BICECA is working to protect the biological and cultural diversity of the Andes-Amazon by monitoring and influencing IIRSA and other IFI projects in South America.

The BICECA Project: A Response by Civil Society to Regional Integration

The BICECA Project is part of the IIRSA Articulation (Articulación Frente a IIRSA), an informal international network of organizations and communities working to promote alternatives to the unsustainable development models promoted by IIRSA. Learn more about the Articulación

What is BICECA?

Building Informed Civic Engagement for Conservation in the Andes-Amazon (BICECA) is a civil society initiative made possible through a generous grant from the Moore Foundation. BICECA supports civil society organizations to analyze and influence economic integration projects and policies in the Andes-Amazon in order to help protect the biological and cultural diversity of the region. BICECA’s goal is to promote informed engagement and effective conservation advocacy through linking civil society initiatives in the local, regional, and international arenas. Timely, relevant information on IIRSA and other International Finance Institution (IFI) projects is essential for civil society to prevent and mitigate the negative environmental and social impacts of infrastructure development. The main components of the proposed project aim to:

1. Increase awareness and improve access to information on IFI projects and policies (especially IIRSA) affecting the Andes-Amazon
2. Strengthen the knowledge and analytical base on the multiple ecological and social impacts of these operations
3. Facilitate policy advocacy to influence the design and implementation of problematic IFI investments

Key Aspects of the BICECA Project

• The creation and strengthening of a system of regional organizations that exchange information about IIRSA (The IIRSA Articulation)
• The collection and dissemination of information about the involved players in IIRSA: the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Andean Finance Corporation (CAF in Spanish), the South American governments and other beneficiaries of the initiative-transnational companies and private banks based in the United States and Europe
• The creation of this web-portal with a database of information on all the IIRSA projects for the use of the public
• The dissemination of information about IIRSA in Andean and Amazonian communities
• Capacity building in the form of popular informational materials and local workshops on the IFIs and IIRSA projects
• Monitoring of projects on the ground through a system of regional researchers.
• The production of case studies
• The use of safeguards, case studies, independent experts and other tools to promote the conservation and an alternative, sustainable, participative and local development of the Andes-Amazon region

The Organization of BICECA

The BICECA project is administered by the manager of the Latin America program at Bank Information Center and a coordinator in Washington DC.  The Bank Information Center (BIC) partners with civil society actors in developing and transition countries to influence the World Bank, regional development banks like the IDB and other international financial institutions (IFIs) to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability. BIC is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for the protection of rights, informed participation, transparency, and public accountability in the governance and operations of the World Bank, regional development banks, and the IMF. For more information about BIC, see www.bicusa.org.

The BICECA Program currently operates with a coordinator and various researchers at partner organizations, all of which are members of the Articulación Frente IIRSA.  The Washington-based coordinator Paulina Novo examines the impact of the IFIs on IIRSA.  The researchers work in the Andean-Amazon region.  Andrés Mego works with Labor Lima in Peru; Lucy Chacolla with Fobomade in Bolivia; Gonzalo Varillas with Ecolex in Ecuador; Lyra Spang with CEDAH in Argentina; and in Brazil we partner with the organization Socio Ambiental.  In general, BIC’s BICECA project in Washington facilitates the collection, analysis, organization, and dissemination of information on the role of the IFIs in IIRSA.

BIC collaborates directly with its partners in South America as well as other NGOs in the North to build capacity and organize to better address IIRSA, its proponents and the massive social and environmental impacts of its projects. If you would like more information or are interested in working on these issues, please contact please contact the project coordinator, Paulina Novo, at pnovo@bicusa.org.

If you are interested, there is also a BICECA informational list-serve that you can subscribe to. Through this list you will receive timely news updates about IIRSA and the BICECA project as well as all of BICECA’s electronic publications about IIRSA and the International Financial Institutions that support this initiative. This is a closed informative list serve which is regulated by the BICECA team at Bank Information Center. The volume of electronic exchanges is limited to select information about the initiative. Among our publications you will find BICECA’s monthly and quarterly Bulletin, Thematic Reports and our Annual Report. The list is in Spanish. To subscribe, send an email to:  or return to the main page www.bicusa.org.