About seventy civil society organisations in Bolivia have signed a statement detailing concerns with the consultation and drafting process for the country’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The statement reveals that “what has taken place in Bolivia does not reflect a genuine concern for reducing poverty by means of participatory plans, programs, and policies” and that “in sum, the multilateral cooperation representatives are indifferent whether the [Bolivian PRSP] drafting process has been participatory or not”.
The NGOs question the credibility of the government’s growth forecasts and whether growth will be poverty reducing when previous experience demonstrates that growth policies have created a more unequal society. The statement concludes that “The PRSP should be revised to include actions that are more proactive towards a fairer redistribution of income and substantial modifications to the economic model imposed by the structural adjustment policies”. Moreover, the statement warns that the strategy will be hampered by a lack of resources.
More information: CEDLA
