ICA Peru’s evolving strategy of replication

By Ken Hamje

The Institute of Cultural Affairs established a Human Development demonstration project in Azpitia, Peru, in 1979.  Three years later, we began expanding our work to the surrounding four valleys where we sought to create demonstration communities that could be replicated. The following year, we set up a residential training centre for the formation of leadership teams in the four valleys – and beyond. Particularly noteworthy were the sustainable results that emerged in the adjacent Cañete and Forteleza valleys.

In 2006, we came up with a plan to spread the work to 100 valleys. We found our best options for funding were private sector companies with social responsibilities in the valleys of Peru. This has led us to our current mode of operating, which is focused on leadership formation for Auto-Desarrollo Comunitario (community self-development) with support from mining and energy companies operating in the rural areas. 

We now serve over 300 communities in 15 of the 24 regions of Peru.  People are calling in from around the country asking for programs to expand their leadership teams. This rapid expansion would not have been possible without the intervention and support of the large network of colleagues we have among these companies, as well as the logistical and financial support of the companies that invited us to work in their area of influence.

We want to deepen our work in the valleys and build a network of demonstration communities that will motivate rapid and spontaneous replication.  Our vehicle for this is a two-year Pueblo XXI project with its comprehensive images of community development and the prepared leadership and effective structures to assure sustainability.  We have two projects contracted and several more in process.

We want to rapidly develop tools to communicate the transformational images to drive the Pueblo XXI campaign.  If we do this well, we can move into a phase where other development entities can adopt our proven principles. Then, in just a few years, Auto-Desarrollo could become the new standard for community development, making asistencialismo (hand-out programs) a relic. 

This mode of working will lead our staff to take on the new role of being the trainer of trainers, requiring yet another transformation of who we are and how we are funded.

Ken Hamje is Executive Director, ICA-Peru