At our jobsites we rely on members of the local community to help out in various ways. Our projects provide extra income for these families, many of whom live on less than $10 a day. Your small donation here goes far.

Donations of $20 will help support our daily transportation costs. We pay local drivers for short errands near our work sites as well as trips to and from our hotel in Miraflores.

We buy food, water, tools and hardware from shops in the neighborhoods where we work. The prices are generally very low and the opportunity to interact with local people invaluable.

Building materials are another large component of the project budget. We try to spend our money in the neighborhoods where we work, which means many small loads of things like paint, lumber, and bamboo--that rarely cost more than $100--are delivered in a small car or taxi.

Each year we provide small stipends to our Peruvian partners and local craftsmen to help manage the project site preparation, offer expertise, or coordinate the construction process. Without these “boots on the ground” we would not be able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time.

Studio Andino 2016 will be working at two sites in the Chorrillos municipality, one in the Alto Peru neighborhood and one at the fishing wharf. A donation of $500 will help fund our more ambitious design-build projects such as the reclamation and repurposing beached wooden boats for both sites. $500 buys one boat.

Each year the Studio hosts one or more of our Peruvian collaborators at the beginning of the semester. This year we plan to bring 2 or 3 INTUY Lab professionals to Ames for a 3-day workshop that addresses interdisciplinary, cross-cultural participatory design. This workshop will be open to the public and will include contributions from several other College of Design faculty and our partners in Anthropology. A $1000 gift will help support this event.