Bolivian specialization in Community Economic Development

This project aims to establish a practical university-based training program in Community Economic Development (CED) in Bolivia, adapting a curriculum from Mexico to the Bolivian context. The project is a partnership between the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (UASB) in Bolivia and the Centre for Sustainable Community Development (CSCD) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Canada. The project will use the CED curriculum and lessons learned from another Tier 2 project in Mexico, developed in partnership between SFU, CENDEC (a Mexican NGO) and ITESM (a Mexican university), adapted to the Bolivian challenges and realities, in collaboration with local stakeholders from Bolivia.

The importance of helping people and institutions develop the skills required to meet complex development challenges is greater than ever, as is the need to strengthen capacity-building institutions. The project will strengthen the capacity of Bolivian institutions to respond effectively to two critical development challenges in Bolivia: poverty reduction through private sector development and enhanced citizen participation. The lead partner institution will have increased capacity to deliver applied, high-quality training in CED, training that supports change in the patterns of development at the local level toward increased gender equity, sustainability, community participation, and economic opportunities. Municipalities and NGOs will benefit from building their human resources capacity by sending its employees to participate in the program, enabling them to develop more effective economic and participation projects and strategies at the community level. The project places particular emphasis on building women's leadership potential and the capacity of women's organizations.

The UASB and other Bolivian organizations consulted in the process of developing the proposal indicated that the CED training program should be oriented to people who work most directly with local-level social and economic development projects in Bolivia, namely staff of NGOs and staff and elected leaders in municipal governments. This would include people at the professional level (i.e., with undergraduate degrees, executive directors and program managers, some elected officials) and the technical level (i.e. technical training or certification, project implementation staff, elected officials, etc.)

The CED curriculum will therefore be developed with a core set of courses and assignments that result in participants receiving a "Certificate in Community Economic Development ," oriented to people with no university education but some post-secondary training. This certificate is equivalent to a non-credit, continuing education program in a Canadian university. The curriculum will further include an additional set of materials and/or a research project that result in a "Specialization in Community Economic Development " designation, a post-graduate diploma for university graduates. The core classes will have a practical focus, in which participants can bring their actual experiences, problems, and challenges to the classroom, learning from each other, and enriching the learning experience by incorporating input from a diversity of sectoral and educational backgrounds. To bring the training from the classroom into the community, the Bolivian curriculum will incorporate a "train-the-trainer" component to provide graduates with the capacity to share and pass on their learning to the people they work with, both within their workplaces and in the communities they serve.

Contact: Gretchen Hernandez, Project Coordinator (gretchen_hernandez@sfu.ca)