The coldest and most impoverished of FHI's Child Development zones, Challa sits high up in the Andes where snow makes an occasional appearance and freezing winds wipe the hillsides clear of any but the most stubborn vegetation. Challa is a nearly untouched region. People carry on as they did hundreds of years past. The hillsides are dotted with llamas and small farms. The dirt roads are marred by deep indents caused by rainwater. Houses are constructed of the thick adobe bricks made of mud and straw, molded by hand and laid out to dry in the infrequent sun. Challa faces a poverty that each year claims lives. Inadequate health care availability, inadequate nutrition, and inadequate education converge to ensure a continued cycle of poverty.

The Child Development Program of FHI began its work here in July of 1999. The purpose of the Child Development Program is to seek to improve intellectual, emotional, spiritual and physical aspects of children's lives. This is achieved through sponsorship programs, educational tutoring, provision of materials and much more. Also at work in this zone are the Income Generation, Natural Resource Management, and Health, Water & Sanitation programs.