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Jaraña (pronounced harAnya) is a member organization of the Bolivian-Canadian Clean Water Network. It is a Bolivian Charity that was founded in 1992 with the goal of contributing to socioeconomic development in rural populations of Bolivia through projects focused on agriculture, education, sanitation, and the promotion of women's rights. The organization has eight paid staff and is directed by an assembly of Bolivian professionals of indigenous backgrounds who grew up in rural areas of the Bolivian highlands. Jaraña was founded with the help and inspiration of Canadian-Spanish couple Emery and Carmen Mulaire, however, the organization has been run completely by Bolivians since Emery and Carmen passed away some years ago.
Jaraña's main office is in Marquina, a suburb of the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. Their Cochabamba office is a base for literacy and computer training provided for indigenous youth from rural communities. The Marquina office also serves to test and showcase new water and sanitation technologies in the region.Jaraña's water, sanitation, and agriculture work is focused in small communities in the arid highland region of Oruro, the location of their second office. In this part of the country the lack of water is a major limiting factor for agriculture production and safe drinking water is often simply unavailable.
Jaraña requires that beneficiaries contribute to their projects by assisting in planning and evaluation as well as providing labour and materials. This community participation helps ensure the sustainability of their projects by creating a sense of ownership amongst the beneficiaries. Wherever possible Jaraña's projects use locally-available material, provided by the community members themselves. Jaraña provides some materials and equipment and trains project beneficiaries in the construction of the technologies that will be used in the project. After initial training, the beneficiaries are usually left to carry out the majority of the construction and installation on their own, with follow-up and assistance from Jaraña's technicians as needed. At the end of each project, a community meeting takes place where the beneficiaries discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the project with Jaraña and plan the communities next steps.