Bolivian Jubilee 2000 campaign launches national consultation on use of resources released by debt relief

Bolivian campaigners have launched an unprecedented consultation exercise to get popular involvement in decisions on how resources released by debt cancellation are used. Working with the extensive networks of the Catholic Church, they have organised forums in 9 regions that will feed into a National Forum in La Paz on 24-28th April 2000.

Bolivia was one of the first countries to receive debt relief under the agreement (HIPC 2) made by the G7 at their summit in Cologne. Bolivia's debt service payments were reduced from $329 million to $240 million. However this will still see Bolivia paying the equivalent of three-quarters of her health budget on debt servicing each year - in a country where 60% of the population do not have access to basic sanitation. "If this is all that is going to come out of HIPC 2, I do not understand the great declarations made in Cologne in June of last year," commented Archbishop Abastaflor of La Paz.

However despite the failure of the creditors to live up to their rhetoric, the Bolivian campaign has demonstrated huge commitment to ensuring that the limited resources released are used to reduce poverty. Regional forums were launched in 9 regions in February that examined the key issues facing impoverished people in particular focusing on the issues of health, education, land and employment. Teams made up of representatives of organisations in the Jubilee 2000 campaign are now collating the conclusions of the regional forums which will be inputted into the National Forum in La Paz. They will then present a document to the Bolivian government which they are demanding is incorporated into the country's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper - a paper that is required by the IMF as one of the conditions for debt relief.

" We are very aware of the problem of corruption and the lamentable fact that many external aid resources often never reach those to which they were destined. We are determined to ensure this does not happen" said Irene Tokarski of the Bolivian campaign. Sceptical that the Bolivian Government will properly consult civil society and mindful of the fact that economic programmes adopted by the government have failed to reduce poverty, Bolivian debt campaigners decided to link up with the Catholic Church to consult and "seek a clear expression of what is needed from every social sector."

"As far as we are concerned, it is an excellent opportunity to address the key issues that allow a majority of the population to carry on living in extreme poverty. Good analysis of the problems will allow us to re-examine the structure and approach of development programmes. This, of course, takes the campaign and the question of debt relief beyond a short term project and, instead, focuses profoundly on the long-term issues of efficiency and social control," said Tokarski.

Ann Pettifor, Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition in UK, said: "It is time the world's creditors, in particular the G7, showed the same commitment to reducing poverty as ordinary people in Bolivia. Decisions about debt need to be taken out of the hands of bureaucrats in Washington and invested in ordinary people in indebted countries. That will provide the best long-term resolution to the debt crisis."