Photographer: Mike Skelton

Welcome to Plan Peru

Peru is the third largest South American country, about twice the size of France.


After the Spanish conquest of Peru in the 1500s, many Spaniards and Indians married. Their descendants, called mestizos, now make up almost one half of the population. Indians also form a large ethnic group. Both of these groups have kept cultural and linguistic traditions that date back to pre-Inca times.

A constant challenge for Peruvians is the threat of El Niño, a phenomenon that can give rise to devastating floods and storms and affects rainfall worldwide. Damage to homes, infrastructure and crops are among some of the most obvious consequences of the wind and rain but dramatic increases in diarrhoea, malaria and dengue fever are also linked to El Niño.  A key part of our work with children and their communities in Peru over the past year, particularly in the region of Piura, has been to support families still affected by previous bad weather and to reduce people’s vulnerability to any further disaster by developing contingency plans.