USAID/OTI BOLIVIA HOT TOPICS
June 2006
Local Recycling Initiative Creates Jobs and Helps the Environment
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| A member of one of the 17 youth recycling clubs in El Alto transports recycled material to one of the newly-created recycling stations. More than 200 youth have been employed as a result of this local initiative. |
Promoting Youth Employment Through Recycling is executed by USAID/OTI through its partner Casals and Associates.
This project funds training and the development of youth-led microenterprises in the poor city of El Alto. This pilot project was developed in conjunction with local government leaders who were concerned with high unemployment among youth and the lack of available resources to administer basic city services. More than 700 youth have been trained in basic business principles, and nearly 200 of the most promising trainees have been selected to start their own small business using the profits from recycling. Social groups based in El Alto have staged numerous protests in recent years in favor economic development and job creation - Promoting Youth Employment through Recycling demonstrates to the local community that progress is at hand.
The link between unemployed youth and political unrest is a dilemma local government officials in Bolivia have grappled with for years. The city of El Alto has pioneered a way to both create jobs and help alleviate a problem that increases local tensions: trash collection.
USAID/OTI, together with the Vice Ministry of Small Business Producers, initiated a pilot waste recycling project that trained and generated immediate employment for 200 youth. The profits earned from resale of the waste to area businesses funded the creation of 17 youth-run microenterprises, in which 153 of the youths now participate. Every month, more types of materials beyond the classic recyclables - paper, glass, plastic and metals - are being collected in increasing quantities. The 17 businesses collect over 52,000 kilograms of materials which are sold for about $9,000.
The recycling project's strong results and the overwhelmingly positive response from the local community has surpassed the expectations of even its biggest supporters, like Victor Martinez, the USAID/OTI-funded project coordinator. Martinez, who trains the participating youth, said, "Even local school children in the area are saving, separating and delivering their recycling to the local recycling stations. It is incredible."
While an entire community is learning about the benefits of helping the environment through recycling, the youth who have started their own businesses have learned another valuable lesson: hard work pays off. Several of the formerly unemployed youth have been able to return to their university with the profits they earned. Some expanded their businesses to export recyclable products to companies in other parts of Bolivia, and even to markets in neighboring Chile where the demand for recyclable materials is high.
The overwhelming success of this USAID/OTI project generated such interest in other parts of the country that it is now being replicated by other departmental governments.
For further information, please contact:
In Washington, D.C: Russell Porter, Regional Team Leader, 202-712-5455, rporter@usaid.gov
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