Women's Participation in a Postconflict Community in Peru

The impact of the internal armed conflict in Peru (1980-2000) was felt in many regions in this South American country, and especially in rural regions such as the Southern Andean province of Cotabambas in the Apurímac department. This article describes and analyzes the actions and results of a community mental health project in this area that aimed to address the conflict's aftermath. The intervention used participatory strategies to identify the communities' prioritized problems, established actions appropriate to the cultural characteristics of the population, and implemented creative and recreational initiatives that responded to communities' needs. Based on democratic dialogue, horizontal relations, and reciprocity, the targeted communities became protagonists in the process of psychosocial transformation that fostered individual and collective exercise of rights, individual human development, and democratic community building.