celebrating women’s history month at spp
Happy women’s history month!
At Sisters Project Peru, women are at the heart of our mission of bridging healthcare barriers in Huacahuasi. Women are disproportionately impacted by lack of access to care. Read on to learn more about how we partner with the women of Huacahuasi as well as the incredible women who make up SPP.
Gendered Barriers to Healthcare in Huacahuasi
In Huacahuasi, the closest clinic is a 3 hour walk through the Andes Mountains.
Not all community members experience this barrier in the same way. What starts as an arduous journey becomes a nearly insurmountable feat: the women of Huacahuasi must travel this distance while they are pregnant to safely give birth in the neighboring clinic.
This journey comes with a difficult choice. As female community members’ husbands primarily work in neighboring areas, the women often have to choose between giving birth safely and caring for their other children who remain at home.
How do we partner with women to address there barriers?
Creating Space for Dialogue
Women’s voices have historically been silenced in healthcare. This silencing is magnified by language barriers in healthcare facilities in Peru and a history of discrimination against indigenous peoples in the region.
How do we work to address these barriers? Naturally, we went to those most impacted by them: the women themselves.
During our August 2025 trip to Peru, we held a conversation circle with the women of Huacahuasi to create a space where women could share their thoughts on healthcare needs in the region.
The discussion was reserved for women with the intention of fostering an environment where the women could speak (more) freely on their experiences.
Economic Empowerment
Economic position is a powerful social determinant of health. According to the WHO, the lower one’s socioeconomic position, the worse one’s quality of health (WHO).
In recognition of this relationship between economic access and health, we collaborated with the women of Huacahuasi to create the SPP Marketplace. Bridging indigenous barriers to market access, this project aims to honor the artisan tradition of alpaca-wool weaving in the community and economically empower the women of Huacahuasi.
The women who make sisters project peru
Our Co-Directors
Surprise! The name Sisters Project Peru didn’t come out of nowhere.
Sisters Maya and Natalie, inspired by the community of Huacahuasi’s resilience and moved by the lack of nearby healthcare access, founded the project in 2020. Since then, they have returned to Peru five times, working with community members to launch a Greenhouse Project, Dental Hygiene Initiatives, and so much more.
But this certainly isn’t a two-woman team! Read on to learn about more of the incredible women who make SPP possible.
Our Leadership
We are incredibly grateful for the women in our leadership team, Dora Quintana and Verónica González Annicchiarico!
Dora joins us as the General Coordinator of Yanapana Peru, a non-profit civil association founded to fight poverty along the Salkantay and Lares routes. Dora provides instrumental support for our team, helping us to foster trust with the community and navigate exchanges with the Ministry of Health.
SPP would not be where it is without her!
Verónica, is a translator, interpreter, and board president of our parent organization, FNE International. We are so grateful for the language expertise she brings to the SPP team, helping us to translate important documents and bridge linguistic gaps between organizations as well as community members.
A big thank you to these women, and so many more incredible female team members who make our mission possible!
How can you empower the women of huacahuasi?
Our projects are centered around a holistic approach to healthcare, recognizing the gendered, financial, and historical barriers to care.
We have made a lot of progress since our founding in 2020, but we can’t do it alone.
Help us continue to partner with the women of Huacahuasi and implement community-driven solutions to facilitate healthcare access in Huacahuasi!
