitions Project would have a safe space to meet with their Amantani tutors and peers, as well as to socialise and study. The space also has a kitchen, computers, garden and reading corners.
9. Expansion to Huanoquite
In 2019, we expanded our work to the district of Huanoquite, 1.5 hours away from Ccorca. The young people here faced similar challenges to those from Ccorca and our project received great support from the Municipality and community leaders.
10. Marleni graduates!
In 2021, Marleni became the first of Amantani’s scholarships students – and the first person in her community – to graduate with a university degree. Congratulations Marleni!
11. Two new Ethical Trade Products
After perfecting bracelet weaving, the Ethical Trade Project artisans were ready to branch out and create new products. They introduced luggage tags in 2021 and hand-woven hatbands in 2022.
12. First trip to Iquitos
Our Projects Director and Project Coordinator, Thilo and Edu, made their first trip to the Amazon in 2021, to look into the possibility of extending our work to the Peruvian Amazon.
13. Launch of the Amazon Youth Project
In 2022, we officially launched the Amazon Youth Project! We followed the model of our work with young people in Ccorca and Huanoquite but adapted and tailored it to the specific needs of young people from the Peruvian Amazon.
14. Implementation of the Amazon Youth Hub
We opened the Youth Hub in the Amazon city of Iquitos to provide our scholarship students with a space to live and study while completing their education. The space is a place where young people feel happy, safe and supported.
15. Creation of the Corporate Volunteer Project
This project was created to help expand our network of institutions and businesses to help young people to find fair employment. We have hosted workshops from local businesswomen and entrepreneurs and have led a workshop about female empowerment.
It fills our heart with pride to know that each one of these milestones has impacted and benefitted the lives of our participants. And whilst we get ready to embrace the years to come, we would also like to take a minute to remember the big accomplishments we don’t always see reflected in our statistics. The academic progress of young people who didn’t trust their skills and talents, the voices of our shiest students, the improvements in parent-son-daughter relationships and the pride of a young person being congratulated by their boss. These are some of many special moments that make us feel that Amantani’s heart and essence is still very much alive, as it is supported by everyone who believes in our goals.
Please consider donating to our 15th Anniversary campaign to support us as we continue to grow!
Thank you for all of your support.