As part of the ongoing trainings with the Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local (UGEL) in Quispicanchi, the largest province in the region of Cusco, Peru, and the Dirección Departamental de Educación (DDE) of the entire Department of Beni, Bolivia, Alma is constantly responding to the different needs of different educational demographics: rural/urban/semi-urban schools; indigenous […]
As part of the ongoing trainings with the Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local (UGEL) in Quispicanchi, the largest province in the region of Cusco, Peru, and the Dirección Departamental de Educación (DDE) of the entire Department of Beni, Bolivia, Alma is constantly responding to the different needs of different educational demographics: rural/urban/semi-urban schools; indigenous […]
We began the implementation of our department-wide training program with the Dirección Departamental de Educación (DDE) of Beni, Bolivia in August 2020. Though we had strong support from the DDE-Beni since the beginning of the coordination, research, and development process of the large training program, encompassing both rural and urban proposals for preschool primary, […]
In 2019 Alma began coordinating with the Unidad de Gestion Educativa Local (UGEL) in Quispicanchi, the largest province in the region of Cusco and home to the majority of our community projects in Peru, to begin training state teachers in Alma’s unique pedagogy focused on critical and creative thinking, local culture, harmonious values, and […]
The parents in Los Puentes had been asking for an Alma project since 2016, but were still recovering from the heavy flooding of 2014 and could not commit to the responsibilities that Alma asked of them. By 2018, when the Trinidad Municipality presented a request from one of their other communities for an Alma project, […]
Cerritos had been petitioning Alma for a project since 2016, but because the community is part of the large Trinidad Municipality, we always opted to work with more isolated communities. However, after expanding in Beni, Bolivia in 2019, we had projects in all of the viable isolated communities and were looking for a couple more […]
We began working in Huathua Laguna in 2017, and in 2018 a former community member was elected the new mayor of Quiquijana District. Usi sits near the top of a mountain range running between Usi and Huathua Laguna, and when the new mayor mentioned that we were looking for some new project communities in […]
San Juan de Mocovi began requesting an Alma Project in 2015, when we were first expanding in Beni, Bolivia. At the time, the community was still recovering from the disastrous flooding of 2014 and was not in a position to fulfill the many responsibilities Alma requires of a project community. Nevertheless, the community members […]
We began working in Huathua Laguna in 2017, and in 2018 a former community member was elected the new mayor of Quiquijana District. Knowing about our projects, parents from Antisuyo quickly petitioned the new mayor to bring Alma to their community, and together we did just that in 2019. In Antisuyo we run an […]
When Alma decided to expand in Beni, Bolivia, we began to evaluate and visit the over 20 different communities that asked us for a project in the San Andres Municipality. However, after many community meetings and discussions with parents and local authorities, we found that the communities that we needed one more project to […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Poza Honda (Beni, Bolivia) aims to improve the community’s 28 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complimenting the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Perlita (Loreto, Peru) aims to improve the community’s 17 primary school students’ (grades 4, 5, and 6) educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complimenting the more formal education they receive in the classroom with […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Naranjito (Beni, Bolivia) aims to improve the community’s 22 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complimenting the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and flexible model […]
We visited Bella Selva in our first visit to Beni, Boliva in 2015 but decided not to implement a project with the community for a handful of reasons, the main ones being that the project they wanted didn’t seem feasible for Alma and the community didn’t seem to be very well organized. Nevertheless, the […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Galaxia (Beni, Bolivia) aims to improve the community’s 20 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complimenting the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and flexible model reinforcing […]
The “Biblioteca” project in 28 de Julio (Loreto, Peru) aims to improve the community’s 20 primary school students’ (grades 4, 5, and 6) educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complimenting the more formal education they receive in the classroom […]
When the parents’ association in Lacco saw our project in neighboring Chumpe, they were insistent. They wanted to implement computer science classes that reinforced state mandated academic content and promoted critical/creative thinking through dynamic projects based 100% on the students’ indigenous culture and values. They petitioned, they visited, and they made such a strong case […]
Public university in Peru is tuition free (although there are small matriculation fees each semester) and in place of an application process, entrance to both public and private universities as well as technical institutes is dependent upon entrance exams. These exams, especially for public university due to its affordability for all socio-economic demographics, are increasingly […]
In 2016, our project in Manguita began as a joint project with the neighboring community, Cotoca, with the goal to reinforce mathematics, communication, and sciences through fun, culturally-based projects that promote critical/creative thinking and harmonious values. We quickly saw that this community was special in its unwavering effort to improve the quality of education […]
In 2016 we began working in Cotoca with the community members, parents, students, and teachers to reinforce mathematics, communication, and sciences through fun, culturally-based projects that promote critical/creative thinking and harmonious values. In the beginning, it was a joint project with neighboring community, Manguita. However, the community responded so well to the project and took […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Vargas Guerra aims to improve the community’s 30 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops will take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complimenting the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and flexible model reinforcing […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Nuevo Miraflores aims to improve the community’s 27 primary school students’ (in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade) educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops will take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complementing the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Jordan aims to improve the community’s 26 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops will take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complementing the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and flexible model reinforcing […]
The parents in Huathua Laguna petitioned us for a project for two years before we were able to free up some budget to visit the community and meet the people. Community authorities, individual parents, and even the random student would visit our project in neighboring Huadhua to request that we visit their community; to explain […]
The parents’ association in Chumpe invited us to their community in late 2016 after hearing about Alma and our innovative teaching methodology from their preschool teacher, who happened to be the sister of one of our teachers, Gustavo. Only a few days before Christmas, Ian and Gustavo took the five-hour drive from Cusco to Chumpe, […]
As technology becomes ever more integral in all levels of education and in every aspect of daily life, children without access to technological education are increasingly disadvantaged. When added to the many economic and social obstacles already present for children from rural indigenous communities in Peru, the lack of access to technology is detrimental […]
Alma is starting a new education project in the very remote community of Monte Cristo. Monte Cristo is in the San Andres district of Bolivia. 22 families live in Montre Cristo. Their main economic activities are subsistence agriculture and fishing. There is no access to running water or electricity. In Monte Cristo, we are implementing […]
Public university in Peru is tuition free (although there are small matriculation fees each semester) and in place of an application process, entrance to both public and private universities, as well as technical institutes, is dependent upon entrance exams. These exams, especially for public university due to its affordability for all socio-economic demographics, are increasingly […]
Some parents in Karhuacalla had children participating in our Pre-University Academy Project in Huaninpampa. They shared their experience with Alma with the rest of the community, and in 2016 asked us to come work in Karhuacalla with their primary school students. We instantly noticed a difference between the students in Karhuacalla from many of the […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Quihuares aims to improve the community’s 30 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops will take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complementing the more formal education they receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and flexible model reinforcing creativity, […]
Alma has partnered with El Arca Children’s Home to help provide high quality education to 25 children in Puerto Maldonado. El Arca not only gives children a second chance in life but also provides them with a high quality education. El Arca’s new location is near Puerto Maldonado, in the Peruvian Amazon jungle. It is home to children […]
Villa Alba is an agricultural community with 75 families located in the district of San Andres Bolivia. Being one of the oldest communities in San Andres, Villa Alba has both a primary and a secondary school and the Parents Association is organized and active. After several meetings with the community and with local and regional […]
Nuevo Amanecer was founded in 1997 by young families from various regions including Potosí, Cochabamba, and Santa Cruz who moved into the jungle searching for land to cultivate. Currently the population is 43 families and is located in San Andres. Though the community is relatively young, it is recognized for its organization and recently […]
Centro Yanay, or “Suyacuyhuan Yachasun” (which roughly translates as “Learning for Hope” in Quechua) aims to provide educational and vocational assistance to at-risk populations of young and teenage girls in Cuzco by opening an occupational center aimed exclusively at their needs. Official courses, certified by the Ministry of Education, will be offered in cosmetology, computation, […]
The Patabamba Academy provides access to university for low-income students Alma is attempting to increase the number of low-income, rural students attending university by funding a pre-university academy that will enroll approximately 80 high school students in Saturday classes in math and communications. Although public university tuition in Peru is free, rural and low-income high […]
The Sihua Primary School project began when community leaders approached the Alma Foundation looking for help. The community’s primary school, I.E. #50743, only had 4 of 6 grades due to the lack of teachers, forcing the fifth and sixth graders to walk kilometers to other communities in order to continue studying. Though the school has […]
The community of Tuksa is located at an altitude of 4,000 meters above sea level, in the province of Canchis. It is a very remote community, isolated to the point that the community has little contact with the outside world. They have no telephone service and most of the people there do not speak Spanish. […]
Quihares, Huaninpampa, and Colcha each have a CRFA (Centro Rural de Formación en Alternancia) school. These schools overcome the large distances students must travel from their respective communities to study at the secondary level by working in shifts. For 15 days, two or three grades will live at the school and attend daily classes while […]
The “Biblioteca” project is built around the idea that education is not a single trajectory between a defined starting and ending point, but a more fluid orientation with varying starting and ending points depending on the strengths and interests of each individual student. Though the case can be made for the need of standardized education […]
Everyone from our advisory board, through Ian our program director, to our partners and teachers in the communities seem to agree that single greatest obstacle to better education in Peru is the quality of teachers. Teachers are underpaid, lacking motivation and are badly trained. The “old style” methods they are taught in teacher’s school do […]
As defined by the OECD, “the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.” In the OECD’s most recent PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam, given in 2012, Peru ranked last of the participating 65 […]
As defined by the OECD, “the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.” In the OECD’s most recent PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam, given in 2012, Peru ranked last of the participating 65 […]
The “Biblioteca” project in Huadhua aims to improve the community’s 29 primary school students’ educational performance by offering reinforcement workshops in the afternoon. The workshops will take advantage of working outside of regular school hours by complementing the more formal education students receive in the classroom with a fun, creative, and flexible model reinforcing reading […]
Teacher training is crucial to the success of our programs. Teachers in Bolivia are not taught how to implement a curriculum based on play and projects. They are not taught how to allow for and nurture critical thinking. In short, while we choose our teachers very carefully (usually recent graduates of arts teaching schools) and […]
As defined by the OECD, “the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.” In the OECD’s most recent PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam, given in 2012, Peru ranked last of the participating 65 […]
As defined by the OECD, “the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.” In the OECD’s most recent PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam, given in 2012, Peru ranked last of the participating 65 […]
Ethnobotanist, Wade Davis, says “a language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules…Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind.” The Sirionó people are one of Bolivia’s 36 recognized ethnic groups. They live in the Beni region of the Bolivian Amazon in and around two central communities: Pata […]
Las Palmeras has always been a slightly different project. When we were first invited to the community, the problem was that they did not have a school and either had to send them to a faraway population center or not send them to school at all. So at first the community, with municipal assistance, built […]
San Martin de Porres is a very isolated community in the San Andres district of the amazon region of Bolivia. San Martin consists of 25 families whose main economic activities are subsistence agriculture and fishing. There is no access to running water or electricity. In this community we created an education reinforcement program to bring […]
Alma is happy to start the new academic reinforcement project San Jose de Paranapura. As defined by the OECD, “the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a triennial international survey which aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students.” In the OECD’s most recent PISA (Programme for […]
Public university in Peru is tuition free (although there are small matriculation fees each semester) and in place of an application process, entrance to both public and private universities as well as technical institutes is dependent upon entrance exams. These exams, especially for public university due to its affordability for all socio-economic demographics, are […]
Public university in Peru is tuition free (although there are small fees each semester) and in place of an application process, entrance to both public and private universities as well as technical institutes is dependent upon entrance exams. These exams, especially for public university due to its affordability for all socio-economic demographics, are increasingly competitive; […]
Alma has started a new academic reinforcement for two very remote communities in the San Andres district of Bolivia. The communities of Cotoca and La Manguita will receive educational reinforcement centers for both preschool and primary school, with the goal of improving the student’s’ academic performance in mathematics and communications. To do so, we are […]
Alma has partnered with the Trinidad Special Education Centre to provide high-quality education to children with special needs in Trinidad, Bolivia. Alma will be supporting the school by providing educational materials, equipment, transportation for the children to go to school and provide physiotherapy for the students at the centre. This project will help increase the […]
We have worked with Ada Stevenson for several years at her boarding home for orphans and children whose parents cannot care for them. It is in the very poor neighbourhood of Ccotohuincho outside of Urubamba, two hours from Cusco. Last year we developed a home tutoring program for the kids but this year Ada has […]
Early Stimulation Classrooms (SETs) and Non-accredited Pre-school Programs (PRONEIs) exist in communities or neighborhoods in Peru where formal pre-school is not available due to the lack of student population or municipal/ state budget. SETs work with children 0-3 years old and PRONOEIs with children 3-5 years old. SET and PRONOEI teachers, known as “Promoters”, are […]
The Asociación Cultural Etsa was founded in 2010 by two employees of La Restinga and two teachers. Today Etsa consists of five people, all of whom work as volunteers and donate a portion of their own salaries to the association in order to implement their projects. All of their projects are implemented in the neighborhood […]
Ethnobotanist, Wade Davis, says “a language is not just a body of vocabulary or a set of grammatical rules…Every language is an old-growth forest of the mind.” The Sirionó people are one of Bolivia’s 36 recognized ethnic groups. They live in the Beni region of the Bolivian Amazon in and around two central communities: Pata […]
The “Biblioteca” project is built around the idea that education is not a single trajectory between a defined starting and ending point, but a more fluid orientation with varying starting and ending points depending on the strengths and interests of each individual student. Though the case can be made for the […]
The Alma Children’s Education Foundation is beginning a new school expansion project in the province of Paruro. The community, San Francisco de Colcha, is home to the only secondary school in the entire District of Colcha. Alma will hire one teacher to help the school expand up to fourth grade. The Apu Yauri Waynajuna Kallpachaq […]
In response to the large success of our project working with the families of school I.E. # 50908 in Chamana, the Alma Foundation has decided to implement the same project, though slightly adapted due to the different needs of the new communities, in the school I.E. # 501316 in Markuray. The project includes the 23 […]
Mosoq Runa aims to transform lives of “at risk” children Mosoq Runa is a children’s home in Ccotohuincho, an extremely poor district near the town of Urubamba. Here the poverty leads to numerous family problems: alcoholism, squalid housing, poor diet (40% of children suffer from malnutrition), lack of decent clothing, little or no education, child […]
Kiya Survivors is a British-Peruvian charity operating educational facilities for children with special needs and those who have suffered abuse and abandonment. The Rainbow Centre was the first facility opened by Kiya, in 2002, and is the only school dedicated to special needs in this area of Peru. Survivors supports 140 children and their families […]
Patacancha is a small, highland community, above Ollantaytambo, a 3.5 hour walk into the Patacancha Valley. Local health workers have found that some 50% of the children are malnourished, which contributes to the poor grades they receive. As well, they must walk long distances to school — some four hours each day. We have convened […]
This post was created on August 12, 2014 Tikapata is a small, wonderful alternative school in the countryside, 10km. from Urubamba. It was founded two years ago by three sets of parents who were unhappy with the quality of education in the area. One-third of the children, from families of financial means, pay full tuition […]
The Golden anniversary dream! This is a large public high school in Urubamba that gets little government funding beyond teachers’ salaries. We have worked with Nexos Voluntarios, a Peruvian charity with deep roots in Urubamba, on previous projects with staff and students from GOU, so we have a good understanding of stakeholder needs and assets. Two […]
U.O.A.S. was founded in 1934 by the wife of Peru’s president at the time. They run 11 schools in Lima for children of no financial means. They are supported financially by the government and are run by an order of nuns. The current president of U.O.A.S. (a non-paid position) is the granddaughter of the founder. I […]
Vania Masias, former Peruvian national premier ballerina and national champion dancer, was touring with the Ireland Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet when she returned to Lima for vacation and watched a group of street dancers perform at an intersection in front of her car. She envisioned creating a dance studio, a safe friendly place where these street kids […]
Yuri Valencia de la Barrio de Mendoza has done social change work in Cusco since he was 13. Today, he is an astute, university educated social entrepreneur who has built a hostel and restaurant and has used the profits from these two ventures to develop a school in Cusco for children of no financial means. The school, […]
In general, arts and crafts can provide a vocational education, and, thus, an income; skills in weaving and jewelry making are particularly useful. The Tejidos Andinos Project currently works with a group of 30 students; however, many more are waiting for the opportunity to be included. Andean weaving is an art form that these children […]
Yachay Wasi is a small independent school being built in Ollantaytambo. We are very familiar with this community and have many personal relationships there. It has been apparent that the local primary school has been providing an inadequate quality of education so a group of parents formed a not-for-profit association that has been running a drop-in […]
The Alma Foundation has partnered with the National University of the Altiplano, the Unidad de Gestión Educativa Local (UGEL) of Urubamba, and the Rural Educational Network of Patacancha in an effort to improve the quality of education in nine remote highland communities that form part of the Patacancha Cuenca in the District of Ollantaytambo. Over the […]
The Alma Children’s Education Foundation has recently begun working with leaders and parents from the community of K’enko to improve access to secondary school education for 40 students who, at the moment, walk five hours a day to get to the nearest secondary school.K’enko is a small highland community approximately 1.5 hours by car from Pisac. It is accessible […]
This project will improve access to early childhood education and improve the quality of pre-school and primary school education. It will accomplish this through the provision of much needed educational materials and enhanced teacher training. As well, infrastructure repairs will bring welcome improvements to these communities, located in the Patacancha valley above Ollantaytambo. For this […]
Alma worked with Living Heart to make its successful nutritional programme more sustainable, with a pilot project to allow the community to grow fresh vegetables and herbs in the highland hamlet of Qhelqanqa, in collaboration with the Municipality of Ollantaytambo and the local primary school, building on the experience of other NGOs with greenhouses. Qhelqanqa is […]
For My Friends was founded by two University of Toronto students with the aim of financing the education of Peruvian children at Colegio Senor de los Milagros in Lima. Parents within this community are often unable to afford both the enrollment fees and the cost of school supplies. This means that their children are unable to receive […]
Chamana is a small community in the province of Urubamba about 30 km from Ollantaytambo. There is no road access to this community so to reach it one must walk along the Inca trail for about 1 1/2 hours and then along a narrow path for another hour. The people in these communities are very […]
The Cultural Centre “Cuarto Creciente” opened in Urubamba in 2012 as a space for theatre and other creative and cultural workshops. Here, children, young people and adults can investigate, explore, share, learn and find their own talents, abilities and qualities. It has a philosophy of positive stimulation and aims to help people become more rounded […]
The Alma Foundation is working in collaboration with the local education authority (UGEL) and the Provincial Municipality of Urubamba to bring innovative teaching methods for reading and writing to eleven primary institutions in communities of the province of Urubamba, Cusco, Peru. This project has been designed and is headed by the experienced and respected teacher […]