One of the highlights of the Government’s new management is concerned with the levels of democratic decentralisation, defined as levels of territorial autonomy. The departments, formerly governed by president-selected prefects, are now headed by governors elected by direct popular vote and have acquired new competencies. The new constitution also consolidates municipal autonomy and introduces indigenous autonomy. Regarding the economic sphere, the Constitution establishes three levels of economic property: private, state and communal; the first two categories are known and have been applied in different countries, but the definition of communal economy is one of Bolivia’s internal characteristics.

The ART Bolivia Programme, officially launched in April 2008, is part of a government strategy for the reduction of poverty and the departmental, regional, municipal and indigenous processes of autonomy as well as being part of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). It represents a support mechanism for the implementation of Bolivia’s will to promote its development, whist respecting its cultural and ethnic diversity, as expressed in the National Development Plan (PDN) for Good Living. The Programme supports the implementation of the PDN’s four strategic axes, i.e.: eradicating poverty and inequality, promote democracy based on a multicultural and multiethnic state, stimulate production and promote Bolivia’s global interaction.

The Programme is in place in the pilot departments of La Paz (in the Amazonian province of Abel Iturralde, the highland Provinces of Ingavi and Aroma, and the City of El Alto) and Oruro (in the departmental capital Taypi and the sub-region Suyu of Soras). It has been designed with a focus on territorial (departments, regions and municipalities), national, international , multi-donor and multi-sectoral articulation, fixed on the search for a greater impact of comprehensive development, complementing and coordinating the international cooperation’s financial and technical resources in support of the priorities identified by the actors of the pluri-national State of Bolivia.

The understanding between the public and private sector, civil society and social movements, as well as the application of criteria that considers equal opportunities for disadvantaged social or ethnic groups (women, youth, vulnerable groups and others) are fundamental and priority strategic elements the Programme applies to development planning and the implementation of initiatives.

Resource Mobilisation and Execution

The Programme started its activities in the Department of La Paz in April by creating the Departmental Working Group (DWG), led by the Prefecture of the Department of La Paz and integrated by the University Mayor de San Andrés, the NGO network UNITAS and the Association of Municipalitiees of La Paz. The Prefecture identified three priority regions in the Department for the implementation of the programme: the province of Abel Iturralde Province, the city of El Alto and the Provinces of Aroma and Ingavi, where the respective Regional Working Groups (RTGs) have been established.

Strategic Projects

In the process of consolidating the WGs, the identification of tactical projects that address the regions’ priorities and indicate the presence of the programme in the territories was carried out: ► "Strengthening wood artisanal production units in District 5 of City of El Alto" for the creation of a Comprehensive Wooden Furniture Production Training Centre, instruction, technical assistance and equipment of 174 productive units. ► "Strengthening of the production of organic quinoa in the Province of Aroma” for improvement of productivity and income of farming families through the provision of equipment, coaching, training and technical support. ► "Reduction of cattle internal parasites in the Southern Highlands Region (Province of Ingavi)" to help raise income for milk producing families through the construction of fountains and the implementation of animal health procedures in 7 municipalities 2070. ► "Access to new information and communication technologies, and strengthening the educational communities of the Province of Abel Iturralde", with the establishment of seven Community Tele-centres in educational units, to facilitate access to new information and communication technologies ( NICT) and the implementation of a social, educational and productive community development model.

Capacity Building

Under the Training Plan developed by the DWG of La Paz, the organisation of three training workshops, identified and developed taking into account and assessing the competencies of public bodies, local and international NGOs and the UNS took place: ► "Identification and formulation of development projects," to strengthen the capacities of the WGs in the formulation of strategic projects (DM-UNDP; Spanish NGO Peace and Development). ► "Governance and Citizenship," in order to reflect and exchange practical experiences to strengthen governance at the municipal level (Support Programme for Municipal Democracy- PADEM; FAM; UNDP Governance Programme; Centre for Peasantry Research and Promotion - CIPCA). ► "Mainstreaming gender in planning,” in order to reflect on the reality of gender in the Departments of Oruro and La Paz and identify practical tools for mainstreaming gender in planning processes (Deputy Minister for Equal Opportunities; UNIFEM).

Decentralised Cooperation

►Holding a technical assistance mission by the Italian NGO Carretera Central for the joint formulation with the Municipality and the Prefecture of La Paz of the Project "A Chance for Life” funded by Siena’s Foundation Monte dei Paschi and which aims to promote the integral formation of vulnerable young people in El Alto. ► Support for the implementation of El Alto’s strategic gender plan, promotion of the collaboration between El Alto’s RWG and the headquarters of Spanish NGO Peace and Development in La Paz, for the shared formulation of a project to be presented to Spanish local authorities.
Strategy for Territorial Planning: ► Support for the creation of the first foundations of a territorial information system for the Department, creating a working committee composed of the Prefecture and the University Mayor de San Andres - and signing of a cooperation agreement between both institutions, - responsible for drafting the terms of reference for the team in charge of making the diagnosis and designing the information system. ► Establishment of an agreement with the University of Geneva’s Department of Geography for supporting the design of a territorial information system and first exchanges with the University of Venice (Italy) for possible technical assistance.

Alignment

Of the actions of international cooperation with the national and local development policies and priorities: ► Beginning of the preparation of the La Paz’ departmental Guidelines for International Cooperation by the DWP, a document that presents the Department’s strengths and priorities in accordance with the following themes: education, health, productive development, environment and governance; collection of strategic and sectoral papers; and the identification of the territories’ representative stakeholders as well as those from the international cooperation active in the department.

Tourism

► Identification of potentialities and strategies for the development of tourism in the Department; establishment of a Tourism working committee in the context of the DWG composed of the Prefecture, the Industry and Tourism Deputy Minister and the University Mayor de San Andres: elaboration of a work plan in line with the Prefecture’s tourism management strategies, central government policy and the NDP; identification and prioritisation of initiatives and projects for submission to the network of international cooperation partners (HEGOA).

Local Economic Development (LED)

► Support for the design of a LED strategy to promote a Local Economic Development Agency in the metropolitan area of La Paz. ► Support for the International Seminar "Institutionalism to promote LED - bases for the establishment of a Local Economic Development Agency,” with the participation of local and regional authorities, university teachers and students, research institutes, academics, international cooperation agencies, NGOs, private sector and citizens in general (Greater Supervise Official Office for Economic Promotion La Paz Municipal Government, under the auspices of the AECID, the International Network of Agencies ISL-LEDA). ► Two-week technical assistance by a LED international expert to establish the foundations of a Steering Committee for the creation of a LEDA.

Communication

► Broadcast Programme strategic activities and outcomes to local, national and international actors through the elaboration of three newsletters.

Department of Oruro

The Prefecture of Oruro has directed great efforts towards productive development based on the definition of 4 regions or Suyus - Jach'a Karanga, Jakisa (Jatun Killakas Asanakis), Urus and Soras - with individual cultural characteristics and understood as nuclei of departmental productive development. The Suyus are based on an administrative division faithful to the ancient division of the territory, respecting both the worldview and natural resources. The city of Oruro is the department’s articulating core, called Taypi.

Taypi and Soras are the priority areas where the Programme implements support initiatives also in line with the Prefecture’s development plan, which is based on the following concepts: cultural identity, community participation, decentralisation, support to community production, strengthening of the Department’s productive vocations and associations, community economy of reciprocity and redistribution, sustainable energy sources and technologies, and the eradication of corruption.

The executed activities and obtained results in the Department correspond to the phase of preparatory assistance for Programme implementation: strengthening relationships with local bodies and decentralised cooperation partners; the ongoing process of establishing working groups and equipping offices; and the execution of strategic projects.

Local Economic Development (LED)

►Support for the creation of Oruro’s Community Economic Development Agency (ADECO) as a means of revitalising the economy, implementing the Department’s production policies and of reinforcing the third track of the Bolivian economy identified as "community economy" in the new Constitution. This instrument follows the concepts of community and territoriality, as well as the planning methodology according to the Andean worldview represented in chakana. ► Technical assistance from an LED international expert for the creation of the future ADECO’s Management Committee, led by the Secretary of Productive Economic Development, responsible for the creation of the agency and formed by the Department’s productive actors and originating authorities. ► Official launch of the Management Committee with the participation of the Vice Ministry of Micro and Small Enterprises, the Ministry of Autonomy and the State’s Productive Development Bank. ► Ongoing assessment with the Bank for Productive Development for the creation of a Guarantee Fund allowing the ADECO to provide credit to territorial initiatives, establishment of first contacts with the Andean Bank for Public Works (CAF) to discuss the possibility of it contributing to the establishment of the Fund; and analysis of the possibility of support from the decentralised cooperation.

Strategic Projects

►Seeking to improve the nutritional capacity of families in Oruro’s peripheral areas, the implementation of several initiatives within the framework of "Urban gardens and small animals" has taken place: theoretical and practical training to 300 families on farm integrated management; construction of 200 family greenhouses and 100 barns: formation of teams and recruitment of training technicians for raising small livestock; elaboration of a Training Plan and a Construction Plan for a Training Centre (Departmental Agricultural Service-SEDAG; Intercultural Wawsay University-UNIK; FAO; Prefecture of Oruro). ► Support to the process of legalisation of community textile enterprises in peripheral Oruro, improving production and marketing: ongoing creation of a Community Centre for Apparel Production, machinery equipment, organisation of training modules and establishment of an operating board composed of representatives from community projects (Prefecture of Oruro).

Decentralised Cooperation

► In collaboration with FAMSI and the Government of Granada the implementation of a project to strengthen community production systems in the Lauca River and Popoo Lake Basins and the peripheral areas of the city of Oruro has been put in place: training for integrated utilisation of local resources, creation and legalisation of community productive enterprises, support for productive activities and establishment of a revolving community fund to support community projects. ► Support for the communal production of milk of Caracollo’s Zárate Wilca Centre and the Huancaroma farm in collaboration with the Community of Frignano (Italy): training of farmers for improved production and processing of cheese and yogurt, equipment; creation of a distribution network to improve the nutritional standards of school-age children. ► In collaboration with HEGOA, support for community tourism ventures: development of a diagnostic programme for the Department’s tourism enterprises; identification of other potential decentralised cooperation partners; establishment of first contacts with Galicia’s Higher School of Hotel Management; organisation of visits to Chipayas, Orinoca, Pampa Ullagas, Alcaya and Cacachaca.

Culture

► Setting of the basis for the creation of a Secretary of Culture to promote and publicise the Department’s various cultural components.

South-South Cooperation

► Technical collaboration with the Film and Television School of San Antonio de los Baños in Cuba for the production of a documentary, to be shot in the Department of Oruro, bearing witness to and promoting the process of discussion on compliance of the MDGs in Bolivia. This activity is envisioned to take place in several phases, the first one which consists of a field study to identify areas, actors and write the script.

Results and Activities at the National Level

The process of political and social transformation aimed directly influenced by Bolivia and substantively in the implementation of this program by being present both at the central, departmental and municipal levels. Its reinforcement and development is based on the ability to extend and strengthen the debate on its strategic priorities, to implement efficient models and methodological planning tools and fortify territorial institutionalism – that can become reproducible patterns-, to articulate the territorial and international partners and to promote and fortify the ongoing exchange between the central, intermediate and local levels.

The most important results achieved at the national level are related to the priorities road map identified for 2009: ► Consolidation of the Programme’s presence at the central and territorial level: strengthening the capacities of the National Coordination Committee and the participation of territorial actors in decision-making through the consolidation of the Departmental and Regional Working Groups. ► Programme promotion to decentralised cooperation new members whilst highlighting Bolivia’s geo-economic uniqueness and the process of political and social change in course. ► Advance through the following strategic areas to paddle any economic difficulties: 1. Impetus to sustainable local development based on traditional know-how, capable of producing real improvements to citizens’ living standards and as an endogenous response to the international crisis. 2. Promotion of innovation for sustainable development through South-South and South-North cooperation. 3. Promoting the implementation of mechanisms for territorial data collection, management and analysis, of exchange and of continuous feedback between the central and regional levels.

In 2009 the Programme’s National Coordinating Committee met twice to review the attained progress, identify priorities for 2009 and approve the Annual Operating Plan. Partnerships with the Ministry of Production were consolidated, more specifically with the Vice Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Vice Ministry of Tourism Industry, the Ministry of Autonomy, the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Ministry of Health. Likewise, the already excellent relations with the Vice Minister of Science and Technology were reinforced, for the support of the Bolivian Innovation System and the introduction of development innovations in Bolivia from the IDEASS catalogue.

Local Economic Development

► Support for the International Seminar on Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs), organised by the Municipality of La Paz on July 14th and 15th, 2009, with the participation of over 800 representatives of national and departmental institutions, exhibitors and members of the ILS-LEDA international network. ► Technical support to the metropolitan area of La Paz for the establishment of an ADEL Steering Committee, bringing together the municipalities of La Paz, El Alto and Viacha that make up the country’s largest population and economic pole. ► Technical and institutional support for the creation of the Community Economic Development Agency of Oruro (ADEC). ► Collaboration with the Vice Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises for enlargement and socialisation of the ongoing debate with social movements on the content of the regulatory law for community enterprises.

Tourism

► Support the Vice Ministry of Tourism Industry, the Ministry of Culture and the Secretary of Tourism and Departments of Culture of Oruro and La Paz in the process of devising a strategy to improve the quality of the tourism sector and for the development of local tourism routes and circuits (HEGOA).

Innovation Exchange

► Within the cooperation framework with the Vice Minister of Science and Technology, support for the production processes modernisation strategy under the National Plan for Good Living and the Bolivian Innovation System (BIS), identification of the following innovations: the "Stabilak" for increasing milk’s life spam through natural methods, the use of natural dyes in the textile industry and the system of domestic water filter "Filtrón." ► Stabilak product presentation in the framework of a National Seminar and validation by the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology to launch the production, marketing and distribution feasibility study in Bolivia (Cuba’s National Centre for Agricultural Health CENSA, the product’s inventors). ► Support for promoting the use of traditional dyes in the textile sector, appraisal of the cultures that developed this knowledge and generation of sources of income for rural populations within the "Meeting on Natural Dyes Knowledge and Know-how for the Artisanal Textile Sector" framework, organised in the city of Cochabamba by the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Development Planning and the Vice Ministry of Cultures, with the participation of national experts from Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina, and 22 textile artisans representing crafts organisations. ► Support for the Vice Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Service for Sustainable Basic Sanitation Services (SENASBA) and the Ministry of Health and Sports’ Health Promotion Unit in organising the National Seminar on ” Technology Proposals Appropriate for Potable Water, " where the "Filtrón” ceramic filter for drinking water was presented.

Integral Territorial Planning

►Undertook preliminary discussions with the Ministry of Planning to support the establishment of a comprehensive Geographic Information System (GIS) to facilitate the reading and integral analysis by political authorities of the needs and priorities identified by the territories.

Results and Activities at the International Level

South-South Cooperation

► Held a mission from 24 to 31 May, 2009 by representatives of the Prefecture of La Paz, the municipalities of El Alto and La Paz, FAM, UNDP, UNIDO and the Gender Programme "Seeds" to Local Economic Development Agencies and Service Centres for Women's Enterprises (CSEM) in El Salvador, to share experiences on the organisation of these institutions oriented towards fostering economic development based on the territories’ endogenous strengths and resources.

Launch of the ART Bolivia Programme

► Official launching (March 2009) of the programme and presentation to potential partners, mobilisation of a large number of actors of the decentralised cooperation, mainly Spanish and Italian, and preliminary establishment of decentralised cooperation agreements with the departments of Oruro and La Paz.

Decentralised Cooperation

►Held a mission to Italy and Spain by a delegation led by the Prefect of Oruro and the Director of the Agricultural Departmental Service of the Department of La Paz (June 2009), in order to meet with decentralised cooperation partners: Community of Frignano in the Region of Emilia Romagna, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, and City and Province of Siena in Italy, the Autonomous Community of Extremadura, and the Municipality of Malaga in Spain. ► Materialisation of specific cooperation agreements with the Basque Government, the Community of Frignano in the Region of Emilia Romagna, the Monte dei Paschi di Siena Foundation, the NGO Carretera Central, FAMSI and the Spanish NGO Peace and Development.

International Events

► Participation of UNDP and the ART Bolivia Programme representatives at the International Forum "ART: 4 years, 10 results" in Seville (November 2009), which permitted getting to know and exchange the realities of the 18 countries where ART operates and address action areas and performance organisation charts, allowing the refinement of both the structure and operation of the Programme in Bolivia.

The Programme's Challenges for 2010

Nationally, the Programme’s main challenges for 2010 are the consolidation of its relationship with the new national institutional references; strengthening the involvement of the national agencies constituting NCC regarding its role in guiding the programme; fostering its operational structures at the local level (the DWGs and RWGs) promoting the increased presence of representatives of the civil society and social movements; and the establishment of new partnerships with decentralised cooperation actors in order to concretise a larger number of joint projects.

The start up of the Oruro’s Local Development Agency and the strengthening of the Agency in La Paz; the creation of guarantee funds, design and implementation of the departmental Geographic Information System; the implementation of new innovations for development; the completion of strategic projects; and the execution of projects supported by decentralised cooperation partners are some of the programme’s fundamental challenges at the territorial level.

Contacts

Ms. Cielo Morales, Deputy Resident Representative cielo.morales@undp.org