Fighting poverty among Bolivia’s Andean societies is a challenge. The destruction and fragmentation of traditional lands, poor supplies of appropriate technologies and knowledge are some of the main causes of poverty among indigenous communities.

The project is designed within the framework of the government’s Plan to Eradicate Extreme Poverty (PEEP) which harmonises the actions of the various groups involved in reducing poverty and is part of Bolivia’s Plan Vida, a comprehensive plan to fight poverty. It will reach up to 18,000 poor rural households of Quechua and Aymara origin living in the northern Potosi and southern Cochabamba regions of Bolivia.

The project will implement 600 communal development activities assisting the project participants to generate income and improve their livelihoods. The activities will be conducted in full respect of the communities’ cultural identities and social structure. The communities, the authorities and the project administrators will adopt participatory approaches thus ensuring all stakeholders are included in decision making process.

As a result of this project, it is expected that 600 producers groups will be legally recognized and some 9,000 families will get identity cards and birth certificates. This legal status will allow the indigenous communities to benefit from different types of financial services.
 

Source: IFAD