Italian development aid in brief

The Italian Cooperation in Bolivia, which formally began in 1986, through the signing of the Accordo di cooperazione tecnica between the Italian and the Bolivian governments, provides a range of programmes to support the policies of poverty reduction. 

The criteria for the identification of the sectors of intervention, as proposed by the Bolivian counterpart, are based on the correlation with the provisions of the National Development Plan (PND, Plan Nacional de Desarrollo), which describes and defines the strategies of action, together with the priorities individuated by the current Government, run by President Morales, and by the Programme of Eradication of Extreme Poverty (PEEP, Programa de Erradicación de la Extrema Pobreza). These concern the reduction of social inequality, the recognition of minorities and their social inclusion, the guarantee of basic services (education and health) and the valorization of traditional knowledge/wisdom. From an economic point of view, the strategy relies on the development of small and medium enterprises (SME) and the diversification of production, while promoting an international policy that centers on the issues of the respect for minorities and sustainable development.  

Despite economic growth and the improvement in a number of indicators of human development, Bolivia is still a Country of priority intervention, due to persistent levels of poverty and extreme poverty (especially in rural areas), as well as to the widening inequality gap among the various sectors of society.

The general objective of the Italian Cooperation in the next three years will be to contribute to the improvement of the living conditions among the poorest and most marginalized sections of the population, through the implementation of development programmes in the areas of education, health, access to and management of water, environment, food security, tourism and the preservation of the cultural heritage. 

In Bolivia, donors are gathered in what is called GRUS (Groups of partners for the development of Bolivia), to which Italy participates actively. The GRUS, established in 2006, represents a coordination body composed by bilateral, intergovernmental and multilateral organisms present in Bolivia; it supports the Bolivian Government in the coordination and harmonization of the interventions of the International Cooperation, with the purpose of improving its effectiveness, in the framework of the achievement of the goals of the National Development Plan (PND) and the Millennium Development Goals. 

The Italian Cooperation has become part of the coordinating Troika of the GRUS in January 2014 and will assume the presidency throughout the second half of 2014. 

The European Union is currently the major donor in the Country. Together with the Member States, the European Delegation has drafted the so-called European Coordinated Response, a first step towards the elaboration of a joint programming, which will be effective starting 2017. 

The areas in which Italy may assume a leading role are Health, Culture and Tourism, and Emergencies. With this goal, the programming of the UTL in Bolivia shall be aimed at strengthening our presence in these very sectors.  

The strategy of DGCS is consistent with the development priorities of the Country, highlighted in the National Development Plan (PND, Plan Nacional de Desarrollo), the Programme for the Eradication of Extreme Poverty (PEEP, Programa de Erradicaciñon de la Extrema Pobreza), and in the new 2025 Policy Agenda. These plans constitute a strategic landmark for all the Donors.  

The Italian Cooperation, in line with the DGCS Guidelines, participates by supporting: 

• Environment, by intervening along two axis of priority such as fires prevention and the management of water resources and soil.
• Agriculture and Food Security, by focusing on the collaboration in the process of improvement of the models of preservation of the strategies of social and economic valorization of fito-genetic biodiversity resources; strengthening of risk management capabilities and activities of prevention related to natural disasters that threaten the agricultural sector; strengthening of sectoral policies and institutions and improving the infrastructures and productivity of the quinua-camelids sector.
• Public health – Intercultural health, by pursuing the following specific objectives: structuring a network of health-care services, both in the urban and in the rural areas; improving the quality of health care and cultural adaptation of the improved health care services; modernizing the faculty of Health Sciences; structuring and activation of services for the prevention of child abandonment and the social reintegration of children at risk.
• Protection of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism, by developing community-based tourism, creating tourist circuits among the different Bolivian departments to allow for sustainable local development and creating new cultural hubs in the Country.
• Local Development and Innovation, through the ART GOLD Programme and through the support to Small And Medium Enterprises, starting from the promotion of previously identified value chains, capacities, services, and the formulation of projects, as well as the creation of a Local Economic Development Agency, requested by the Departmental Government. 

Gender represents a cross-cutting priority among the initiatives implemented in the different areas of intervention. Programming in each of the priority sectors bears into consideration the impact on gender issues and promotes women´s participation. 

The areas of intervention defined during the Joint Commission (JC), which selection criteria are based, as indicated above, on the provisions of the National Development Plan and on the Programme of Eradication of Extreme Poverty, coincide with the areas of intervention of the Italian initiatives of development cooperation already under implementation in the country through the direct bilateral channel, the NGOs projects, funding to international organizations and decentralized cooperation. 

Further, the Sectoral Plans of the Ministries competent for the area of intervention are taken as additional guidelines to help elaborate and implement the various Programmes/Projects.

For the period 2013-2015 the following activities are envisaged:

Environment and management of water resources (26.833.333,34 €):

• Trilateral Programme ¨Amazon Without Fire¨ (1.500.000€ - donation MAE DGCS, and 333.333,34€ funded by the General Fund of the Italian Cooperation at CAF), aimed at the prevention of forest fires and the implementation of alternative techniques to the use of fire;
• Reconversion of the Soaft Loan allocated to the ¨Multiple Programme Misicuni II¨ (25 million of euros – loan), for interventions in the areas of water and management of sewage systems. 

Agriculture and Food Security (3.950.000,00 €):

• Programme ¨Collaboration in the process of improvement of the models of preservation of the strategies of social and economic valorization of fito-genetic biodiversity resources ¨ (3 millions of Euros – soft loan with 60.000€ as a donation for the experts fund), aimed at the preservation of the Bolivian genetic patrimony and at strengthening the institutional, human and instrumental competencies of the INIAF (National Institute for Agro-Forestry Innovation) and of the Ministry of Rural Development and Lands.
• Programme ¨Integrated Agro-Nutritional System Quinoa-Camelids, promotion of Sustainable Communitarian Family Farming in the Bolivian Plateau¨ (895.000€ donation), to sovereignly achieve food security, starting from the integrated production of Quinoa and Camelids to strengthen sustainable communitarian family farming, according to the current national policies. 

Emergency (1 million Euros) 

• Programme FAO-CIMA: ¨Strengthening local resilience to food insecurity, based on successful strategies aimed at developing and consolidating the national system of early warning, traditional life methods and the conditions of food security of vulnerable rural families in the Higher Andean and in the Beni areas¨. It aims at strengthening the prevention ability of the multiple social factors that influence the development of the agricultural sector, in order to mitigate the vulnerability derived from food insecurity, through the implementation of techniques that help obtain and disseminate the hydrological information.

Innovation and Local Development (Entrepreneurial Sector, Governance, Microcredit and Microfinance – 817.054 €):

• ART GOLD Programme (managed by UNDP); it aims at supporting National policies of integrated development, through a decentralized, territorial and participatory approach, with the main involvement of decentralized cooperation;
• ¨Local and National Commercial articulation aimed at the sale and export of vicuna fiber, within the normative framework intended to strengthen the communities that manage vicuna in the Natural Area of Integrated Management of Apolobamba¨ (funded by the General Fund of the Italian Cooperation at CAF; carried out by the NGO ProgettoMondo MLAL).
• ¨Support to the Implementation of the Strategic Plan for the Modernization of the National Civil Registry Service in Bolivia¨ (Italian Fund at IADB).

Public Health and Intercultural Health (25.410.137,48 €):

• Programme ¨Support to the development of the Social Health Care System of the Department of Potosí¨ - IV Stage (3.659.642,48€ - donation), intended to improve the management and quality system of the services offered by the Hospital Daniel Bracamonte and the structuring of a network of health services, both in the urban and in the rural areas, while additionally fostering the cultural adaptation of the above-mentioned services; to modernize the Faculty of Health Sciences and build the Bolivian Institute of Mountain Biology (Biologia d`Altura) and the Institute of Traditional and Intercultural Medicine; to structure and activate services for the prevention of child abandonment and the social reintegration of children at risk.
• Programme ¨Collaboration to the process of improvement of the patterns and procedures for the exercise of the right to health in Bolivia¨ (21.598.495€ - loan, with 152.000€ as donation for the experts fund), it has as its specific goal the improvement of the institutional mechanisms for the protection of health and the procedures for the exercise of the right to health through support to the programme of strengthening the comprehensive health care networks in the areas of intervention. 

Tourism and Protection of the Cultural Heritage (about 12.300.000€)

• Programme ¨Development of natural and cultural tourism in the Departments of Cochabamba and Potosí ¨ (12 million Euros – expected amount of the loan); during the final stages of its formulations, this Programme foresees the creation of a touristic circuit that would enhance the natural and cultural resources of the areas of intervention;
• ¨Strengthening of the capacities of management of the historic patrimony – pilot project Cohoni (365.000 USD – donation), intended to strengthen the institutional preservation of the historic patrimony, train human resources in restoration and support the municipal administration in the area of planning and promotion (Italian Fund at IADB). 

To further strengthen our leadership in the areas of health, emergency, culture and tourism, the next project are envisaged to be implemented: 

• Formulation of a new intervention of technical assistance in favor of the Bolivian Ministry of Health regarding nutrition, Uniformed Health System, traditional and intercultural medicine, dissemination of standards of quality, generation of operational policies and strategies of rehabilitation concerning social diseases (alcoholism, drug-related addictions, addiction to tobacco, etc.), especially focusing on the creation of an integrated nation-wide social health care system, based on the experienced offered by the Potosí Programme (1 million Euros for the years 2015-2016);
• technical support to the implementation of a crisis unit at the National level to respond to emergencies and prevent natural disasters (1,5 million Euros for the years 2015-2016. The total amount is yet to be defined, with the possibility to finance through the mechanism of a soft loan).
• technical assistance to the Ministry of Culture to follow up on the initiatives already underway and to support this local Ministry in creating a legal and operational framework, basically nonexistent at the time of writing, both concerning cultural heritage and tourism (the proposal has already been submitted to the DGCS, for a total amount of 456.400€).  

In addition, depending on the availability of new financial resources, and considering the strategic importance of the environmental and water sectors, as well as that of local development, further interventions are envisaged to be formulated, such as:  

• a contribution to UNICEF in the sector of water resources (1 million Euros, 2014-2015), in order to provide technical assistance as part of the intervention in the water sector that will replace the Misicuni Programme:
• widening the support to the UNDP ART GOLD Programme (1 million Euros, 2015-2016);
• continuation – with refunding – of the ¨Amazon Without Fire¨ Programme (1,5 million Euros, 2015-2016). 

Finally, considering that the last Joint Commission was held in Rome far back in 2008, and given the progresses accomplished in loco with regard to European Coordinated Response, it may be appropriate to arrange for the year 2014 a new round of meetings, to delineate a new outline of the Italian-Bolivian cooperation initiatives, to be implemented in the latter, and to establish the line of intervention for the next three years, walking side to side the process of joint cooperation that will start in 2017.