Sunday, August 19, 2012

New team member! …. And a lot of meetings

A week and a half ago Felipe and I finally hired the new team member to help us implement the project. Silvia Ariyegua speaks the local indigenous language (Guarayú), which is an asset in many of the communities where COBAGUAL will work, and has a certificate in environmental health. She has previous experience working in rural communities in Guarayos with waste management, has worked on latrine projects before, and has a very solid understanding of health issues affecting rural communities. Silvia and I are in the process of developing our approach for the community diagnostic and participatory planning phase of the project.
Finding the right person to help with the project was not an easy task. I spent several days in meetings with officials from local governments and NGOs explaining our project and asking for them to recommend people who they thought would be a good fit. For a couple of weeks we did not hear anything, but then within a few days we had three fairly well qualified candidates express interest in the position. After interviewing each of them, Felipe and I felt sure that Silvia was the best fit, given her ample related work experience, previous training, and deep connection to the Guarayos region and people.
A further benefit from the meetings is that local government officials and several other NGOs in the Guarayos region are now aware of our project. Local governments have even offered material support to help us reach more people, although only time will tell whether their offer is serious or not.
Most of our meetings have been in Guarayos, a pleasant change from our hectic travel schedule of the first few weeks of the project, however, so far this month we have made a couple of trips to destinations near the city of Santa Cruz. We returned to Mairana for another meeting with Irwin and Juan to discuss COBAGUAL´s incorporation, as well as a visit to an impressive nearby organic farm where Irwin used to work. We also met with an NGO called Etta Projects, which implements participatory projects focused on community health, composting latrines, and school gardens near Montero, Eastern Bolivia. Most recently we have met with representatives of the Grigotá Rotary Club in Santa Cruz to discuss possible collaboration and funding opportunities. The meetings have provided us with valuable tips and information that will no doubt improve the outcomes of our project.

The demonstration site – Barrio San Francisco, Ascensión de Guarayos

My time in Bolivia is tentatively divided into 4 phases:
1)Learning from the experience of other NGOs and institutions and testing out our newly acquired knowledge before applying it in the rural community where we are going to work
2)Developing a more detailed and thorough knowledge of the potential beneficiary communities where we may work and finalizing the project design with community members
3)The implementation phase of the project, involving construction and training workshops
4)Initial follow-up to help ensure sustainability and learn lessons for future projects.

The first phase should last until late September, although we are already beginning some activities of the second phase as well. Much of my time with COBAGUAL since mid-July has been dedicated to an important part of the first phase of the project: the demonstration site in Ascensión. A month ago our demonstration site was an empty lot in the town. We will use it to put what we have learned in the first few weeks of the project into practice before adapting it to a rural community. Aside from providing us with more practical experience, the demonstration site is also intended to showcase the feasibility of urban gardens in Ascensión. Although the site isn´t up and running yet, several people from Ascensión have already asked for help in setting up their own household kitchen gardens upon hearing about our project idea. Local governments have also expressed some interest in supporting a larger scale urban garden project.

The plan is for me to live in a traditional mud brick and palm roof house (sleeping under an insect net) on the demonstration site throughout the rest of my time with the project. It is hoped that my living there will attract more attention to the project, help demonstrate that people involved with the project are willing to ´practice what we preach´, and serve as an example that other members of the community could follow at a fairly low cost. Construction of my home is already underway… pictures will be uploaded soon…

Saturday, July 21, 2012

What I´ve been up to so far...

It is hard to believe that nearly 7 weeks have passed since I arrived in Bolivia. I’ve spent the vast majority of my time so far working closely with COBAGUAL’s team leader and sole full time employee, Felipe Quispe. So far we’ve focused on networking with other NGO’s in Bolivia that can provide us with skills, advice, and to ensure our success once we begin work in the beneficiary community.

Here is a brief week by week summary of our activities since I arrived in the country.

Week 1 – June 4-9: I arrived traveling overland via Peru, and Felipe and I took advantage of the opportunity to visit some of Jaraña´s projects in Oruro and Cochabamba. We had several meetings with Jaraña to discuss how we will collaborate throughout the year, and while passing through Santa Cruz de la Sierra, started with my visa application to stay in the country.

Week 2 – June 10-16: We mostly focused on reviewing and refining the project plan in Ascensión de Guarayos, and continuing my visa application in Santa Cruz.
Week 3 – June 17-24: We traveled to Ginger´s Paradise organic farm to learn more about their gardens and composting latrines.

Week 4 – June 25-30: Began the week in Mairana, Bolivia having strategic planning meetings with two ex-employees (Juan and Irwin) of a Bolivian NGO who are willing to provide us crucial technical support. We finished the week in Guarayos with more project planning and our first site visits (since my arrival to Bolivia this year) to the most likely candidates for the beneficiary community, Limoncito and Los Chacos. I also finished phase 1 of my visa application process. Yay!

Week 5 – July 1-7: We spent 5 days in Santa Cruz´s dry Gran Chaco region with Agua Yaku learning an inexpensive method to drill water wells.

Week 6 – July 8-14: Our most frustrating week so far… we attempted to spend more time with Agua Yaku but were unable to coordinate with them due to scheduling conflicts. I also was sick the whole week with a nasty chest cold.

Week 7 – July 15-21: Back in Guarayos, we began planning our approach for implementing a small demonstration project in the town of Ascensión, and developing our strategy for participatory diagnostic studies in the beneficiary community.

Welcome to the project blog...


Hello everyone!

At long last, and after several requests, I´m launching a blog where people involved with Bolivian-Canadian Clean Water Network (BCCWN) will provide updates on our activities in Bolivia.

I have been in Bolivia for nearly two months now providing support to COBAGUAL on a pilot project related to improving food security in Guarayos, part of Bolivian´s Amazon basin. This project is supported by the Pathy Family Foundation and the University of British Columbia.

Prior to this project, I had been involved in water projects in eastern Bolivia since 2006, mostly focused on using the BioSand Filters to improve access safe drinking water. As a co-founder and volunteer for BCCWN I helped provide a small Bolivian community organization called COBAGUAL with financial support as they implemented BioSand Filter projects in Ascensión de Guarayos, Bolivia and surrounding rural communities. After several years of increasing food prices, a fuel shortage in late 2010 (Caused by an abrupt end to government subsidies on transport fuel known as ‘el Gasolinazo’) forced us to temporarily halt our water projects because stores in Guarayos ran out of food. The event exposed the precarious food security situation in the region and inspired this project.

This project was designed to incorporate 3 elements: 1) drilling shallow wells to provide better access to water for irrigation or drinking 2) supporting the establishment of household or community gardens 3) improving access to sanitation, possibly through composting latrines, which could also provide fertilizer for some crops. Rather than arriving in the beneficiary community with a pre-designed plan for implementing, we are going to take our time to get to know the community’s existing needs and strengths. By tailoring the project to the community’s needs and building on its existing strengths and abilities, and requiring community members to provide labor and materials we hope to ensure that the project yields long-term benefits.