Our Work in Bolivia
The Centro de Investigación, Educación y Servicios (CIES) is the International Planned Parenthood Foundation affiliate in Bolivia, which provides reproductive health and family planning services and education to women, men and adolescents. CIES and USAID have worked closely together since 1995, and in March 2006 USAID/Bolivia requested technical assistance from the Abt Associates led-PSP-One project to help CIES develop an aggressive plan to improve its financial sustainability. CIES reported that at the Health Centers, the level of cost recovery had gradually increased from 22 percent in 1998 to 42 percent in 2005. When the new Cooperative Agreement with USAID was signed in September 2004, CIES established an initial goal for the organization to be 50 percent self-sustainable by 2009. USAID and CIES also discussed the need for CIES to revise upward the 50 percent goal. Although a specific target had not been discussed, USAID wanted to maximize the level of cost recovery by 2009. At the end of Year 2 a PSP-One consultant traveled to Bolivia and conducted an assessment to determine how CIES could increase its level of cost-recovery.
In Year 3, the Abt Associates led-PSP-One project developed and implemented a strategy based on the assessment to increase CIES’ financial sustainability. The focus of the activity was the development of cost recovery scenarios that would help USAID/Bolivia and CIES reach agreement on the best course of action for the next three-and-a-half years.
The result (deliverable) of this technical assistance was to define three cost recovery scenarios for CIES. One of the scenarios was based on the assumption that USAID would conclude all support by September 2009 and that CIES would be self-sustaining by that time (the most aggressive scenario). Another scenario aimed to achieve 70-75 percent cost recovery by September 2009 (moderate scenario). And a third scenario reflected achieving 60-70 percent cost recovery by September 2009 (limited scenario). Each scenario represented a road map of choices that CIES would have to make by September 2009.
The Abt Associates led-PSP-One project has received a request from USAID/Bolivia to aid CIES in implementing the 75 percent cost recovery strategy by providing technical assistance to develop and support implementation of an innovative business plan to guide CIES, at national and departmental levels. The purpose is to increase cost recovery by taking advantage of new opportunities, such as providing new services and expanding existing ones, integrating principles of cost analysis and cost effective practices.
