River Transport (Indiana, Peru)

The needs

The Instituto de Educación Superior Tecnológico Público Damaso Laberge (IESTP-DL), partner of NWB, offers nursing education that includes clinical placements in the deep jungle. These clinical placements are compulsory for all students and take the form of a health brigade (teachers, students and laboratory technicians offering primary health and community health activities) and are often the only way for isolated communities in the jungle to receive health care. However, the IESTP-DL was faced with major logistical difficulties compromising these internships. Indeed, river transport is the only way for health brigades to travel from the school, located in Indiana, to villages in the deep jungle. The only vehicle available was a boat that the IESTP-DL had to rent. What is more, this boat was expensive, unsafe (no roof, no seats, no life jackets), inefficient (several hours to reach the villages) and could not contain more than eight people.

Boat building

THE BOAT

NWB supported the construction of a quality river boat to meet the needs of the IESTP-DL, a boat with a capacity of 30 people, equipped with an efficient engine and in accordance with recognized safety standards for such a vehicle: solid materials were used for manufacturing, the boat is fitted with life jackets and a roof protects passengers from the sun and rain. This project was created thanks to a grant from the Louise Grenier Foundation and the Sustainable Development Fund from NWB. New river boat allows IESTP-DL students and teachers, as well as NWB-supported volunteers, to travel safely from Indiana to deep jungle villages to provide primary health care and community.

THE IMPACT OF THE PROJECT

The immediate benefits:

1. Improvement of the conditions for carrying out clinical internships in the deep jungle.
2. Ability to provide primary health care and services to communities in the deep jungle that do not have easy access to the health center.
3. Ability to perform safe evacuations by boat when necessary.
4. Creation of local jobs for the manufacture of the nautical boat.
5. Improved transportation conditions for students from the deep jungle to school.
6. Motivation of students living in remote areas to complete their studies.

Long-term benefits:

1. Continuous health promotion for residents of isolated areas.
2. Increase in the academic success rate of students.
3. Breaking of the isolation that the inhabitants of Amazonian villages could experience due to the remoteness of these villages.
4. Creation of local jobs for the maintenance of the boat.

A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

This achievement takes into account the environmental, social and economic pillars of sustainable development. First, the vehicle was constructed from materials adapted to the region’s climate in order to deliver a sustainable product. In addition, this boat replaces the one that the IESTP previously rented and whose engine was inefficient, by a vehicle equipped with a new and efficient engine, thus reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Secondly, the construction of this boat promotes equitable access to education and health care for disadvantaged communities, which contributes to the development of skilled labor in the education, health and agriculture* sectors and the reduction of social inequalities. Third, the project encouraged economic development in the community through the creation of jobs and the purchase of materials from local businesses. Finally, the presence of this vehicle promotes the empowerment of the IESTP-DL in the logistical organization of its educational activities and presents a lasting solution to its transportation problem. In fact, this vehicle is self-sufficient since the funds previously used to rent a boat can be used for its maintenance.

* The IESTP offers study programs in these three areas.