OUR MISSION  

AZ Y ESPERANZA (PEACE AND HOPE) is an international Christian human rights organization whose mission is to promote justice for people and communities who suffer injustice and poverty. Paz y Esperanza is comprised of independent organizations in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and the USA that function under one mission and mutually cooperate with and support each other. PEACE AND HOPE INTERNATIONAL is the international headquarters for Paz y Esperanza with staff and offices in Minneapolis, USA and Lima, Peru.

OUR WORK

AZ Y ESPERANZA - PEACE AND HOPE serves marginalized or poor persons and communities who do not have access to justice or the ability to freely exercise their rights through its offices in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and the USA, and other projects it carries out with local organizations in Argentina, Colombia and Nicaragua.

Through its work Paz y Esperanza strives to:

(1) Help persons and communities whose rights have been violated obtain justice and become whole. We do this through the provision of direct services that include legal representation and advocacy, psychological, social, and economic rehabilitation, education and training, and humanitarian aid.

(2) Positively transform society to prevent injustice.  We do this through the promotion of systems change, legal and policy reform, building participatory democracy, empowering civilian leadership, promoting the peaceful resolution of conflict, community building, the promotion of mutual understanding through volunteerism and service learning, encouraging the participation of the Church, and the use of education strategies such as training, research, social monitoring, public communications and advocacy, and networking.

WHO WE SERVE

While it is a faith-based organization, Paz y Esperanza serves people without distinction of race, gender, religion or other classification. Paz y Esperanza serves primarily:

-children and women victimized by sexual, domestic and other violence;

-excluded indigenous communities;

-persons displaced by social conflict and exploitation;

-persons unjustly imprisoned; and,

-families and communities whose rights have been violated or threatened on the part of the authorities or others in power.