Meet CRS Staff Member Miriam Orellana
Miriam Orellana, CRS Bolivia Civil Society/Human Rights Program Manager
Miriam Orellana began working at Catholic Relief Services Bolivia in April 2002. With a newly elected government fostering a new social and political environment in Bolivia, Miriam felt encouraged to join CRS where she felt she would have an opportunity to work for the most needy. In her short time with CRS, she has already assumed management of activities in the Civil Society/Human Rights area and leadership of the newly funded youth leadership project.
This project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, presents new challenges for civil society interventions; it focuses on partnership building, youth participation and coordination of activities at the municipal level. Miriam also participates on the Bolivian Social Pastoral-Caritas social control mechanism advisory board.
Before joining CRS, Miriam worked at the Bolivian office of the U.S. Agency for International Development. For more than three years she worked on the Democracy Team in the areas of Rule of Law and Justice Administration. Prior to that, she worked in the Ministry of Justice assisting in the implementation of judicial and human rights reforms. This background provides additional perspectives on both donors and government, enriching her work at CRS Bolivia.
CRS Bolivia focuses on increasing citizen participation and on emergency mitigation, gender, education, global solidarity and institutional strengthening and partnership work. Miriam's focus area of Civil Society/Human Rights provides the impetus for interventions in other areas of CRS' work such as health, agriculture, and microfinance.
Miriam is enthusiastic and looks forward to developing new strategies to achieve CRS' mission. This challenge involves forming new partner relationships, more effectively empowering civil society, improving understanding of Bolivia's social, political and economic reality, and broadening the vision of regional development goals in the coming years.
