Completion Report - Humanitarian Aid Project Part 1: 500+ Family Bags

July 2nd, 2020

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Carolina Monroy Rosso

The initial part of the humanitarian aid project that “Unidad Para Bolivia” has been leading, was marked by the objective to feed 500+ families for approximately two weeks with “family bags” containing varied and nutritious products. This venture to provide support to those in need arised from the immense necessity seen in Bolivia given the full quarantine imposed due to the pandemic, and considering the fact that the majority of the population lives from what they make day to day in jobs that form part of the informal sector. It is important to denote that Bolivia’s economy is comprised of the largest informal economy as a percentage of its total economy in the world, according to the IMF, with percentages surpassing 62.3%.

Fundraising

In order to meet the objective of providing family bags to at least 500 vulnerable families, calculations were made leading to an estimate cost of $10 per family bag, thus, funds were raised on the platform Gofundme with a target of 5,000 USD. Donations arrived from donors from over 30 countries and the monetary goal was met and surpassed in less than 7 days. Consequently, the UPB team was able to mobilize itself in the purchase of all the products and begin preparations of the family bags immediately.

Family Bags

As a consequence of hefty negotiations in markets, with agricultural corporations, and producers directly, as well as generous product donations from companies such as “Imba”, “Dicom”, “Sogima”, and “Chapare Exporta”, Unidad Para Bolivia was able to significantly reduce family bag costs and increase their target to 550 family bags.

Each bag contained 13 different products and weighed approximately 13 kg.

Logistics

This initiative targeted the areas within and beyond the city limits that had not received aid whatsoever - nor from the government, nor other organizations. To meet this criteria, the UPB team made an extensive search to prepare the mapping and logistics for the deliveries of donations to truly target the most vulnerable and in need families. Following these measures, the team circulated across the distant zones in the city of Santa Cruz and communities in rural areas, asking and checking records to find out if the specific areas had received aid.

Finalizing these determining factors, the final mapping was prepared and the deliveries were divided into three consecutive days - the first in the zones to the North and East of Santa Cruz, the second day in the zones in the South and West, and the third day UPB got divided in two groups to target families that had not received aid within the city, and villages hours away from the city that were also in need - such as Montero, Cotoca, and

La Guardia. The National Police Force and the GACIP unit were called to support the UPB team during the deliveries of donations in dangerous zones.

The map exemplifies all of the zones covered by Unidad Para Bolivia’s donations.

Results

In total 550 family bags were donated across all areas depicted above, and these family bags formed the equivalent of over 45,000 meals given the calculations below.

(550 family bags) * (3 members per family) * (2 meals per day) * (14 days) = 46,200 meals

The results demonstrate that Unidad Para Bolivia’s initial part of its Humanitarian Aid Project provided an average of 45,000 meals to approximately 2,000 people in need throughout various areas of Santa Cruz, and villages near the city.

Unidad Para Bolivia completed Part 1 of its Humanitarian Aid Project, however thanks to the generosity of the donors and the continual support of people worldwide, UPB’s efforts will continue as their project expands in order to gain a greater reach, to continue providing aid in the form of food and essential needs to those most affected by the pandemic and the quarantine, and to support more sectors of the population nationwide.