UNDP ART Bolivia Programme - Newsletter

UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme 1st Newsletter

The results of the 2013 Administration of the Coordination of Production Development Sectoral Council are out

The 12th of November, the results of the 2013 Administration of the Coordination of Production Development Sectoral Council (COSDEPRO) were presented in the city of La Paz. Up to now, 452.19 million of bolivianos (BOB) have been invested in 39 prioritized strategic projects, in order to articulate 5 governorates and 100 local governments. The event counted on the participation of two ministries and authorities of the United Nations System in Bolivia, among others.

UNDP-ART Bolivia has been supporting the Ministry of Production Development and Plural Economy on the implementation of the Council since 2011. The aim of this process is to strengthen the sectoral articulation from a multi-actor and multi-level perspective.

Presenting the results achieved by the Council was the main purpose of the meeting. Besides, the event served to show the work made during 2013 and the benefits of articulating between the central level and the Autonomous Territorial Entities.

The Minister of Production Development and Plural Economy, Ana Teresa Morales, mentioned the importance of the Council’s Departmental Instances for empowering the local level without losing the articulation with the central level.

The Viceminister of the Micro and Small Enterprise, MartĂ­n Bazurco, explained the results of the Council and he invited the private actors from the production sector to join the second phase of the process to generate public-private coordination areas.

On behalf, Katherine Grigsby, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Bolivia, highlighted the role the Council to improve the human development and multi-level governance, both essentials for UNDP. Moreover, she recognized the effort of the Council on respecting the diversity of each territory for the implementation of the projects.

Editorial In the context of the start-up of the Autonomy and Decentralization Framework Law, the COSDEPRO has shown the results of its first year of work. The articles 121 and 122 of the Law, recognise the importance of the coordination between the central and local level, as well as the creation of mechanisms and tools for a better articulation.

COSDEPRO is presented as a tool that supports social-economic initiatives and encourages the correct and coordinated use of public resources.

The UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme has accompanied the process in order to benefit the agreement and avoid the dispersion of actors. The aim is to achieve a successful public-public agreement, with the participation of three ministries and by getting progressively involved in a publicprivate articulation.

The efficiency of the productive public investment has improved thanks to the collaboration of all the governmental actors.

The empowering of the actors through territorial productive pacts is an important starting point to encourage the participation of the private sector.

Ongoing processes Construction of the Territorial Brand of the region of La Paz The UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme has contributed to the setting-up of the Local Economic Development Agency (LEDA) of La Paz by facilitating articulation processes in the territory as well as providing technical assistance. These are the main activities that the Programme has principally promoted:  Exchange of experiences and best practices.  Connection with international networks.  Promotion of collaboration with decentralized cooperation and South-South and North-South cooperation.

Over the last months, there have been three workshops, which have counted on the participation of territorial actors.

These events have helped in the construction of the brand around 3 dimensions: territorial identity, territorial image and business environment.

The Territorial Brand has been proposed as a tool to enable the development of the principal economic and productive potentials, as well as to prioritize the articulation and diversification of the economic activities under a quality indicator.

UNDP-ART Bolivia has offered to LEDA La Paz experiences of prominent international experts in the construction of territorial brands in other countries.

The Association of Municipalities of Bolivia organises thematic workshops relating to the economic development of the cities The aim of these meetings is to consolidate a continuous discussion area for the improvement of the Local Economic Development (LED) in local governments. This can be achieved through an exchange of best practices and the analysis of the main problems linked to the Local Economic Development in capital cities and El Alto.

To date, three events have been organised in the cities of La Paz, Sucre and Tarija, attended by municipal authorities of the cities involved and experts on the subject. The UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme has taken part in the meetings by presenting successful regional experiences that could be replicated in the participating municipalities. The workshops were also useful to introduce the II World Forum of Local Economic Development as well as to coordinate the participation of a delegation from Bolivia for the meeting.

The second phase of the PET MAN project has been launched The second phase of the Productive Economic and Territorial Planning in Groupings of Municipalities of the Oruro Department Project (PET MAN) was launched on Friday 27th of September.

After the success of the first stage of the project, the aim of this second phase is to consolidate and strengthen the processes of LED of the groupings of municipalities of Aymaras Sin Fronteras, Azanake, Litoral and Minera. It will also include two new groupings of municipalities: Rio Desaguadero and Frontera con Chile. This second stage will cover the 86% of the municipalities of Oruro, which represent the 60.52% of the whole population of the department.

The launch featured more than sixty participants, amongst mayors, representatives of municipalities and of the Governorate and members of different institutions. UNDP-ART Bolivia explained the results achieved until now, concerning the improvement of the articulation of actors and interventions in the department. Moreover, the challenges of the second phase were presented, as the articulation with the central level, among others.

UNDP-ART supports the design of territorial strategic lines Strategy of Production Development and Employment Creation in the Tarija Department

The UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme has supported the Governorate of Tarija in the preparation of a Strategy of Production Development and Employment Creation in the Tarija Department. The document was socialised in August, taking the following guidelines into account:    

Alignment and construction of the political, institutional and territorial framework.

Development of priority chains in the four territorial units of the department.

Boost to the industrial, manufacturing and handcraft development.

Industrialisation of gas and natural resources.

The main objective defined by the Governorate and UNDP-ART was to develop and implement the strategy, by creating and strengthening a public-private space (Public-Private Alliance for the Production Development of Tarija APP-) that could plan an agreed strategy. This would facilitate the articulation between local, departmental and national public policies and, moreover, with the initiatives of the private actors and civil society.

The methodology implemented and developed by the UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme has perfectly adapted to the specificities of the territory.

Strategy of Production Development and Employment Creation in El Alto The UNDP-ART Programme has supported the construction process of the Strategy of Production Development of El Alto City Council, which contains compromises of medium-term municipal investments. Several events helped to accomplish the process of elaboration and socialization of the strategy, and there were identified these main issues:   

Microenterprise and entrepreneurship development.

Handcraft development.

Agricultural development.

It is important to mention the inclusion of a LED vision in the production of the Strategic Strengthening Plan for the Production Sector of El Alto Municipality. This is the first step to encourage the Major Office of Economy and Production Development to support the production area. The aim is to avoid the actions that do not have a strategic purpose. Apart from using appropriate techniques for identifying the needs, the results about the motivation and expectations of the participant production actors have been positive.

El Alto stakeholders have collected the needs of the production area of the city, organised by priorities and strategic objectives of development.

Briefly The National Workshop “Towards an effective practice of the municipal competences in order to promote a sustainable Local Economic Development” took place in La Paz. The event has been organised by UNDP-ART Bolivia, the Swiss Cooperation and the Federation of Associations of Municipalities of Bolivia, among others. The workshop seeks to improve the roles and attributions of the public, economic-productive and social actors of the municipal area. Thus, a sustainable Local Economic Development could be promoted in the municipalities of Bolivia.

UNDP-ART Bolivia and the Ministry of Rural Development and Lands meet up to identify joint actions. This meeting starts a work relation that aims the strengthening of the Plurinational Economy and Production Council (COPEP). The methodology is based on the articulation, the creation of territorial networks and the support in the strategic planning. Besides, the Programme expects to assist the implementation of an International Quinoa Centre in Bolivia, by mobilising experts in territorial networks and production development.

Programme of Dynamic Companies. The 5th of November the Programme of Dynamic Companies, funded by the European Union, was launched. UNDP-ART Bolivia is a strategic partner of the Local Government of La Paz and has facilitated the participation of regional experts for this process.

UNDP-ART Programmes in Bolivia and Ecuador take part on the Third Annual Conference about “Human Development: Vulnerability, Inclusion and Wellbeing”, which was held from 9 to 12 September in Managua (Nicaragua). You can consult the paper of the joint presentation here, in order to find out more about the interaction of multi-level governance mechanisms and national policies for human development.

UNDP-ART Bolivia signs an agreement with the Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation (SWISSCONTACT). The aim of the agreement consists of coordinating joint interventions in common territories and work areas. This could help to create a public-private cooperation that promotes the development of chains or complexes for the rural small scale producers.

More than 4000 people attended the II World Forum of Local Economic Development in Foz do Iguaçu The II World Forum of Local Economic Development, which was held in Brazil from 29 October to 1 November, gathered authorities and specialist technicians of 35 countries of the world. The purpose of the event was to facilitate the dialogue between local, national and international actors in relation to the efficiency and impact of the Local Economic Development (LED) in nowadays’ challenges, based on existing practices. UNDP-ART Bolivia has coordinated the preparation of a document that collects some of the most successful experiences of the ART programmes in Latin America about Local Economic Development. The purpose of this initiative is to share the best practices of different countries, as well as to encourage the reflection about the challenges concerning the LED.

Upcoming events La Paz. 12/02/2013. "Local development experiences in rural municipalities of Bolivia." The aim of the event is to show the processes supported by the UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme and their strategic guidelines, in addition to debate about the distinctive features of the DEL in small Bolivian municipalities. The Latin American Center for Rural Development and the Inter-American Development Bank, among others, will participate in the meeting.

About ART The ART Global Initiative (Articulation of Territorial and Thematic Networks of Cooperation for Human Development) is a UNDP programme that promotes a new multilateralism that facilitates the articulation of territorial actors and policies.

Its aim is to support the local and national governments in the implementation of their decentralization and territorial development policies.

The strategy of the Programme in Bolivia has an impact in two levels of action: the multi-level governance (which consists of the promotion of articulation spaces through, for instance, Territorial Working Groups and Sectoral Councils) and the Local Economic Development (which is based on the identification of endogenous potentials from the territory). www.pnud.bo

art.pnud.bo