UN-DESA • UNDP Bolivia • UDAPE Bolivia

Presentation of policy notes
La Paz, Bolivia
27 August 2013

UN-DESA, in close collaboration with UNDP's Office in Bolivia and the Government of Bolivia, participated in the final workshop in which policy notes were presented under the capacity development project "Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling".

UN-DESA also held meetings with key stakeholders: Mr. Claudio Providas, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP, the second with Ms. Viviana Caro, Minister of Development Planning. UN-DESA briefed them on the completion of the project and the accomplishments made in terms of creating modelling capacities, generating policy simulation results and preparing policy notes to inform policy makers and promote policy dialogue.

The final workshop was held at the premises of UNDP. It was well attended by more than 30 participants representing different institutions of Bolivia's Government. Ms. Maria Felix Delgadillo, Director of UDAPE, provided welcoming remarks and participated in most sessions of the workshop. Welcoming remarks were followed up by an overview of the project's implementation activities and modelling tools by UN-DESA staff covering this mission.

During the workshop, the project's policy notes reporting simulation results and recommendations were also presented by government experts mostly from UDAPE but also from the Central Bank of Bolivia covering three areas of analysis: economic growth and financing scenarios for MDG achievement by and post 2015, the impact of remittances on economic growth and poverty, and the impact of food price crises on food security and poverty. Participants and presenters engaged in a substantive exchange of ideas that clearly illustrates the project's success in promoting inter-ministerial policy dialogue. The workshop was an opportunity for UN-DESA to provide detailed feedback to presenters on how their policy simulations should be fine-tuned to more adequately address their policy issues and how simulation results should be interpreted to enhance policy impact.

The presentation of policy notes caught the attention of workshop participants who had not been formally engaged in the project. In particular, the Office of the President of Bolivia requested the presentation of the policy note on economic growth and financing scenarios for MDG achievement by and post 2015. The three policy notes will also be presented and discussed with members of the Economic Council of Ministers. All of these activities serve to nurture policy dialogue.

This workshop is the latest in a series of training activities under the project in Bolivia. On April 2011, DPAD conducted the inception workshop in La Paz . This was followed by technical coordination meetings in December 2011 and three hands-on workshops: one on April 2012, one on July 2012, and the final training workshop on December 2012

The goals of the project are to strengthen the analytical capabilities of government staff in order for them to more autonomously: a) evaluate the impact of global external shocks on national development, specifically in terms of meeting the MDGs; b) formulate strategies to mitigate and compensate the adverse effects of the said shocks; and c) be better able to anticipate and prepare for crises events, to avoid setback on the path to human development.

Read more about the project "Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling"

DPAD started implementing capacity development projects in Bolivia in 2006 with the project "Implications of Macroeconomic Policy, External Shocks and Social Protection Systems for Poverty, Inequality, and Social Vulnerability in Latin America and the Caribbean", which ended successfully in 2010.