Setting the stage for border development

He or she quite possibly comes from one of the poorest, most isolated areas of Bolivia, along the border with Brazil, where half the world’s Brazil nuts are grown.

For three to four months of the year, the gatherers work in the forests, collecting the nuts into huge bags which they carry on their backs to shelling and drying factories.

Cities swell after the harvest 

Whole families are involved in the gathering – but for thousands of them there is no work and no income for the other eight months of the year. Once the harvest is over, they return to the cities and swell the ranks of unemployed.

The border cities are economic islands, where unemployment reaches 50 per cent and productive activities are scarce. Illegal cross-border migration and smuggling to and from Brazil and Peru is rife. With it come the associated problems of drugs, trafficking and prostitution.

CARE is working in four border cities, finding ways to promote economic opportunities for people coming into the area looking for work and to generate income around the harvesting season in the Brazil nut area. The cities are Puerto Suarez in the southeast and Yaicuba in the south, and Cobija and Guayamerin in the nut producing area in the east of the country.

Occupational training  

CARE offers training in activities such as ceramic roof tile construction, hat weaving and jewellery making, and service industries such as restaurants, hotels and taxis which cater for businessmen visiting the mining and agro industrial areas.

CARE is also working with neighbourhood groups and urban co-operatives – small profit making organisations where the proceeds are jointly owned and either shared among members or ploughed back into the business. The aim is to help them become stronger organisations and learn how to represent themselves, so they are better able to discuss their needs with local and regional decision-makers.

Reaching remote cities 

In this massive country of one million square kilometres, only five per cent of the roads are paved, so accessing these towns and cities often entails a journey of several days. Markets are hard to reach and transporting produce is virtually impossible.

Puerto Suarez in the southeast has no road access and no passenger train service. To get there you have to fly or travel on a goods train for 16 hours from Santa Cruz.

Yet these regions are extremely important. The population is growing every year and it is predicted that Puerto Suarez will triple to 100,000 in the next three years, putting enormous pressure on local infrastructure.

A major road is planned to link Puerto Suarez to Santa Cruz, which will transform the lives of the border people. The goods CARE will help them produce can then be sold in Santa Cruz and other towns, and service industries will be ready to cope with an increase in tourism. The projects will help set the stage for the development of the border country.