"Common Platform for Land Access"

Local Organization: Fundación TIERRA

Region: Bolivia - Andean Region

Content: The project aimed to build scenarios of dialogue between actors involved in the rural dimension. Alliances have been supported in order to work on common objectives. Many actors have been involved in practical and political discussions in an endeavour to understand the real needs of landless, indigenous peoples and farmers, and to propose solutions. The capacity of the indigenous and farmers has been strengthened to permit their participation and negoaition in political arenas.

Results: The main result has been to build up collective power and forge social cohesion among farmers' organizations, community-based organizations, social movements and NGOs. This collective power has been used to influence political dynamics and form concrete proposals. Specifically:

• A local radio campaign has been organized and developed in many communities (mesas radiales).

• Spaces for debate and consensus have been created in six municipalities, so as to identify convergent points between local people and government.

• Inputs have been provided to improve the dialogue and interaction among actors on proposals for readjusting the official agriculture policies.

• Alliances have been forged among communities to share experiences, lessons learned and to identify difficulties.

• The collective demand for equitable land access has been included in the national agenda.

Lessons learned:

Flawed legislation can lead to misuse by interested sectors, as well as misunderstanding of the lawful right of the beneficiaries, (the recognition of original territories in Bolivia can lead to misunderstanding of full natural resource property rights which remain in the hands of the State).

• The roundtables relating to radio programmes represent spaces for debate rather than dissemination of information. The Fundación TIERRA experience confirmed that the quality of the debate can improve with democratic and horizontal interchanges of experiences and knowledge.

• The use of video-audio material supports the understanding of the topics promoted during the radio roundtables.

• Information is insufficient to provoke change: the NGOs have to follow up closely with community-based groups in formulating their position in order to influence the service providers and negotiate with governmental institutions.