Decentralized Infrastructure for Rural Transformation

closed

The purpose of the program is to assist the government of Bolivia (GOB) in expanding and improving the delivery of infrastructure services through private-sector led mechanisms as a catalyst for the development of rural areas in Bolivia. There are five components to the project: 1) National Strategies for Rural Electrification and Information and Communication Technologies will assist the Vice Ministry of Electricity and Alternative Energy and the Viceministry of Telecommunications in developing effective strategies to improve and accelerate electricity and ICT coverage expansion in rural areas. 2). Rural coverage expansion investment component includes financing for direct expansion of electricity and phone services into pre-identified rural areas. 3) Productive and Social Uses component will identify, develop, facilitate and promote productive and social uses of the installed infrastructure. In line with Government priorities, the project (in Phase I) will focus particularly on income- and employment-generating activities for rural areas. 4) The Promotion, Communication and Capacity Building component will complement the other components by providing a common platform for community consultations, promotion campaigns and training of users in using the new infrastructure efficiently and productively. 5) Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation component. Apart from the usual project management and supervision activities, this component will focus primarily on monitoring and evaluation (M&E), including: (i) development of M&E indicators, baseline and methodology; (ii) periodic evaluation of progress toward achieving the identified targets; and (iii) final evaluation upon project completion.