USAID/OTI BOLIVIA HOT TOPICS
November 2006
Enhancing Information Flow Between Local Governments and Rural Stakeholders
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| Newly- trained personnel from the Prefecture of Cochabamba help self-employed artisans from the municipality of Punata search for new market opportunities on the SIEC's OTI-funded economic development database. |
Activities in support of the Prefecture of Cochabamba Communications Unit and the Community Outreach and Economic Development Information Room are executed by USAID/OTI through its partner, Casals and Associates.
With OTI assistance, the prefecture's new Community Outreach and Economic Development Information Room (SIEC) has become an important source of knowledge for citizens. SIEC personnel have developed an economic development-related database of information about public works projects and regional market activity, and are providing dozens of reports to visiting stakeholders. The SIEC also coordinates with municipalities throughout the department to promote participation of local merchants in business fairs and artisans' markets held in the department capital.
Strengthening linkages between local governments and rural communities is a shared objective of the governors of Bolivia and the USAID Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI). Two new OTI-funded technical assistance projects -- implemented in coordination with the departmental government (prefecture) of Cochabamba -- have strengthened and streamlined the prefecture's outreach activities, as well as fortifying its role as a key source of critical economic information for municipalities and local economic actors. OTI is helping build the capacity of Bolivia's nine departmental governments as part of its support for the country's ongoing democratization process.
Prior to its collaboration with OTI, Prefecture Communica-tions Unit Director Wilson Espinoza said that the office produced one to two low-quality outreach products per month. With technical assistance and production equipment from OTI, "We now produce two or more products per week." In five months, OTI assistance helped Espinoza's team produce over 50 informational products including posters, press releases, and television spots describing public works and social services initiatives carried out throughout the department. "Transparency and outreach are core values of the prefecture. Just getting this information out has facilitated better collaboration with local producers and our municipal government counterparts," Espinoza said.
Espinoza's office is collaborating with the prefecture's Municipal Strengthening Division on a second OTI-funded project that created the new Community Outreach and Economic Development Information Room (SIEC). OTI provided technical assistance for SIEC staff and computers to equip the new information room. In its first three months, the initiative has helped organize three artisans' fairs and provide information to over 200 municipal officials and local producers.
The two projects now serve as best-practice models for replication in the other nine departmental governments and contribute to part of a broader, coordinated effort by USAID/OTI and the prefecture to promote rural economic development throughout Cochabamba.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: Russell Porter, Regional Team Leader, 202-712-5455, rporter@usaid.gov
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