Nurturing democracy for Bolivia’s indigenous people

After 10 years, Denmark has completed a specific sector programme in Bolivia with great success. Since 2000, the indigenous population, which represents a large majority, has received the deeds to a land area of 140,000 km². At the same time, legislation and a new constitution now guarantee the indigenous people their rights

By Lise Josefsen Hermann

Photo: Scanpix.

Support for indigenous people has been a theme in Danish assistance since the embassy opened in Bolivia in 1994, and in 1999 a sector programme was established. By supporting democratization of the indigenous population in Bolivia, Denmark combines support for combating poverty, human rights and local development in one joint programme, in full agreement with the objectives of Danish development policy.

At the beginning of the 1990s, several indigenous people’s organisations had started laying claim to their own land. There was rising awareness that the indigenous people had just claims, and should stand fast on them. This was a development that Denmark wished to support.

At the same time, the large indigenous population was deeply marginalised.

“In Bolivia, being indigenous equates to being poor,” says Charlotte Slente, who has just completed a term as Danish Ambassador to Bolivia. “And since Danish development assistance in general concentrates on combating poverty, it is obvious to focus on indigenous people in Bolivia.”

Land deeds for indigenous people
Bolivia’s constitution from 1994 acknowledged at long last the indigenous people’s rights. Later, the land reform law of 1996 opened up to acknowledgement of the indigenous people’s right to their own land. The right to land is fundamental to indigenous people, and so supporting land reform for the benefit of the indigenous population is also a key point in the Danish support programme.

Danish development assistance has supported surveying and allocation of deeds to indigenous people’s territories covering 14 million hectares (140,000 km²) – corresponding to 12.7 per cent of the whole country. More than 30 different indigenous groups took part in the surveying of territories.

“Foreign support greatly helped accelerate the historic process of acknowledging the indigenous people’s rights in our legislation,” opines Albertina Castro, who has worked with many different development projects in Bolivia for a number of years.

Supporting essentials: llamas and Brazil nuts
After the surveying, a new phase began in the support programme for indigenous people. Now they had to learn to manage their territories themselves. According to the values and mindset of the indigenous people, the land must be collectively administered, which made it necessary to train experts in territory management. In collaboration with the University of Copenhagen, Denmark helped support the establishment of a university study programme in Bolivia that trains such territory management experts.

Denmark has supported the indigenous people’s movements in organising and making more efficient the cultivation of land and raising of livestock such as llamas and goats in the mountain areas. In the low-lying Amazon forest areas, Danish support has been given to organising the harvesting of Brazil nuts, which are an important source of income for the area’s indigenous people.

Bolivia’s first indigenous president
The start of the current phase of Denmark’s programme for indigenous people coincided with the presidential election in 2005. Political life in Bolivia was characterised by changes of government, uncertainty and conflict, especially from 2003 to 2005. There was great dissatisfaction with the political establishment among much of the population. Several presidents presided for rather short periods, and one of them had to flee the country in 2003 following angry protests.

Denmark supported the organisation of the election in 2005 – which turned out to be a turning point for the country. The Danish support included preparation of obligatory ID cards, which ensured that the poorest segment of the population could participate in the election. Denmark also gave support to election observers.

The result was the surprisingly clear election of Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, to head the country’s first majority government since the introduction of democracy in 1982. The election has subsequently accelerated the development and influence of indigenous people in the country.

Focus on combating poverty
It is often stressed, not least by Evo Morales himself, that it is the support of the indigenous movements that brought him forward and enabled him, as one with an indigenous background, to become the president. Many of those movements are among those whose organisational aspects Denmark has supported, and continues to support. It can be considered political to support some political movements, but not all. And indeed it is:

“Everything you do with development assistance is political. But we do not support elections directly. We support indirectly through combating poverty and providing support to the indigenous organisations. Our aim and focus is always on combating poverty. Assistance is about giving the poor a voice. It will always cause problems with the elite – the establishment. But that is the case in all the countries that Denmark supports,” says Charlotte Slente.

And according to Albertina Castro, the surveying also gave rise to conflicts in Bolivia. Not everybody was happy about the indigenous people starting to claim rights to their land. It also meant that it was not considered unambiguously positive in Bolivia that foreign funding, including Danish funding, helped to support the land reform.

Denmark supports ombudsman in Bolivia
In 2006, Denmark provided support to the constitutional assembly. The support was given to enable people from remote parts
of the country to come to political meetings in La Paz and Sucre, and for the work of preparing key documents for the formulation of the new constitution. The result was a new constitution in Bolivia, where the indigenous people’s rights occupy a prominent position.

Danish development assistance has been an important support in building a human rights ombudsman institution in Bolivia, which is currently processing thousands of complaints, often from the indigenous part of the population.

“This is one of the things I am most proud about regarding the Danish support in Bolivia, because it has become a solid institution in Bolivia. It means a lot to indigenous people’s rights that there now is a place which processes their complaints and actually takes them seriously,” says Charlotte Slente.

Danish support to Bolivia

Denmark supported Bolivia with DKK 151 million (EUR 20 million) in 2008. The programme for indigenous people has a total budget of DKK 180 million (EUR 24 million) for the period 2005-2009.

Written into the law
Danish development assistance has also helped to promote bills by helping the Bolivian authorities to include aspects concerning indigenous people into new legislation. In the healthcare area, it has been ensured that both western medicine and herbal medicine are represented in the health act. In education legislation, bilingual teaching of indigenous schoolchildren is being supported, and in environment legislation more consideration is being taken over just exploitation of natural resources.

“The Danish support has especially helped in getting indigenous women’s rights recognised and accepted, particularly concerning culture, language and local policy. And there is greater acknowledgement of the importance of respectful use of the country’s natural resources and respect for the indigenous people’s shrine ’Pachamama’ – Mother Earth,” opines Albertina Castro.

Supporters of Bolivian President Evo Morales participate in a rally in front of the presidential palace in La Paz October 20, 2008.
Photo: Scanpix.

Democratization process
At the end of 2009, the Danish programme to support the indigenous people of Bolivia comes to a close, but the democratization process with the indigenous population as active players continues. Bolivia’s government wants ’indigenous people’s rights’ to be included as a cross-disciplinary subject in all development programmes in Bolivia in the future.

When the former ambassador looks back on the results of the programme, it is with satisfaction, but also modesty:

“It is only Bolivia, the Bolivians, the indigenous people, who can take the credit for the developments in their country. The rest of us are just supporting something that is already in motion,” says Charlotte Slente.

And Albertina Castro is also delighted with the developments in her home country that Denmark has helped to support:

“I think that we Bolivians can be proud that the indigenous people are now integrated in our country’s laws and rules, and that extensive autonomy has been implemented so that there is for example more focus on protection of the natural resources,” she says.