YES Leader: Mr. Elmy Sotelo Saldaña
Email : dolemy@gmail.com  ,  dolemy@hotmail.com
Website : www.accioncivil.org

Vision : To empower youth though entrepreneurship and leadership.

Background : Bolivia has around 9,837,365 inhabitants, out of which 1,213,936 are young people. About 14.4% population is unemployed, while 24% of the youth are employed in agriculture, 16% in commercial activities and 13% in the manufacturing industry. In the rural places the salaries have an approximate range of 431 Bs (national money), which is below the national minimum salary. Since 2006, out of 10 informal workers, 5 are considered poor and 2 are living in extreme poverty. However, according to UNDP between 2006 and 2007 the Human Development Index (HDI) increased from 0,692% to 0,695%

About the Network : Accion Civil, is the YES Bolivia host agency, a non profit organization which is focused on training youth in leadership, social entrepreneurship, democracy and social participation. The impact of the work of the Network so far has been in the capital city, but will expand to more areas nationwide, in coordination with other agencies.

Current Major Initiatives :

• Promotion of the use of audiovisual technology to benefit the young people of Santa Cruz de la Sierra through the private organization Locango Films, in which the YES Network offers technical advice.
• Working in conjunction with the Representation of the District 4690 Rotaract Club of Bolivia on projects and service activities such as the First National Club, where YES Bolivia participates as a co-sponsor, offering a workshop on designing youth strategic business plans. Each Rotary club hosts about 25 to 30 youth.
• Working with the organization- Learning in Action, to promote art and culture.
• YES Bolivia helps to channel donations from local sports equipment and training programs for the school. It has 60 kids in suburbs of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
• Strengthening Human Rights in the Guarani community San Juan del Carmen, for 45 families. This initiative was supported by Learning in Action and Rediscovery Bolivia, an organization that promotes multiculturalism.
• YES Bolivia is strengthening the skills and abilities of the young people through training workshops on youth entrepreneurship and generating opportunities for participation of young people in local decision making local.
• YES Bolivia is also working in organizing the preparatory meetings towards YES Sweden 2010.

Key Accomplishments :

• Strengthening the strategies of government intervention, through local organizations.
• YES Bolivia has the technical and professional capacity to help strengthen the national employment plan that the government of Bolivia is focusing on, to join efforts and expertise in the implementation of public policies for productive development.
• YES Bolivia has succeeded in changing attitudes within local organizations and has achieved credibility.
• Its management tools can support YES Bolivia leading to its technical operations within the network, taking into account some flaws in the case generating projects or initiatives.
• Its monitoring system shows the supports YES Bolivia has given to local organizations. YES Bolivia has an identification system for every organization which includes lists of participants and their beneficiaries, watching the progress of each child and the donations provided.
• Through the YES process in the ¨green land¨ YES Bolivia is reaching an understanding with local ministries to support Green enterprise development and strengthening working relationships with local private agencies that could support job opportunities as well strengthen the initial approach with the entrepreneurial culture sector of the Inter-American Development Bank, with which it has had prior conversations (March 2009).