Program Description

The USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) Bolivia program promotes peaceful participation in El Alto and other marginalized communities and increases access to balanced information on issues of national importance. OTI also expands economic opportunity by supporting short-term, community-based activities in distressed areas, such as El Alto and the altiplano, which are designed to increase self-reliance. Issues affecting youth and indigenous groups are cross-cutting themes in all of OTI/Bolivia's work. OTI's implementing partner is Casals & Associates. The budget in fiscal year 2004 was $6.3 million and in fiscal year 2005 is $5.5 million.

Country Situation

General and prefectural elections -- On Dec. 18, Evo Morales, the indigenous leader of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) political party, won the Bolivian presidential election with 54 percent of the vote. The Democratic and Social Power (Podemos) candidate, Jorge "Tuto" Quiroga, received 29 percent, and National Unity's Samuel Doria Medina garnered approximately 8 percent of the vote. With an absolute majority of the votes cast, Morales will assume the presidency on Jan. 22, 2006. The margin of victory is the largest since Bolivia returned to democracy in 1982.

The results for MAS carried over into the elections for Congress and departmental prefects (governors). Polls predicted a slight majority of seats for Podemos in both houses of Congress. However, out of 157 total seats, MAS won 84, Podemos won 56, National Unity won nine, and the National Revolutionary Movement took eight. The National Revolutionary Front and the Leftist Revolutionary Movement received such a small percentage of the vote that they will not be represented in the new Congress.

The results for prefectural elections were more mixed. Podemos ended up with three governorships (La Paz, Pando and Beni). MAS won three prefectures in the western (Andean) departments of Potosi and Oruro and the department of Chuquisaca. The other three prefectures, Tarija, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba, were won by candidates representing different citizens groups.

A mission of 166 observers from the Organization of American States, supported with funds from the U.S. State Department and several other foreign donors, reported a normal democratic process with no substantive incidents. Media outlets reported that the elections were carried out peacefully, with only a few minor incidents. However, the one issue highlighted was the high number of "depurados" - citizens whose names had been purged from the voter registration lists by the National Electoral Court. Under the Electoral Law, citizens who fail to vote in the most recent prior election (in this case, the municipal election in December 2004) are removed from the voter lists. While there were complaints that numerous Bolivians had been erroneously removed from the lists, the greater issue appeared to be lack of awareness of electoral law and the short time given to the electoral court for voter registration.

OTI Highlights

A. Grants Activity Summary

OTI/Bolivia approved two new grants for $100,000, making a total of 239 grants for over $8 million since March 2004. During December, the Office of Transition Initiatives completed a series of elections-related civic education, information diffusion and dialogue projects approved beginning in August.

Newly approved grants include a project that will further OTI efforts to promote economic development in El Alto and the altiplano. OTI will fund a La Paz-based television station to develop a cycle of 20 one-half-hour television programs about women producers operating in El Alto. The series will include features on the challenges faced by, and the successes of, women-led micro-enterprises. The other project in the Santa Cruz province of Nuflo de Chavez will help local citizens and businesses, especially in the municipality of San Julian, more readily engage in economic-growth industries such as tourism.

B. Indicators of Success

Pucarani development -- In the altiplano community of Pucarani, an Office of Transition Initiatives grant to Strategies for International Development (SID) has helped the municipality and local leaders jump-start economic-development initiatives by including them in the municipal budget. In the past, leaders have not addressed the problem of unemployment in rural communities such as Pucarani, which leads to large-scale migration of young people to urban areas. With the help from SID and its local partner AMDEPAZ, leaders are finally addressing this issue by reallocating 40 percent of the budget to income-generating projects, rather than infrastructure projects, for select interest groups. The income-generation activities were piloted by SID in an earlier phase, shown to be successful, and were then adopted by community members who advocated for their inclusion in the participatory budget process.

Jobs for a clean community -- OTI, working with the municipality of El Alto, the Bolivian government and local youth business associations, implemented a long- advocated-for recycling program in El Alto. The project took advantage of the large demand for recyclable material while at the same time employing 70 youths. The six youth associations working on the pilot recycling program in two districts in this city are already selling two tons of material weekly to local companies, resulting in monthly earnings twice that of minimum wage. The OTI-supported program is likely to become a model for a future large-scale initiative sponsored by the municipality.

School reconstruction in the altiplano - The lack of resources for public education has been a source of tension between parents and municipal officials in rural areas. The rundown state of local schools was one of the major community grievances that led to the assassination last year of the mayor of Ayo Ayo. Many students in El Alto and the altiplano are forced to sit on the floor or attend classes outdoors, while, nearby, unfinished classrooms are unused and in dire need of repair. In collaboration with community associations and local governments, OTI rehabilitated classrooms and set up computer labs in overburdened schools throughout El Alto and the altiplano. To date, 50 of the region's neediest schools, serving over 35,000 students, have been rehabilitated.

In Ayo Ayo, USAID collaborated with the new mayor and a group of leaders of local Parent-Teacher Associations to identify and prioritize seven flagship schools for classroom rehabilitation and furniture. In all, USAID rehabilitated 36 classrooms in Ayo Ayo and distributed 540 new student desks among the schools, benefiting 1,500 students - more than half the municipality's student population. The project also funded civic education classes for members of the PTA and local community. USAID's work in Ayo Ayo is not only helping the municipality demonstrate its resolve to improve schools and reduce local tensions, but is also helping to strengthen the education of indigenous youths.

Next Steps/Immediate Priorities

OTI will begin a review of its current strategy in January in coordination with the rest of the USAID Mission and Embassy.

For further information, please contact: In Washington, D.C: Amy Frumin, LAC Program Manager, 202-712-4231, afrumin@usaid.gov