6.4 Shifting the narrative around inequality

In Peru, 40% of the population is vulnerable, and 12 million people are at risk of falling back into poverty. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Information, ‘one and a half million young people (34%) who work do not earn enough to access proper nutrition’. Among young people, women are the most affected, as they are often paid less than men, and people with LGBTQIA+ identities are affected by marginalisation.

Two youth-led organisations, Left Youth Forum (FJI) and Interquorum Network (Red IQ), have worked along with Oxfam in Peru through the Youth Activism Laboratories with the aim of addressing the issues of decent work for young people. Actúa.pe proposed to strengthen capacities of young activists so that they could develop their own proposals to influence decision makers. During the 2016 presidential election campaign and the 2018 regional campaign, young people met with candidates from across Peru. They presented data on education and employment and asked for commitments to make youth employment policies a priority in their mandates.

Actúa.pe became an online and offline activism platform that works with youth activists from all over the country. One of the first actions Actúa.pe took was to publicly monitor the presidential candidates’ commitments to address inequality through tax justice, decent work, gender justice, environmental governance, and access to natural resources. It provided interactive tools for voters to see how each candidate was addressing these issues and a social media strategy to connect the public with decision makers, journalists, and digital influencers.

The National Youth Activism Laboratories organised public debates as well as street art, theatre and music to raise awareness of economic justice, gender justice and environmental and climate justice. Through this work, Actúa.pe achieved a place in the national public discussion, contributing to position the problem of inequalities on the agenda of civil society for the defence of rights, and contributing to transformative narratives.

Since then, Actúa.pe has enabled a diverse range of youth activisms, individuals and social organisations to monitor, connect and amplify citizen action against inequalities with a focus on the use of stories, images and memes to communicate data in a way that connects with common sense and people's perceptions.

‘Actúa has become a personality, a constant opinion-maker, informed, critical, smart, funny and playful, but rigorous. It has become part of a current that feeds other currents that are increasingly questioning dominant narratives,’ says Alejandra Alayza from Oxfam in Peru. She cites a meme which was circulated to support a union of women street cleaners who started an anti-corruption campaign. They went out 'to sweep clean' the Palace of Justice. The union of women saw the meme and it became their symbol at marches. ‘The meme was a way of honouring them, to help them shine with pride, dignity and hope. We did not realise it could also be a tool of self-identification as a movement.’