On September 21, Mano a Mano’s counterpart organization Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo dedicated 2 complementary road projects in Curzani, Bolivia, a small community located in the municipality of Punata, department of Cochabamba.
What the New Road Project Does
The road project consists of 2 components:
- Improving and widening at 2-kilometer road that circles Curzani, which allows easier and safer access to and from the community for people, goods, and services.
- Building and improving the 1.7-kilometer road connecting the community of Duraznillos with Curzani. Previously Duraznillos residents would use the Rio Pucara riverbed to travel to Curzani, which was only accessible during the dry season.
Curzani road project
Partnership Model
The Curzani road project was almost completely funded within Bolivia by Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo, the Municipal Government of Punata, and the communities themselves, with support from Mano a Mano International Partners in the US. Every project that Mano a Mano does, whether it is a road, water project, clinic, school, or other project, is always initiated by the community and they are actively engaged in the entire process, from volunteering alongside Mano a Mano staff during construction to providing funding to taking over administration of the project when it is complete (learn more about our model here).
Map Of Project
Map of Curzani showing the new road projects (in yellow). Cochabamba is about a 2-hour drive northwest.
Dedication on September 21, 2013
As with any of our completed projects, Mano a Mano staff and volunteers, government officials, and the community gather to have a dedication celebration. Community leaders make speeches, children dance, there’s food and drink, and Mano a Mano is recognized and thanked for helping to make the project possible. Oftentimes the communities have waited decades for these projects to come to fruition, and it is a big deal.
Dedicating the road
Children dancing at the dedication ceremony
Community leaders and Mano a Mano staff making speeches
More Photos
Check out more photos of the project and dedication ceremony in the photos slideshow below:
How You Can Help
We have an active backlog of over 300 requests from communities for a Mano a Mano project, and we are always limited in how many projects we can do by funding. We can stretch our funding a long ways, but every project depends on seed money from people like you to make these projects happen.
If you would like to help Mano a Mano reach more communities you can make a contribution here.