PROPOSAL FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MANAGEMENT PROGRAM TO BUILD A CAPACITY INTO THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SERVICE (SNDC) OF BOLIVIA IN ORDER TO INCREASE ITS IMPACT UPON AGRICULTURAL PROGRAM T

Proj purpose is to establish adivsory services & credit for small farmer (SF)'s. Visits were made to SF's, SF programs, SNDC offices, Banco Del Estado, and Institutns which might provide proj assist in the future. Although some SF's may be excluded by not forming coops, indicatns are that proj is helping even the smallest land owners. Proj is on schedule & SF's formerly skeptical of the proj have requested participatn since adequate funds and technical assistance are available. Many discrepancies have resulted in proj admin due to inconsistencies from local officials & undefined policies. Zonal offices have not adhered to limited organizatn eligibility for credit & have received inconsistant info, and communicat'n between offices has been poorly designed & managed. Due to the probs & the slow rate that info reaches branch offices from La Paz, it is discouraging that there is continued resistance to decentralize SNDC so that decisns other than admin ones could be made locally where actns would be more timely & judgemts more effective. Although numerous organizatns could provide assist & strategies are being devel by SNDC with regard to the types best suited for SF's, no organizatn other than SNDC is presently providing assist. One of the greatest problms in improving credit assist programs is that the numerous socio/econ studies conducted in 140 communities are quite inadequate due to lack of necessary baseline data for future planning & eval. Since techs & SF's have many excellent ideas, they should be more innovative in searching out alternative sources of info & help, and receive reports of the Ministry of Agr. As program expands it will be necessary to more fully utilize the assist of commercial & govt sources. Program future success will also depend on the availability of relevant tech for SF's, econ resources from service agencies, SF organizatn, and technical advice all of which must appeal to the SF.