For thirty years or so, Peru has been faced with fast-paced urbanization. Cities need to rapidly meet the infrastructure needs of new residents.
AFD operates in three priority sectors: access to drinking water, transport and housing.

Accessible and high-quality water 

Access to water is the priority for the Peruvian Government. This is especially because there are strong territorial inequalities: while the desert coast, and particularly the capital Lima, is faced with a shortage, the high rainfall areas of the Andes and Amazonia do not have the infrastructure required to use rainwater.
AFD is helping the Peruvian authorities achieve their 2021 objective: access to drinking water for all. For example, we are upgrading distribution networks, increasing the efficiency of public services and improving natural disaster management, following the recent floods and mudslides which have badly affected coastal cities.

More environmentally friendly transport 

In the transport sector, AFD focuses on low-carbon mobility, meaning with low CO2 and particulate pollutant emissions.
We are planning to finance the construction of the new metro in Lima. It will provide over 30,000 residents in outlying neighborhoods with daily access to the city center. We also provide technical cooperation with the main cities to support their public policies for sustainable mobility. 

Sustainable housing for all

There is currently a shortage of 1.8 million housing units nationwide, including 900,000 in the capital. Cities see new neighborhoods springing up on their outskirts, which are informally built and often without access to basic services. Some 8 million people live in these neighborhoods.

AFD is supporting Fondo MiVivienda (FMV), a public financial institution which finances social housing. Together, we have developed a new tool called “My Sustainable Housing” (Bono MiVivienda Sostenible), which aims to sell housing with a “green” certification at the same price as traditional housing.

In 2016, agriculture accounted for 9% of GDP and 10% of exports, a major contribution to Peru’s economy. However, farmers and their families continue to face poverty and inequalities persist between urban and rural populations. In addition, agriculture in the broad sense and changes in land use account for some 60% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and are one of the main causes of deforestation.

In partnership with Agrobanco, the Peruvian State’s public bank for the development of the agricultural sector, AFD is financing the investments of small producers and agricultural cooperatives. Our main thrust: promote efficient agriculture combining respect for the environment and social improvement.

Research is the poor relation in Peru’s education system. The country trains few engineers and researchers due to the lack of appropriate university facilities.

AFD is looking into the possibility of working with Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), a private non-profit institution, which is building the country’s first science and technology park. It will focus on state-of-the-art technologies and sustainable natural resources management.

French CSOs are very active in Peru and work at grassroots level with inhabitants.

To strengthen their action, AFD is supporting:

• The International Catholic Childhood Bureau and its “No Kids Behind Bars” program. The objective: promote a legal structure for the reintegration of children in conflict with the law;
• Agronomes & Vétérinaires sans frontières and its “Agroecological transitions and sustainable food in rural areas and cities” program to strengthen smallholdings and promote agroecology;
• CCFD-Terre Solidaire, to get rural communities out of poverty in the high Andes of Junin and Huancavelica via agriculture;
• Médecins du Monde, to improve the prevention and management of unwanted pregnancies;
• L'Agence Micro Projets, to improve living conditions in a slum in Northern Lima by building a community recreational space (participatory construction of a skating and volleyball area and a garden) in Puente Piedra (La Ensenada);
• Frères des Hommes, to support 1,000 women faced with domestic violence in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho. With AFD’s support, the CSO teaches them a trade (textiles, baking, engraving, weaving) and subsequently helps them get organized socially and economically.