The ECB training was an eye opener, especially in areas of weaknesses such as provision of feedback to the beneficiaries, which for most organizations is often an oversight. Most times organizations concentrate exclusively on achievement of the objectives of the programme being implemented."

Margaret Adongo
Senior Programme Assistant and Gender Focal Point
UN World Food Programme

Bolivia is the second poorest country in the Americas. Six per cent of the population are indigenous. Of them, 64 per cent live below the poverty line and only 24 per cent of the mostly indigenous rural population have access to water services.  Twenty-three percent of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Bolivia

In Bolivia, climate change poses an increasingly dangerous threat to impoverished, minority, and vulnerable populations. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, forest fires, droughts, and flooding are occurring with growing frequency and intensity. Disasters such as these often result in an incalculable loss of life and leave extreme damage to infrastructures and livelihoods. These impacts are intensified by a chronic lack of coordination between government actors, NGOs, and communities.

To Bolivia Consortium will work to address these shortfalls. Oxfam Bolivia will lead the Bolivia Consortium, and will be joined by NGO, government and academic members such as CARE, World Vision, Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, Conservación Internacional,Pan American Health Organization, the Bolivian Vice Minister for Civil Defense (VIDECICODI), the disaster management agencies Beni and Pando, the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research North-South, and the Fundacion para el desarrollo participativo y comunitario.

Despite increased efforts to collaborate, there are still gaps in a coordinated humanitarian relief strategy. As a part of the second phase of ECB, the Bolivia consortium will address the gaps by emphasizing collaboration between members to avoid duplicity and by increasing staff capacity and improve public policy by rolling out ECB tools from Phase I, such as the Good Enough Guide.

By strengthening disaster prevention and mitigation capacity at the local level, the Consortium will work to build disaster-resilient communities. Trainings will be done in tandem with local disaster management authorities and will require community participation. At the national level, the Consortium aims to facilitate the adoption of protocols and standards developed by Sphere and others.

The Consortium is well positioned to have a multiplier effect throughout the Andean region. Members work also in the neighboring countries of Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador. Cross-border projects are a possibility, and preliminary dialogues with members in other countries have taken place. 

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