UN-DESA • UNDP Bolivia • UDAPE Bolivia

Training workshop
La Paz, Bolivia
24 July – 27 July 2012

María Félix Delgadillo, Director of the Social and Economic Policy Analysis Unit (UDAPE), welcomes participants of the workshop.

DPAD, in close collaboration with UNDP's Office in Bolivia and the Government of Bolivia, provided an intensive training workshop to technical staff of various Bolivian Government institutions. This workshop was the latest in a series of activities in Bolivia under the project "Strengthening Macroeconomic and Social Policy Coherence through Integrated Macro-Micro Modelling". DPAD conducted an inception workshop in La Paz on April 2011, followed by technical coordination meetings in December 2011 and a hands-on workshop on April 2012.

The goals of this technical workshop and of the project were 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.

The workshop was attended by a group of government technical officials representing the Social and Economic Policy Analysis Unit (UDAPE) of the Ministry of Economic Development, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Economy, and Ministry of Development Planning.

During the workshop DPAD:

• Reviewed the functional specifications of the MAMS model;
• Described the file structure of the MAMS model;
• Explained the ISIM-MAMS interface and its use;
• Ran simulation exercises with the ISIM-MAMS interface;
• Explained the microsimulation methodology and its implementation in STATA to analyze poverty and inequality from the outcome of MAMS simulations;
• Discussed policy issues that would be addressed through policy simulations in order to elaborate policy notes

During the workshop UDAPE:

• Presented the new Social Accountability Matrix (SAM) for Bolivia and explained how it is constructed
• Presented the current state of the MAMS database and discussed any ongoing data needs