Through the U.S. Agency for International Development, America’s official foreign assistance agency, the United States is supporting more than 30 municipalities in the Department of Cochabamba. Our projects reduce poverty through enterprise development and increased productivity and improve access to basic services such as health care and legal services for the poor. USAID programs create opportunities for marginalized populations and promote their social, political, and economic inclusion.

Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Government has a broad assistance program in Bolivia that promotes social inclusion, supports Bolivians helping Bolivians and develops opportunities for the country’s poorest citizens to improve their quality of life.

Working in close coordination with the Bolivian Governemt’s Agrarian Reform Institute (INRA), the US Government’s support to the Cochabamba Tropics has allowed the success of a broad land titling program. Thanks to this initiative, local producers like Julio Jankoña, have a newr opportunity to grow

1. ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE POPULATION

USAID programs directly support the productive pillar of Bolivia’s National Development Plan. Through our assistance, more than 9,000 producers in the valleys of Cochabamba are now selling a variety of products for domestic and international markets, including the United States. They include onions, peanuts, hot peppers, spices, tomatoes, peaches, apples and dairy products. For example, when USAID assisted approximately 7,500 families across nine municipalities to improve their onion crop, the crop’s international sales gave participating families a 60 percent income boost.

USAID has strengthened financial institutions and credit unions with innovative services. At the end of 2005, USAID helped to finance a branch of the San José de Punata Credit Union in Cliza. The agency also helped launch an electronic transaction system called “ServiRed.” Through a Rural Finance Expansion Grant, USAID helped open another credit union branch in Tarata to expand micro credit services.  All of these activities increased financial services to underserved populations in both urban and rural communities.

USAID also supports Bolivia’s textile, apparel and timber industries, generating approximately $1.1million in exports to the United States and Europe. Our technical assistance is improving business practices and product quality, creating more domestic and international sales.

USAID supports environmental policies aimed at consolidating the Carrasco National Park and the Altamachi Departmental Park (in the Tiquipaya Municipality) through educational activities, handicrafts made with natural products, and other income generating opportunities for more than 6,500 Cochabamba families.

2. INTEGRATED ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT

USAID’s Integrated Alternative Development program introduces farmers to alternate cash crops to discourage the production of cocaine-producing coca, as well as expanding access to public services. 

In Cochabamba, the program provides farmers with alternatives to coca such as bananas, heart of palm, pineapple and papaya. These efforts build local support for the Government of Bolivia’s coca control efforts. Partners include farmers, grower associations, businesses, municipalities and rural communities. The program also provides for road construction, community development activities, disease control, natural resource management, land titling, and techniques that make crops more competitive.

The program supports Bolivia’s ability to control coca production and complements other counter-narcotics efforts supported by both the U.S. and Bolivia.  The Integrated Alternative Development program directly supports the Bolivia’s National Development Plan.

3. IMPROVED ACCESS TO JUSTICE

USAID works with Bolivia to strengthen democratic institutions and improve the justice system. Since 2004, in coordination with Bolivia’s judicial branch, the agency has supported the Integrated Justice Center in Chimoré, in the Chapare region. The center offers conciliation and dispute resolution, legal support for victims of domestic violence and other services that support citizen access to justice. In addition, USAID has worked with the judicial branch, the public ministry and the Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Crimen to establish customer services in Bolivia’s main Cochabamba offices, where citizens get prompt access to improved legal services.

4. IMPROVED HEALTH SERVICES

With U.S. support, Bolivia’s largest private health network, PROSALUD, provides health care to about 500,000 people each year from low-income families in six Bolivian departments.  In Cochabamba, we support PROSALUD’s clinic that serves about 30,000 people each year, as well as CIES, a Bolivian organization specializing in integrated care for women and infants. It operates two clinics in the Cochabamba city and Quillacollo neighborhoods. CIES facilities served about 30,000 people in 2006.

In addition, a community health project called Partners for Development is fighting Chagas disease by improving some 100 households in two rural communities. One method involves using modern building materials—replacing straw roofs with tile—to prevent insects that carry the disease from nesting in homes.