Supporting greater transparency in Bolivia

Related pages: Boliva country page | Transforming partnerships in Bolivia

DFID support to more transparent and accountable sub-national governments has laid some of the groundwork for some of the basis for the process of political decentralization which Mr Morales, Bolivia's new president (as of January 21, 2006) has promised to accelerate.

How? Previous DFID work has focused on improve participation and accountability in the areas of human rights and social inclusion, pro-poor growth and pro-poor governance. And although DFID is putting more resources into working with regional partners, this previous work continues to influence Bolivian civil society.

For a fuller list of recent activities, see the Bolivia country page

Supporting local mayors to improve local services

With small amounts of money, DFID has been developing approaches to service provision which has led the way for other donors.

Fundación Participación Ciudadana y Alivio a la Pobreza - usually known as PAP - has been supported by DFID for 5 years between 2001 and 2005. Based in Santa Cruz, Bolivia's largest city (1.3m people), PAP continues to improve transparency and increase political participation through decentralising services and investment to urban districts and sub-mayorships.

How did it get started? The Santa Cruz municipal government approached PAP for help in thinking about decentralisation. The pilot project and the 5 year strategic plan (2005-2010) that was then agreed - with DFID support - should result in all 15 districts being decentralised at the end of that period. Eight of these districts should be covered by the end of 2006.

Already, citizens in several districts can feel the benefits of decentralisation after just a few months. Directly elected sub-mayors have been trained by PAP and are now working in their communities with local leaders and schools to help get things decided and done at a local level, by local people.

In October 2005, Felix Chapia (sub-mayor for District 9) said: "Before, people's complaints got lost or ignored. For the first time, people here have been able to define their priorities, for what is most needed where they live. Imagine what we can do in one year. Or five? Or ten?"

With DFID support, PAP was able to better systematize and promote its experiences and carry out modifications to the way it worked. As a result, decentralisation became a major theme in the 2004 municipal elections. The new municipal government has recently approved both specific legislation for continued decentralisation throughout the city and an $8m budget in 2006 to support district level investments.

DFID's investment over this period has been small (£60,000) but in 2006, the municipal council has US $8M that will be applied using the PAP approach. In previous years, $6m from the Dutch government also has been spent using this approach.

Key facts

• In the first phase, in the two poorest districts, PAP supported projects were able to produce community infrastructure projects that were 50% less expensive than previous, municipal-contracted projects
• DFID supported this work for 5 years 2001-2006.
• Santa Cruz has a total of 15 districts. This project underwent a test phase by working for several years in two districts. As of early 2006, this has been expanded to 8.