The Future of LAFF
LAFF’s transition across our model, communications and governance to reflect our deep local roots.
LAFF is deeply embedded in the Cusco region, working across both urban and rural Andean environments, supported by a network that extends across the world.
Our work is hyper-local, working with grassroots partners to enhance the programmes they deliver for young people, while the majority of our fundraising takes place in the UK.
Our partners are fully independent, but we collaborate to support them to grow stronger and support the children and young people they work with more effectively.
Since being founded in 2007 we have embraced and benefitted from these different perspectives, bound together by our vision of a Latin America where all children and young people have equal opportunity to access quality education, realise their potential, and build secure, fulfilling futures. Over the last 2–3 years the LAFF operational team and Board have committed to ensuring this is reflected in how we work.
A new partnership model
From April – September 2026 we have taken the decision to change the way we engage with partners, adapting our existing partner needs assessment framework to ensure that partner ambitions receive greater focus.
Partnerships will now centre around specific goals in the way their support is delivered, with a shared commitment to change. LAFF will provide implementation funding and expert insight to support partners to make changes to the way they deliver their programmes for children and young people, awarding longer-term impact funding when partners achieve the agreed milestones.
For more information, please read our theory of change.
A place-based brand
LAFF’s new visual identity reflects the natural Andean landscape we work in, from the terracotta of the Cusco earth to the rich green of its forests. The central “knot” represents both our commitment to partnership and the quipu: an information storage system used by the Incas and other Andean peoples to encode meaning through different knots on string.
To read a quipu, you had to look beyond the knots to the dyes used on the string, its length and the spacing, which all carried specific meanings related to the items being tracked, such as crops, livestock or taxes. This holistic vision felt aligned to the work LAFF does to support beneficiaries from a wide range of backgrounds, each with unique hopes and aspirations.
Our refreshed identity captures a shift that has been happening from within: working toward greater clarity, coherence, and confidence in who we are and how we work.
Dual registration
2024 marked the beginning of a new chapter in how LAFF operates. We initiated the transition toward a more locally rooted organisation by establishing a legal entity in Peru. This step strengthens our ability to collaborate with local actors, access national resources, and support our partners in ways that are more responsive and sustainable over time.