Peru's Development and Social Inclusion Minister Cayetana Aljovin on Thursday chaired the main event of the 5th Social Inclusion Week: "Challenges and Opportunities for Inclusion and Productive Development in Urban and Rural Areas" in Cusco.
During the ceremony, the official reaffirmed the sector's goal to "further develop and enhance social programs' focus, as well as to increase productive development interventions coverage."
The Minister assured the government will pay serious attention to poverty in urban areas and Amazon communities, without neglecting Andean rural areas. Measures intend to eradicate extreme poverty and reduce poverty from 22% to 15% by 2021.
In this respect, the Ministry currently designs a strategy to address urban poverty, taking into account this segment's demographic characteristics.
The government expects to reduce urban poverty to 9% by increasing access to basic services, developing protection programs, as well as promoting employability and entrepreneurship among youth.
Ms. Aljovin also mentioned the government prioritizes attention to early childhood, particularly regarding chronic child stunting and anemia in under-3-year-olds.
Such issues will be addressed in a comprehensive, articulated manner that leads to measurable and sustainable results, she said.
According to the Social Inclusion Head, it is possible to meet such objectives with the active and articulate involvement of society's main actors: regional governors, province and district mayors, civil society, international cooperation organizations and the Peruvian State.
The activity includes various conferences on government's social policy priorities: early-childhood challenges, rural poverty reduction, basic service access for scattered communities and urban poverty reduction.
The event gathers regional and local authorities, public institutions, universities, as well as international organizations' experts, representatives and public in general.