Bolivia's El Alto gets new CITE center for garment-makers

05 May '14

2 min read

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity, the Bolivian Society of Cement (SOBOCE) has successfully opened the sixth Center of Technological Innovation (CITE) for garment manufacturers, in the Bolivian city of El Alto, located in the department of La Paz.

The CITE center was established by SOBOCE with an investment of US$ 55,000, and aims to train around 800 apparel-makers in the city, in new and innovative ways of production, within the first year of its operations, reports Bolivian newspaper Los Tiempos.

During the inauguration of the center, Cynthia Yenez, head of CSR department of SOBOCE, said the CITE centers in the country have benefitted more than 3,000 people in five different cities, of which 70 percent were females.

The main objective of establishing these centers is to help develop and improve the skills of workers and entrepreneurs of garment industries, through a series of workshops and specialized courses, she added.

According to the SOBOCE official, the innovation centers also aim at addressing business management strategies in order to establish sustainable production units of apparel manufacturing in the country, and the idea has already been initiated as more than 100 clothing firms in Bolivia employ CITE trained personnel currently.

In addition to the new CITE center in El Alto, five CITE centers are operational in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Tarija as well as the capital city of La Paz in the department of La Paz.

The CITEs are intended to facilitate and promote change in quality of products, product differentiation and improve efficiency of enterprises, mainly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) operating in the apparel sector, in order to help them compete in international markets.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India