I am excited to have chosen my next exploratory location for international womens enterprises...Bolivia!
With the initial success that the micro lending has had with Resilient Women Organization in Uganda, I wanted to look for additional locations that could benefit from a similar program. I thought it could be beneficial to learn about issues facing women in countries outside of Africa. After some research I decided on Bolivia which is one of just two land locked countries in South America, the other one being Paraguay.
Bolivia has surpassed Venezuela as the poorest country in Latin America. Bolivia also ranks second highest in the world (behind Namibia) for inequality. inequality is how unevenly is distributed throughout a population. The less equal the distribution, the higher inequality . While the land is rich in minerals and resources, the elite few control the economic system. Most Bolivians are low farmers and traders. There has been long running tension over the rich natural gas resources being exploited and exported by the rich, which continues to strengthen the Bolivian gap.
The leading cause of poverty is Bolivia is lack of human development. This includes a high child mortality rate, high levels of chronic malnutrition, and inequality of education.
I am going to work with a local nonprofit located in Tarija, which is in the south almost to the border of Argentina. More on them next time! I leave Oct. 24th, so lots of packing and prepping to be done!
