"Aymara people value generosity, reciprocity, loyalty, sharing and openness very high. These are values that I share and that are missing in today's society." – how a new president brings hope and energy and what an international network of social entrepreneurs can contribute.

Isabel Viscarra, Ashoka Representative Bolivia, Ashoka, La Paz, Bolivia

For the first time since the arrival of the Spanish in Latin America an indigenous Bolivian, Evo Morales, has been elected president of Bolivia. His election brings new hope to a country with a rich history and culture that lived many years in poor conditions due to the enormous exploitation. Evo Morales is an Aymara, a native ethnic group from the Andean Highlands, as is Isabel Viscarra to whom we had the pleasure to talk.

She has spent her whole life working to help Bolivian communities to recover their cultures and values and live them, even in modern times when foreign powers tried to impose capitalist values on indigenous people. The passion for her people radiates through the whole personality of Isabel, and the election of Evo Morales is a huge step also for her work: “This is my country, my president, my option." – she says with shining eyes.

Today Isabel focuses on two initiatives. She is the Bolivian representative of Ashoka, a world-wide network of social entrepreneurs, responsible for the identification and nomination of Bolivian innovative social entrepreneurs. For 19 years she has also been organizing debates on political, economic, social and cultural issues in her Café Semilla Juvenil in La Paz.

It was a pleasure to experience the new hope and energy in Bolivia through such an inspiring personality.

Enjoy Isabel’s selected thoughts and statements from our discussion in the following lines. You may be able to read more about her work and the work of other Ashoka Fellows in Bolivia in our book “MyImpact”.

Isabel Viscarra’s selected quotations:
"Since I was a girl I was always interested in sharing my life with others."

"I was looking for some kind of inspirational work and was very lucky to get to know the American Bishop for whom I worked as a secretary for the following 13 years."

"Through my work with the Bishop I was able to re-discover my country, to again learn and feel its values, culture and beauty. Before that I was only taught the colonial version about my ancestors; the version of their inferiority."

"Aymara people value generosity, reciprocity, loyalty, sharing and openness very high. They also have a religious attitude to the world and nature. These are values that I share and that are missing in today's society."

"19 years ago I founded Café Semilla Juvenil. This is a place where we debate - economic, social and political issues -, listen to music and learn. For many people this is the first opportunity to discuss instead of taking orders."

"A lot of people are sceptical about the election of Evo Morales. But we are proud to have our own president in our own country, and we trust him. This is my country, my president, my option."

"I appreciate the work for Ashoka very much. It gives me the opportunity to support amazing initiatives in Bolivia and to enjoy meeting people with great ideas - in and outside of my country. One Bolivian Ashoka Fellow is now our minister of justice!"

"Many people think that the world is not good the way it is today. That's why we need to change it, in South America and around the world. With Ashoka we have an international network for changing the world."

"There are too many wars fought for the wrong reason by the wrong people. For example nobody here wanted the war with Paraguay; it was all set up by the oil companies. Things like this should not happen again."

"If I had to sit around and just watch TV I would probably die. I need to do something meaningful. Just making money does not make sense; money is necessary but not as an obsession. People are being hurt and killed because of money - this is crazy."

"I feel sorry for people who focus their lives around money."

"I was very disappointed when I once visited my brother in New York; even Latin Americans talked about money all the time."

"Although it is sometimes difficult, it's very important not to generalize, not to say, for example, that all Americans or all Europeans are bad."

"Tell me about someone who does not want to have a good life, a home, clothes etc? Everybody does. I believe that it is important to have no debt, a house, necessary clothes, water, maybe a TV or car when needed. But for what would you need two or three cars?"

"I would like to have a free Bolivia and a free world. And South America should unite to be one nation."

"Justice and peace, and acceptance of other cultures and ways of life are the basis of human community."

"To see children begging in the streets and dying in hospitals became common. Something here is clearly wrong! What did we do with this world?"

Some background on Isabel Viscarra:
Maria Isabel Viscarra was born and grew up in the city of La Paz. She spent her childhood during the years of post-colonial transition, with the belief of the superiority of European influence still persisting in the country. As a young girl she started working for a bishop from Missouri who was supporting the country's indigenous culture and development. Through this work she discovered her peoples’ values and cultural richness of her country. After the bishop left for the USA, Maria Isabel continued to be engaged socially and established Café Semilla Juvenil to provide a platform for discussion and community. She later became Ashoka's representative for Bolivia, responsible for the awareness around the organisation, relations with the government and for the identification of potential Fellows.

Some background on Ashoka:
Ashoka's mission is to shape a citizen sector that is entrepreneurial, productive and globally integrated, and to develop the profession of social entrepreneurship around the world. Ashoka identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs - extraordinary individuals with unprecedented ideas for change in their communities - supporting them, their ideas and institutions through all phases of their careers. Ashoka Fellows benefit from being part of the global Fellowship for life. Ashoka has invested in more than 1,700 Ashoka Fellows in 60 countries. Those Fellows have transformed the lives of millions of people in thousands of communities worldwide.

Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant and assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency. An activist since his days as a New York City elementary school student, Drayton is truly a lifelong social entrepreneur. One of the first leaders to recognize the power of individual innovation in addressing pressing social problems, Drayton piloted Ashoka in India with a budget of less than $50,000. Today, Ashoka spends more than $17 million a year financing its Fellows around the world.

If you would like to engage with the work of Isabel Viscarra or get to know more about Ashoka please visit http://www.ashoka.org,
or, for more specific opportunities, contact joanna.stefanska@myimpact.ch or wolfgang.hafenmayer@myimpact.ch directly.