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SCHOOL SHOES IDEA MOVES TO PERU
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 | www.footwearbiz.com
will even fund new bicycles for children to be able to travel to
school. So, as well as manufacturing companies gaining from
this, the children will benefit too.
On this subject, the government has said from the outset that
the shoes that Peruvian companies produce as part of MYPERú
will be part of its attempts to encourage wider social inclusion.
Children in all regions of this exceptionally diverse country will
benefit, but those in mountain, coastal and rainforest
communities will be among the first recipients of the products.
Quality assured
The country’s minister for production, Gladys Triveño, insists
that the quality of shoes produced by manufacturers for the
programme will be of high quality. “And they will have to meet
strict technical specifications,” she adds. “All school shoes that
we procure for the programme will be subject to the necessary
testing at the hands of CITEccal (the national centre for
technological innovation for leather and footwear). And no one
will take part, no one will make any shoes for the programme,
unless they have set up as a formal company.”
Around 230 footwear manufacturers, some of them very
small, won the right to take part after MINEDU first published a
series of guidelines in April. The 1.5 million pairs that were
ready for distribution in July went first into specially hired
warehouses in Lima, Trujillo, Arequipa and Puno waiting for the
schools situation to calm down and for the education
authorities to claim the footwear for the children. The president
of the country, Ollanta Humala, said during a visit at the start of
August to Trujillo (Peru’s most iconic shoe-producing city) that
including shoes for schoolchildren in the MYPERú project had
been a great idea. He said there were around 700 operators in
the Trujillo district of La Libertad alone who had already
benefited from taking part.
Positive role models
Ms Triveño says these small manufacturing companies are
offering more than shoes to the children, but also a good
example of the need to work hard and take pride in what you
do. “Yes, these are companies that are contributing to our gross
domestic product and creating jobs, and that’s of great
importance. But we also need to pay tribute to the great
example they give every day of hard work and dedication. They
are entrepreneurs and they have come through some very
difficult times. But they have kept going and we are delighted
now to be able to help them find new business opportunities
through MYPERú and I’m certain this well help them go out and
find other work on the back of this.”
It’s clear from this that the footwear industry is well on the
way to holding up its part of the bargain, making quality shoes
for a unit price, the ministry has reported, of just over $15,
which the government is paying from its overall MYPERú
budget of $145 million. Families will receive the shoes for free.
We have raised in previous articles the question of what
would happen to the global footwear industry and the global
leather supply chain if the governments of more populous
countries than Peru, or El Salvador or Argentina decided to
emulate the shoes for schoolchildren idea. Imagine a similar
move in Mexico, Nigeria, Indonesia, or South Africa, or even in
India or China. The world would sell out of leather and order
books at footwear manufacturing companies of all sizes would
be full to overflowing.
Leather and footwear industry technology specialist Adriana
Ríos (far left) at a meeting earlier this year with minister for
production, Gladys Triveño (third from the left).
CREDIT: PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT
Minister for production, Gladys Triveño insists the project will
benefit children as well as manufacturers.
CREDIT: PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT
Peruvian schoolchildren. The government is paying to
distribute 2.3 million pairs of good-quality shoes to children all
over the country.
CREDIT: MINEDU-PERU