Management

Sicirec Bolivia Limitada

The project is managed by Sicirec Bolivia Limitada, which employs a team of 39 people to run the project and is the official owner of the other 50% of timber profits.   Sicirec Bolivia helps farmers to choose the most suitable trees, monitors operations, helps farmers to maintain the trees, then thins them, transports and processes the timber, before selling it for the benefit of farmers and investors.

The team in Bolivia includes climate change specialists, qualified foresters, professional agronomists, experts in monitoring and quality control, economists, and a sociologist.  Details of key staff can be found here.

Over the past three years, Sicirec has initiated a number of projects with development organizations (Hivos, Cordaid, IUCN NL, Trees for All) in reforestation, microfinance and community based forestry. The total value of the projects implemented, or under implementation by SICIREC Bolivia, amounts to 7.6 million Euros.

Sicirec Bolivia also has agreements on knowledge transfer with two universities and the Bolivian Institute for Forestry Research.   Sicirec Bolivia also contributes technical advice to local authorities and contributes to the improvement of regulations in the sector.

The Cochabamba Project Ltd

The Cochabamba Project has provided the majority of the financing forArBolivia’s operations and the wider activities of Sicirec Bolivia.  In return for committing to fund the ArBolivia Project, The Cochabamba  Project has an entitlement to the timber income from the vast majority of 1400 established hectares, as well as 75% of the membership capital and voting rights of Sicirec Bolivia Limitada.

The society is a not-for-profit social enterprise and shares cannot be sold or transferred. They may be withdrawn but only at par value or less at the board’s discretion.

Mutual society with 480+ members

£2.8 million raised in share capital

1 member,1 vote principle

Entitled to timber income from 1300 h.a.

75% shareholder in Sicirec Bolivia

The society is a not-for-profit social enterprise and shares cannot be sold or transferred. They may be withdrawn but only at par value or less at the board’s discretion.

Members of the society on a visit to the project

Under UK regulations the society is also able to award a “modest” rate of interest to members, which must be no more than the minimum required in order to “attract and retain the capital it needs to secure its business objectives. Each member has one vote, irrespective of the number of shares held. The society has also issued private loans and unsecured loan stock bringing the total amount of investment in ArBolivia to over £3.6m to date.

Decision Support

The widely distributed nature of the plantations means that a keen digital decision-support and management system is required.  This has been developed by EnBolivia, a leading software company from La Paz. Through the web-based system, a wide range of important data is registered and continuously updated so that informed decision making can be made using real-time data from multiple agro-forestry investments. The system combines geo-data, biological, social, economic and administrative information and is continuously being improved. Currently modules are in development for the transformation and commercialization of timber, which will be of use for the ArBoReal unit.

Forestry Committees

The ArBolivia Project has also established 25 forestry committees in each region, whereby both Sicirec Bolivia and the farmers monitor, control and evaluate the project in the local area, discussing and resolving any difficulties.