La Paz - ILO and SDC concluded this week a cycle of four workshops entitled "Development and adaptation of small economic units in Bolivia: good management practices and perspectives for socioeconomic reactivation with decent work opportunities post COVID-19", which took place virtually between August and September 2021.

Based on complementary approaches of SDC and ILO interventions in Bolivia, the cycle of talks provided a space for the exchange of experiences related to good practices and innovative initiatives on how to promote inclusive markets, productivity and competitiveness, formal entrepreneurship, innovation and the improvement of working conditions in small productive units.

The joint initiative was developed from a systemic approach with decent work opportunities for women and men. The webinars took place within the framework of the following projects: Inclusive Markets (implemented by SDC and the Swedish Cooperation), the PROMyPE1-JIWASA Project (implemented by SDC), Bolivia Digna y Productiva (implemented by ILO) and the Joint Programme for the recovery of self-employed women in the informal sector (implemented by ILO, UNDP and UN WOMEN).

Throughout the four events, 35 national and international speakers and more than 195 participants from different sectors of government, civil society and other actors and partners representing various (or multidisciplinary) perspective in the field of development cooperation.

The following topics were discussed in depth during the talks:

Ueli Mauderli, head of cooperation of the Swiss Embassy in Bolivia mentioned during the closing event - "We welcome the fact that we are able to address these issues widely in partnership with the International Labour Organization. These spaces allowed to analyse and disseminate knowledge and innovative approaches with a focus on contributing to small urban and rural economic units, helping them to overcome some of the challenges imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic with a gender perspective".

On her behalf, Nina Paustian, regional coordinator of the ILO's SCORE Programme, emphasized that "in the context of recovery from the pandemic, which has had very uneven effects across productive sectors of countries like Bolivia, generating and sharing knowledge and innovative approaches is key. Especially, when focused on the development, adaptation and continuity of small economic units in urban and rural areas, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, is essential to provide inputs for the design of new public policies and programmes for the sector".

You can review the recordings in Spanish of the four workshops through the following links:

Panel 1: Business development, decent work and gender equality in micro and small enterprises in Bolivia
Panel 2: The business environment of small productive units in Bolivia, the importance of incentives for their formalization, growth and development
Panel 3: State of play and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on Bolivian small economic units run by women
Panel 4: Adaptation of MSEs for their continuity and development in times of crisis through digitalization and new market practices