Project/activity information

This project aimed at strengthening the technical knowledge of forestry professionals in the field of forest management, with a view towards increasing the technical quality of the professional human resource servicing the forestry sector in Bolivia.

Project Achievements and Outputs:

The Project was completed in February 2005. In accordance with the project document, all planned activities, plus others not originally contemplated, were successfully carried out and achievements can be summarized as follows:

- The academic specialization program was developed with the participation of a wide-based Technical Consultative Committee, composed by members of the Bolivian forestry sector, and was further legally approved for implementation at both classroom and virtual modalities via a resolution of the Executive Committee of Bolivian Universities;

- Support from other forest-related institutions, such as BOLFOR, CEBEM, the National Forestry and Agrarian Super-intendancies, KVL University of Denmark and others, was consolidated, including the provision of guest lecturers;

- The specialization program was widely promoted and disseminated via national and regional workshops, newspapers, pamphlets and other means. Moreover, a website was developed for the specialization program and a database on Bolivian forestry professionals was assembled, which currently acts as a networking mechanism over the internet;

- Appropriate classroom and laboratory facilities were furbished and specialized equipment was procured for the GIS, photo interpretation and cartography, and forest inventory laboratories;

- A virtual platform was developed over the internet to provide for online and distance specialization courses and ESFOR’s forests at its Valle de Sacta site and other private forest concessions were utilized for the practical field training component of the courses; and

- The academic staff prepared the class plans and didactic manuals and interactive CDs for nine new courses for the three specialization modules and for fifteen short courses. These were lectured over a period of five academic terms to the benefit of 305 graduate students and 343 undergraduate students.

Lessons Learnt:

Among the many lessons learnt, it is relevant to highlight the following:

- The Project was originally designed to only provide training at the ESFOR campus. However, the country and the forestry sector’s difficult economic situation led to a downturn in enrollment numbers for the program, as scholarships were not readily available and the forestry sector/individuals could not cover the costs involved. As such, the project would have been unsuccessful had it not been for the development of an online and distance version of the specialization program, which was not initially contemplated by the project. This approach allowed potential students to continue working and/or avoid relocation costs and is now the most popular means of training at ESFOR; and

- The long-term sustainability of the specialization program will depend on future government support for graduate studies, as currently the program is still not self-sustainable due to the severe economic difficulties in Bolivia. However, support from the government is currently inexistent and may not change in the short-term.