According to the latest official statistics, the monthly per capita income is 240 Bolivianos, or around 26 Euro, in the town of El Alto, a suburb of La Paz on the Altipiano highlands, where 80% of its 800,000 inhabitants live in extreme poverty.

To improve the quality of life in the El Alto diocese, innovative training and socio-economic development programmes have been started up to provide skills and encourage alternative trades. The initiative, involving fifteen parishes and three rural areas, is aimed at the most vulnerable and poverty-stricken social groups. For eight months some 340 women – many of whom are single mothers – will take technical training courses in various trades to upgrade their skills and augment their families’ income.

The project is promoted by the Sovereign Order of Malta’s Embassy to the Plurinational State of Bolivia in close coordination with Pastoral/Social Ministry of Caritas Bolivia.