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Updated: March 2009

Chile

Overview | World Vision's history in Chile | World Vision in Chile today

Overview

The Republic of Chile extends for nearly 2,900 miles along South America’s west coast. The southernmost point in the Americas, where the Atlantic and the Pacific meet, is Chilean territory. The country is bordered by Peru and Bolivia to the north and Argentina to the east. Northern Chile is home to the Atacama, the driest desert in the world. Also featured are low coastal mountains, a fertile central valley, and the rugged Andes Mountains to the east. Encompassing more than 35 degrees of longitude, the climate in Chile varies from a desert environment in the north, to a Mediterranean climate in the central region, to more cool and damp conditions in the south. Natural resources include copper, iron ore, precious metals, timber, and hydropower.

About 88 percent of Chile’s population lives in urban areas, with more than a third living in the capital, Santiago. Most Chileans are either mestizo (a mix of Amerindian and European ancestry) or Caucasian. Nearly 800,000 Amerindians, mostly of the Mapuche tribe, live in the south and central areas. There is a small group of European descents living in the south. Spanish is the country’s official language, though English and German are also spoken. There are a few indigenous languages as well, such as Mapudungun and Aymara.

Chile was originally inhabited by both the Incas, who pushed into the northern region from Peru, and the nomadic Mapuches, who lived in the south. In 1541, Spanish explorer Pedro de Valdivia founded the city of Santiago, which led to subsequent European settlements throughout the country. Chile won its independence in 1818 after Spanish forces were defeated by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martin. O’Higgins ruled as dictator until 1823 when he was forced to resign.

In 1970, Salvador Allende was elected as the first Marxist president in a non-communist country. Three years later, high inflation and a variety of workers’ strikes led to a military coup by General Augusto Pinochet.


 

Country statistics 
Population16.5 million
Land mass289,112 square miles
People per square mile586
Life expectancy77 years
Under age 5 mortality rate9/1,000
Literacy rate96%
Access to safe water95%
Average annual incomeUS$6,980
Religion
Christian86.1%
Other5.7%
None8.2%
 
 
Chile’s government returned to democracy in 1990 following Pinochet’s 17-year rule, which had seen the imprisonment, torture, execution, and expulsion of thousands of Chileans. In the past two decades, Chile has assumed a more international presence, improving its status as a stable, democratic nation. In March 2006, Michelle Bachelet became the country’s first female president.

In her first two years as president, Ms. Bachelet vowed to help reduce the country’s gap between the wealthy and the poor. Currently, Chile has the 14th largest income gap in the world. In the past three years, lower inflation and unemployment levels have boosted national living standards. But the most affluent 20 percent of people earn 61 percent of the country’s total income, while the poorest 20 percent earn only 3 percent.

Chile’s unequal income distribution is in part a result of a poor public school system. Disadvantaged children do not receive the same quality of education as middle-income and wealthy children, who often attend better-funded private schools. According to the United Nations, approximately two-thirds of primary school pupils—most in rural areas—do not have access to textbooks. The government is currently instituting a broad reform of the country’s educational system. This follows demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren in 2006 against the poor quality of state schooling.

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World Vision's history in Chile

Since 1961, World Vision has been working to improve the lives of Chilean people, beginning with a child sponsorship program at the Santiago Children’s Home. A pastors conference held in Santiago in 1963 benefited 476 in attendance. A second conference in 1971 was attended by 500 pastors and leaders.

By 1977, World Vision was active in 21 child-care homes operated by the Methodist Church, the Salvation Army, and other churches, with a total of 1,266 children in sponsorship. In addition, the Hogar Feminino Alianza Project, or Girls Home Alliance, provided orphaned, abused, or abandoned girls with room and board, training, clothing, and spiritual counseling.

Other projects active during the 1960s and 1970s included:
  • The Mapuche Amerindian Development Project provided the Mapuche tribe of southern Chile with agricultural training, land restoration, income generation, sanitation, credit programs, and nutritional assistance.
  • In 1980, the Chile Flood Relief Project assisted 2,000 people with blankets, food, and medicines following winter flood waters that killed several people and claimed property and livestock.
By 1980, World Vision began implementing community development projects in addition to its existing child-care ministry. The family-to-family concept was introduced to educate donors about the overall needs of a sponsored child’s family. This communicated the necessity of holistic community development as the most effective means of helping an individual child and of, ultimately, enabling those in need to become self-sufficient.

Forty-five projects were active in Chile by the end of 1981. A year later, World Vision began implementing projects that focused on the development of women. A third pastors conference was held in Santiago in 1981 with 120 in attendance, and a fourth conference followed in 1987 with 450 pastors and leaders present. By the mid-1980s, child sponsorship had grown to nearly 9,000 children.

The Integral Spring of Living Water Community Center began in 1982. Center leaders helped families of sponsored children improve their lives by increasing incomes through vocational training. Other projects during the 1980s included the Rengo/San Fernando Flood Project and the Center for Vocational Training of Handicapped Persons.

During the 1990s, World Vision operated in 54 projects throughout Chile. By 1995, more than 15,000 children were benefiting from sponsorship. Projects in the 1990s included:
  • The Nuevos Horizontes Project (New Horizons), launched in 1993, sought to train more than 300 people in horticulture and home economics, artisan skills, and furniture making. Additionally, the project offered children and parents clothing, educational materials, and preventive health training.
  • The Rulo Flood Relief Project in 1994 provided 95 families with bedding, shelter, and nonperishable food and seeds. Spiritual counseling also was provided to the families following heavy rains that caused the destruction of grazing land, homes, and livestock.
In the past five years, World Vision has focused on women’s education, child health care, vocational training, and microenterprise loan programs.

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World Vision in Chile today

World Vision is committed to partnering with the people of Chile to enhance their lives today and to help enact sustainable solutions for the future of their communities, families, and children. Currently, 44,769 children are registered in the World Vision sponsorship program.

Several times this number of children and other family members benefit from World Vision activities. Of these registered children, many have World Vision sponsors in other countries. U.S. donors sponsor more than 9,600 girls and boys. In addition, World Vision operates 17 development programs, six of which are supported by U.S. donors. A highlight of these efforts includes the following:
  • The goal of the Five Keys to Success Project is to provide students in the northwestern Chilean town of Renca with social, intellectual, and values-based skills needed to achieve academic success. Project leaders will offer educational support activities to children, give parents the instruction and opportunities necessary to help and encourage their children, and train teachers in the most effective educational methods. Plans are to construct a community-designed childhood development center, establish a holistic training plan for students and teachers, and create engaging children’s clubs to support social development. The project will directly benefit 400 children and parents, 45 teachers, and five community leaders.
For more information on World Vision’s programs in Chile, please contact the United States office.

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