Integrated Alternative Development
A growing illicit drug trade complicates the fight against deep-seated poverty in South America’s poorest country. The Bolivian government is working to strengthen educational systems and private enterprise while ridding the country of excess coca production. ACDI/VOCA supports these objectives through a community grant program. In a nine-month pilot project in the Yungas region, ACDI/VOCA funded more than 50 community development activities that resulted in better roads, new bridges, refurbished schools and other locally chosen and managed improvements. The success of the pilot program paved the way for the Yungas Community Alternative Development Fund (YCADF), a much larger long-term effort from 2001 until mid 2006.
Currently, the Integrated Community Development Fund (ICDF) funded by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by ACDI/VOCA Bolivia is the one addressing alternative development issues in the Yungas and Chapare regions.
