Ethnicity, Gender and Citizenship
Despite social progress and economic advancement in recent years, different forms of social exclusion persist in Peru, which limit the access to development resources for indigenous peoples and Peruvians of African descent. These communities’ ability to fully realize their social, economic, and civil rights is in turn severely diminished. Along with these forms of social exclusion, various mores and institutions of Peruvian society perpetuate other types of social inequalities based on gender and have resulted in unequal opportunities for men and women in our country.
Both forms of inequality have structural roots that not only manifest themselves in civic and economic life, but also find expression in daily acts of discrimination and violence (physical and symbolic).
In this context, GRADE has produced a corpus of studies that explores the multiple dimensions of these forms of social inequality. The studies seek, above all, to bring these problems to the fore by measuring the magnitude of their impact on society, and in turn, we have created a resource for data and analysis that responds to these inequalities.
Building on these studies, we have begun to explore both the causes and consequences of these forms of exclusion, discrimination, and violence. We additionally conduct advocy with the state to incorporate solutions to these issues into its public policy agenda, and we likewise consult on the design of these policy resolutions..
Senior Researchers
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María Balarin Bonazzi
PhD en Educational Policy - University of Bath
María Balarin is a Senior Researcher at the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE) in Peru. Her research explores the political economy of education reform and educational justice in the Global South, with a particular focus on gender dynamics and socioeconomic exclusion. She has examined how state weakness shapes education reforms, the processes of […]
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Martín Benavides Abanto (on leave)
PhD en Sociology - Pennsylvania State University
Martín Benavides has a PhD in Sociology from Pennsylvania State University where he also attained a Master’s Degree in Education Policy. He has a degree in Sociology and a BA in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and has been a visiting student on issues of social mobility and inequality at Nuffield College […]
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Juan León Jara-Almonte
PhD en - Pennsylvania State University
Juan has a PhD in Educational Theory and Policy and Comparative & International Education from Pennsylvania State University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences with mention in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Currently, he is a Senior Researcher at GRADE. His research interests are inequality in education, intercultural bilingual education, early […]
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Martín Valdivia Huaringa
PhD en Applied Economics - University of Minnesota
Martin Valdivia has a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota. He has worked as a Senior Researcher at GRADE since 1993. His fields of interest include entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, rural development and more recently democratic governance, with publications in journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Development […]
Associated Researchers
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Néstor Valdivia Vargas
PhD candidate en Sociology - El Colegio de México
Néstor Valdivia is studying for a PhD in Sociology at El Colegio de México and holds a degree in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He is currently an Associate Researcher at GRADE in the fields of poverty and equality, education, the labor market and human development. He has worked on development and […]
External Consultants
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Paulo César Carrasco Fernández
Degree en - Pedro Ruíz Gallo National University
Paulo holds a Degree in Sociology from the National University Pedro Ruiz Gallo in Lambayeque and is a member of the Professional Board of Sociologists in Peru (Colegio de Sociólogos del Perú). Currently he is a Field Supervisor of the Childhood, Violence and Development Project funded by Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Publications
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¿Qué hemos aprendido del estudio longitudinal Niños del Milenio en el Perú? Nuevos hallazgos y desafíos pendientes (2018-2025)
Antonio Campos, Sofía Madrid, Santiago Cueto, Katherine Curi-Quinto, Javier Escobal, Dianela Espinoza, Monica Lizama, , Vanessa Rojas, Alan Sanchez
Niños del Milenio, conocido internacionalmente como Young Lives, es una investigación de largo plazo que estudia cómo cambian la pobreza y las oportunidades de niñas, niños y jóvenes en países de ingresos bajos y medios. Durante más de dos décadas, el estudio ha seguido de cerca a dos grupos en el Perú: quienes tenían alrededor […]
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Towards Comprehensive Care Systems for Gender Equity in Latin America: Evidence and Lessons from the Collaborative Research-Action Fund
2025 Lorena Alcazar, Carolina Robino, Vanessa Rojas
In 2023, the Collaborative Research-Action Fund was launched to promote care policies and systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its purpose is to generate rigorous and applied evidence to build or sustain public care policies. It is based on partnerships among governments, academia, and civil society, with a feminist approach. The Fund is funded […]
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Edutainment, Savings and Empowerment in Rural Areas of Peru
2025 Alberto Chong, Martin Valdivia
This paper presents the results of a randomized five-episode soap opera that promotes prosavings attitudes, trust in financial institutions and female empowerment among women from poor, rural areas of the Peruvian highlands. Using administrative bank data, the results show a significant increase in savings balances 1.5 and 2 years after the intervention concluded, as well […]
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Gender Gaps in the Performance of Small Firms: Evidence from Urban Peru
2025 Bledi Celiku, Diego Ubfal, Martin Valdivia
Este documento estima la brecha de género en el rendimiento de las empresas en Perú utilizando datos representativos tanto de empresas formales como informales. En promedio, las empresas informales dirigidas por mujeres tienen menores ventas, productividad laboral y beneficios en comparación con sus homólogas dirigidas por hombres, con diferencias más pronunciadas cuando se controlan los […]
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Salud mental juvenil en crisis: Cuando la pandemia amplifica desigualdades estructurales
2025 Vanessa Rojas, Elaine C. Flores
The covid-19 pandemic had a severe effect on the mental health of vulnerable young women in Peru, exacerbating symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. This qualitative study, based on the lived experience approach, analyses the trajectories of two young Peruvian women – one from a rural and one from an urban context – participants in […]
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Edutainment, Savings and Empowerment in Rural Areas of Peru
2025
This paper presents the results of a randomized five-episode soap opera that promotes prosavings attitudes, trust in financial institutions and female empowerment among women from poor, rural areas of the Peruvian highlands. Using administrative bank data, the results show a significant increase in savings balances 1.5 and 2 years after the intervention concluded, as well […]
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Gender Gaps in the Performance of Small Firms: Evidence from Urban Peru
2025
Este documento estima la brecha de género en el rendimiento de las empresas en Perú utilizando datos representativos tanto de empresas formales como informales. En promedio, las empresas informales dirigidas por mujeres tienen menores ventas, productividad laboral y beneficios en comparación con sus homólogas dirigidas por hombres, con diferencias más pronunciadas cuando se controlan los […]
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Young Lives attrition report: Round 7
2025
Over more than 20 years, Young Lives has followed two cohorts born seven years apart (Favara et al. 2021). This technical note documents the attrition rates from the seventh round of the Young Lives survey carried out in Ethiopia, India (the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) and Peru in 2023–24, when the Younger Cohort […]
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Panorama de los programas de visitas domiciliarias en América Latina y el Caribe
2024
The Inter-American Dialogue and UNICEF present this study as a contribution to strengthening the early childhood care and development agenda in the region. Through a cross-sectional analysis and comparison of the design and implementation of home visiting programmes in ten countries in the region, the study seeks to provide a characterisation of these programmes, highlighting […]
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The effects of the covid-19 pandemic on the subjective well-being of rural and urban young people in Peru
2024
This report is a summary of a longer report published in Spanish and available on the Niños del Milenio website here. Niños del Milenio/Young Lives has followed children through to young adulthood in Peru, including understanding how their perceptions of their well-being have changed over time. Using qualitative data from 2 birth cohorts, aged 21- 22 […]
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JournalJournal of Development Economics
The long shadow of conflict on human capital: Intergenerational evidence from Peru
2025
This paper estimates the intergenerational impacts of mothers’ exposure to the 1980–2000 Peruvian civil conflict on their children’s socio-emotional skills development. We combine longitudinal data, which measures skills across a child’s life, with historical geo-located conflict data. Exploiting spatial and temporal variation in conflict episodes, we find that mothers’ exposure to conflict has adverse intergenerational […]
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JournalThe B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy
Edutainment and dwelling-telated assets in poor rural areas of Peru
2024
We exploit a field experiment by (Chong, A., and M. Valdivia. 2023. “Edutainment, Savings, and Generational Differences in Rural Areas of Peru.” In Working Paper. Department of Economics, Georgia State University) and test whether poor women from rural areas in developing countries that are able to save seek dwelling-related assets and find causal evidence that this […]
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JournalReview of Development Economics
Violence in pandemic times: the dynamic relationship between COVID-19 and intimate partner violence
2024
Intimate partner violence (IPV) increased during the COVID-19 lockdown, but few studies use national data and explore underlying mechanisms. To address this gap, we study the changes in IPV during the first ten months of the pandemic in Peru. We study the number of calls received by the national helpline for domestic violence victims, Línea […]
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JournalViolence Against Women
Beyond the surface: intimate partner violence typology and recent depression
2024
Depression and intimate partner violence (IPV) are highly related. However, it is unclear what drives this relationship: the form of violence (psychological, physical, or sexual) or its severity. In this study, we first identify patterns of combined forms and severity of violence and then estimate the effects of IPV on depression. We use the DHS […]
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JournalEconomía & Sociedad
Propuestas de reformas para la integración laboral de la población migrante venezolana en el Perú
2023
El mayor nivel de desempleo y precariedad laboral que experimentan los migrantes venezolanos, en comparación con la población local, se debe a distintas barreras que enfrentan para participar en el mercado de trabajo. Facilitar la regularización migratoria, retirar limitaciones para que micro y pequeñas empresas contraten extranjeros, expandir los servicios públicos de empleo para que […]
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Desigualdades y violencia de género. Balance de investigación 2016-2021 y agenda de investigación 2021-2026.
Balance de investigación 2016-2021 y agenda de investigación 2021-20262022
A más de cuarenta años de la aprobación de la Convención para la eliminación de todas las formas de discriminación contra la mujer y del reconocimiento constitucional de la igualdad entre los sexos en el Perú, es posible dar cuenta de un conjunto de avances normativos, del desarrollo de una institucionalidad especializada que incluye los […]
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Políticas públicas e interculturalidad en el Perú: ¿cómo avanzar en la agenda de la identificación étnica desde el Estado?
El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar2022
Valdivia’s essay offers some reflections on the progress and challenges of interculturality in Peru based on the use of the ethnic variable in the formulation of public policie
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Avances y desafíos en la prevención de la violencia contra los niños, niñas y adolescentes en el hogar: una deuda al Bicentenario
El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar2022
This essay focuses on the analysis of violence against children and adolescents in the home, where they spend most of their time and which is not always a safe environment. The authors highlight the limited progress of policies against violence against children and adolescents in the home. They explain that this is mainly due to […]
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Una mirada crítica a las políticas públicas en materia de violencia de género contra las mujeres
El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar2022
This essay critically analyzes public policies focused on intimate partner and intimate partner violence against women. The central argument is that the policies have privileged a top-down approach and in doing so have homogenized the target groups, relied on general statistics to describe them, and neglected the subnational context in charge of implementing such policies.
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Trayectorias educativas a lo largo del ciclo de vida: El rol de la pobreza, el área de residencia y las brechas de género
El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar2022
The paper documents the evolution of educational gaps throughout the life cycle, analyzes the links between poverty and gender gaps, and attempts to identify the factors that mediate this relationship in order to propose policy recommendations for children, adolescents and youth.
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Towards Comprehensive Care Systems for Gender Equity in Latin America: Evidence and Lessons from the Collaborative Research-Action Fund
2025
In 2023, the Collaborative Research-Action Fund was launched to promote care policies and systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Its purpose is to generate rigorous and applied evidence to build or sustain public care policies. It is based on partnerships among governments, academia, and civil society, with a feminist approach. The Fund is funded […]
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Salud mental juvenil en crisis: Cuando la pandemia amplifica desigualdades estructurales
2025
The covid-19 pandemic had a severe effect on the mental health of vulnerable young women in Peru, exacerbating symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. This qualitative study, based on the lived experience approach, analyses the trajectories of two young Peruvian women – one from a rural and one from an urban context – participants in […]
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Bienestar subjetivo y covid-19 en jóvenes rurales y urbanos del Perú
2024
Since 2007, the Young Lives in Peru study has been collecting the voices of children – today youth or young adults – regarding their perceptions of well-being throughout the life cycle. In recent years, and as a consequence of the pandemic, youth – in both rural and urban areas – have faced extraordinary challenges in […]
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Redes sociales y ciberviolencia en las relaciones sexoafectivas entre adolescentes
2024
The study on which this paper is based examines the role of social networks in the experiences of cyber-violence in sex-affective relationships among adolescents in an educational institution in San Juan de Lurigancho (Lima, Peru). The findings suggest that certain characteristics of these platforms favor the continuity of gender-based violence in digital environments. Adolescent discourses […]
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Pantallazo a la violencia de género: Redes sociales y ciberviolencia en relaciones sexo-afectivas entre adolescentes
2024
This document presents the main findings and policy recommendations of the study “Screenshot to gender-based violence: Social networks and cyber-violence in sex-affective relationships among adolescents”. The research was the winner of the Research Contest “Prevention of Gender Violence in Peru”, co-organized by the Consortium for Economic and Social Research (CIES) and the Gender Studies Research Group of […]
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¿Qué hemos aprendido del estudio longitudinal Niños del Milenio en el Perú? Nuevos hallazgos y desafíos pendientes (2018-2025)
Niños del Milenio, conocido internacionalmente como Young Lives, es una investigación de largo plazo que estudia cómo cambian la pobreza y las oportunidades de niñas, niños y jóvenes en países de ingresos bajos y medios. Durante más de dos décadas, el estudio ha seguido de cerca a dos grupos en el Perú: quienes tenían alrededor […]
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El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar
2022
The essays that make up this book have been written to commemorate the first 40 years of GRADE’s institutional life, which coincides not only with the Bicentennial of Peru’s Independence, but also with the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its profound economic, social and political consequences. From different conceptual and methodological perspectives, […]
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Violencias contra las Mujeres: La necesidad de un doble plural
2019
Peru is among the countries with the greatest violence against women in the world. According to official figures, seven out of ten women in our country have suffered psychological, physical and / or sexual violence from their partner at some time in their life. This proportion conceals a complex reality that needs to be revealed: […]
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Desigualdad en la academia: mujeres en las ciencias sociales peruanas
2018
El libro recoge estudios de investigadoras del Grupo Sofía en torno a las desigualdades entre mujeres y hombres en el mundo de la investigación y de la docencia universitaria en las ciencias sociales. Las autoras presentan evidencia rigurosa, hasta ahora no disponible, que muestra las disparidades entre hombres y mujeres con una trayectoria profesional en […]
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Investigación para el desarrollo en el Perú: once balances
2016
Este libro recoge los once balances de investigación presentados en la conferencia Avances Recientes en la Investigación y Políticas para el Desarrollo, organizada en el marco del 35 aniversario del Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE). Los textos de esta publicación buscan continuar satisfaciendo la demanda de conocimiento dirigida a sostener un debate más […]
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Pantallazo a la violencia de género: redes sociales y ciber violencia en relaciones sexo-afectivas entre adolescentes
2023
Este estudio busca explicar el rol de las redes sociales en la ciberviolencia de género en relaciones sexo-afectivas entre adolescentes de una institución educativa en San Juan de Lurigancho (Lima). Se realiza un estudio de caso cualitativo, utilizando un cuestionario descriptivo, grupos de discusión y entrevistas con estudiantes de cuarto de secundaria. El estudio concluye […]
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“Aló, tengo un problema”: evaluación de impacto de la Línea 100 del Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vulnerables
2021
El objetivo central de esta propuesta es evaluar el impacto de la Línea 100 del MIMP y un combo de dos mejoras dirigidas a atender dos debilidades centrales de la Línea 100: (1) un nuevo protocolo de atención de llamadas y (2) un programa de tratamiento del estrés laboral para las operadoras (burnout y estrés […]
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¿Reinserción y permanencia en el mercado laboral con equidad de género?: el Servicio Cuidado Diurno en madres jóvenes
2021
Durante las últimas dos décadas, las mujeres peruanas han ganado derechos en diferentes ámbitos de la vida social, política y económica (Benavente y Valdés, 2014; Sara-lafosse, 2009). La inserción de la fuerza laboral femenina representa para ellas un logro en su autonomía económica (Irigaray, 1992; Lupica, 2015). Aquellas que son madres, sin embargo, enfrentan penalizaciones […]
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A Drop of Love? Rainfall Shocks and Spousal Abuse: Evidence from Rural Peru
2020
The authors investigate whether the exposure to rainfall shocks affects the experience of physical intimate partner violence by women in rural areas of the Peruvian Andes. Using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys over the period 2005-2014, they track changes in women’s experience of physical IPV following the exposure to rainfall shocks during the […]
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(Un)Conditional Love in the Time of Conditional Cash Transfers: The Effect of the Peruvian JUNTOS Program on Spousal Abuse
2020
Cash Transfer programs often target women as the recipient of the money. Unintentionally, this flow of unearned income may reduce spousal abuse. Researchers investigate this possibility by assessing the Peruvian JUNTOS program. They exploit the staggered timing in the rollout of the program across municipalities along with its eligibility rule for determining participation to perform a difference-in-differences […]
Projects
- Comprehensive care systems and fair jobs in Latin America and the CaribbeanJuly 2024
- Comprehensive care systems and fair jobs in Latin America and the CaribbeanJuly 2024
- Measuring gender social normsApril 2024
- Measuring gender social normsDecember 2023
- At the cost of what: The State of Emergency in Callao and its short and long term impact on citizen security, family violence and social well-being?December 2023
- Gender gaps and informality in the management of SMEs in PeruMarch 2023
- Brechas de género en la población inmigrante venezolana: 2018-2December 2022
- Development of the theory of change and impact evaluation design of the school violence prevention model.October 2022
- Partnerships for Change in the Care EconomyOctober 2022
- Survey on educational policy decisions of senior officials in the framework of the CGD international projectJune 2022
News
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Wilson Hernández’s opinion on the impact of the spate of organised crime in the country. Via The New Humanitarian
February 5, 2026 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
According to Wilson Hernandez, “a weak Peruvian state, the rising availability of guns, and an abundance of illicit opportunities have allowed criminals to thrive and diversify activities”. Our Adjunct Researcher shares his views on the spate of crime across the country and its impact on communities, especially the most vulnerable. Read the full article in […]
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“Adolescence”: The violence we normalize, by Vanessa Rojas
March 31, 2025 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
“Their identities would be taking shape in these physical and virtual environments marked by this structural violence that, unfortunately, reproduce discourses that promote not only hierarchical power relations between men and women, but also misogyny.” Our senior researcher Vanessa Rojas reflects on the themes explored in the Adolescence series. Read her full article in Ojo […]
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GRADE Conversa 24: Subjective Well-Being and Mental Health, featuring Vanessa Rojas
March 24, 2025 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Covid-19 hit Peru hard and youth were a highly affected group. In 2023, the qualitative component of Young Lives Longitudinal Study collected the voices of youth participants about their well-being and mental health in a post-conflict and pandemic context. Listen to a new episode of our podcast GRADE Conversa featuring Vanessa Rojas, Senior Researcher at […]
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#8M Día Internacional de la Mujer 2025: Publicaciones destacadas
March 7, 2025 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
En nuestra sociedad aún operan diversos mecanismos que han perpetuado inequidades sociales basadas en las diferencias de género y expresadas en las desiguales oportunidades de desarrollo que tienen hombres y mujeres en el Perú. Esta forma de desigualdad tiene raíces estructurales que no solo se manifiestan en los planos sociales y económicos, sino también en […]
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25N: Some recent titles that address the issue of violence against women
November 25, 2024 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
In Peru, a little more than half of women (53.8%) were victims of psychological, physical or sexual violence by their partner at some time, according to the DHS 2023. Despite progress, the evidence to address this problem is still insufficient in our country. Several studies by our researchers have aimed to explore the multiple dimensions […]
Events
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Lorena Alcázar will be a speaker at a UNRISD event on the role of care systems in poverty eradication and social justice in LAC
04/02/2026 10:00 am - 11:00 am Zoom Ethnicity, gender and citizenship, Poverty and equality
Although care is increasingly recognized as a fundamental pillar of social development, significant challenges remain in how care and support systems are conceived, discussed, and implemented in poverty eradication and social justice agendas. In the context of the 64th session of the Commission for Social Development (CSocD64), UNRISD brings together experts, policymakers, and civil society […]
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GRADE researchers participate in the 2025 Southern Voice conference
27/10/2025 → 28/10/2025 Sao Paulo, Brasil Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Our Senior Researchers Lorena Alcázar, Gabriela Guerrero, and Vanessa Rojas are in São Paulo to participate in the Southern Voice Network Conference. Today, Vanessa took part in a parallel session that addressed the interconnected dimensions of gender, economic, and racial inequality. This afternoon, Lorena will participate in a parallel session focused on creating a fair, […]
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Vanessa Rojas joined a peer learning workshop on gender-transformative care systems and policies – W20
10/10/2025 9:00 am - 5:30 pm Johannesburgo, Sudáfrica Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
On October 10, our principal investigator Vanessa Rojas participated in a South-South peer learning workshop on gender-transformative care systems and policies. This session was held in the run-up to the Women20 Summit in South Africa. The meeting was organized by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Global Alliance for Care, in partnership with […]
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Wilson Hernández will be discuss the role of STI in the fight against citizen insecurity
19/06/2025 9:00 am Auditorio SENCICO (Av. De la Poesía 351, San Borja) Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Our Adjunct Researcher Wilson Hernández will be one of the speakers at an upcoming international symposium on the role of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in the fight against citizen insecurity. The event, organized by the National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (Concytec), aims to generate key tools in the fight against organized crime […]
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Vanessa Rojas will be a speaker at a National Institute of Mental Health “HD – HN” meeting
09/06/2025 10:00 am - 11:30 am Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Our Senior Research and coordinator of the qualitative component of the Young Lives study Vanessa Rojas will be a speaker at the meeting Mental health today: innovation, evidence and action in the face of new challenges, held by the National Institute of Mental Health “Honorio Delgado – Hideyo Noguchi”, from June 9 to 13. Vanessa […]
- Education and Learning
- Employment, Productivity and Innovation
- Rural Development and Agriculture
- Ethnicity, Gender and Citizenship
- Methodologies for Research and Evaluation of Policy and Programmes
- Poverty and Equity
- Natural Resources, Extractive Industries and Social Conflict
- State Reform and Public Institutions
- Health and Nutrition
- Urbanization and Sustainable Cities






