Over the past decade Peru has made significant progress in reducing the production of coca, stabilizing its economy, and increasing access to social services. Despite these advances, health indicators in many regions of Peru remain low and important public health initiatives, such as clean drinking water, are absent in certain areas. LMS assistance in Peru focuses on applying the concepts and practical approaches of leadership and management to promote healthy lifestyles and behaviors and empowerment of the Peruvian people through community and civil participation.

EXPERIENCE IN COUNTRY

• Healthy Communities and Municipalities (HCM)
• Virtual Leadership Development Program – Peru

Healthy Communities and Municipalities (HCM)

The objective of the Healthy Communities and Municipalities (HCM) project is to improve maternal, child, and peri-natal health of the communities that have signed coca-eradication agreements. These areas have been traditionally abandoned both by the government and private investment. At its core, health promotion consists of providing people with the means to better control their own health. To achieve this, the program works on improving “health determinants” (latrines, housing conditions, children’s parks, etc.) within the participating communities. Promoting multi-sectoral interventions and active participation of the community is a key element in establishing sustainable, improved health conditions. The HCM project exemplifies the importance of intervening at every level. The project focuses on lifestyle and behavior changes in the family, school, and health centers thereby educating the whole community about putting health as a priority in everyone’s lives.

• Healthy Families and Communities in Peru

• Strengthening Municipalities to Improve Community Planning and Management

Virtual Leadership Development Program – Peru

The LMS Peru Healthy Communities and Municipalities (HCM) project used the Virtual Leadership Development Program (VLDP) as a way to introduce project teams to LMS leadership concepts and practices, and as a tool to be adapted and applied in the future to the communities served by the project. Participants showed an extraordinary level of engagement. The hallmark of the VLDP is to identify and address an organizational challenge and the seven HCM teams chose a single, common challenge directly related to their project mandate: How can we achieve a 30% improvement in maternal and child health indicators in the communities in which we work by July 2007?  The VLDP Peru generated team spirit and collaboration. In addition to the seven HCM teams, four teams from Chemonics/Peru, one team from Peru Adventist Development and Relief Agency office, and one team from PRISMA participated.