In Peru, the poor of Father Ranera

In Peru, Father Ranera's poor people help the poorest of the poor

Father Miguel Ranera (Pastrana, Guadalajara, Spain, 1960) has done an enormous amount of work for the poor in different parts of Peru. From the “rescue” of “pirañitas” (lazy kids who stop in the streets to steal whatever they can), to schools, medical centers and housing for the poorest, through his NGO, Coprodeli.

Editorial Staff Omnes-February 10, 2026-Reading time: 4 minutes

Coprodeli, a non-profit, Christian-inspired NGO in Peru, whose name stands for Communion, Promotion, Development and Liberation, has been fighting poverty and social exclusion in Peru for decades, as well as in Ecuador, the United States and Spain.

But it does so with a peculiarity: it mobilizes many women and young people in situations of poverty, as volunteers. They are poor people who help the poorest, and parishes that become “communities in action” to solve the problems of their own people. It is “people helping people”.

It currently benefits more than 100,000 people per year, 60% of whom live in extreme poverty, mainly in the regions of Callao and Lima.

Poor people in one of Coprodeli's centers (@Coprodeli).

P. Miguel Ranera: from Alcalá de Henares to Callao, Peru.

Its promoter and president is Father Miguel Ranera, a Spaniard from Pastrana (Guadalajara), who was educated in a convent founded by St. Teresa of Jesus, led by Franciscan missionaries. At the age of 14 he went with his family to Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), and discovered his vocation after two years of formation and apostolate in the oratory of the “hospital of Antezana”, where St. Ignatius of Loyola had lived and developed his charity.

At the age of 17 he entered and was formed in a religious community. After finishing his ecclesiastical studies, he came to Peru in 1982 and was ordained a priest on July 23, 1983, incardinating himself in the diocese of Callao at the age of 23. In Callao he began his work in the poorest neighborhoods of the diocese. He formed a dining room, a small workshop, a kindergarten and little by little it grew.

Fr. Miguel Ranera and people from one of Coprodeli's centers (@Coprodeli).

In urban-marginal sectors and rural areas

The social work ended up going beyond the parish, and in 1989, he founded Coprodeli with people from the same parish, who were poor but wanted to help the poorest. The mission was, and is, to contribute to the integral development of the urban-marginal sectors and rural areas and to eliminate poverty and social exclusion in Peru and Ecuador. And to contribute to the integral development of marginal urban sectors and work for the right of people to a dignified life.

Miguel Ranera set up the NGO by mobilizing many women and young people as Christian-inspired volunteers who organize soup kitchens, distribute humanitarian aid and solve the problems of the excluded. The poor helping the poorest.

Rescuing “los pirañitas” in Lima

Fr. Miguel began to rescue the “pirañitas” (lazy kids who stop in the streets to steal whatever they can), from the center of Lima, to give them clothes, food and advice. Thus was born the first school of Coprodeli, the Agustín de Hipona, recognizing education as an engine for the integral development of people.

As time went by, the number of cooperators, who were American and Spanish volunteers, increased in order to make these aid initiatives viable. Now, Coprodeli has schools, medical centers and housing for the poorest. More than a thousand have been built in different urbanizations in Cañete, Chincha, Pisco and Ica.

The Coprodeli school, Cristo Sacerdote, in Lurin, Peru.

The “Coprodeli, Cristo Sacerdote” school was founded in Lurin, in the province of Lima, 15 kilometers from the capital. The new school, classified as “privately managed public”, offers kindergarten, primary and secondary education. It has 14 classrooms, science laboratories, a library, dining room, chapel and sports fields, on land provided by the diocese of Lurin.

The project has been promoted by the Coprodeli Association, an entity that is part of a network of 30 charter schools in the south of Lima. This educational model, supported by an agreement between the Association and UGEL 01, seeks to guarantee accessible and quality education for the most vulnerable families.

Project in El Callao

On the other hand, in the province of Callao, the Project for the Construction of Classrooms was inaugurated at the San Juan Macías Private Public Educational Institution, located in the Ciudadela Pachacútec Settlement Center, district of Ventanilla, Callao.

The work was carried out by the aforementioned association Communion, Promotion, Development and Liberation, within the framework of the Non-Reimbursable Financial Assistance Program for Community Projects for Human Security (APC).

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Manuel Tamayo is a Peruvian priest.