FEJUVE

Federation of Neighborhood Councils-El Alto

Federación de Juntas Vecinales de El Alto
The Bolivian Wiphala[1]
Abbreviation	FEJUVE
Formation	1979; 45 years ago (1979)
Type	Federation of neighborhood councils
Purpose	Provision of universal basic services
Location	El Alto,  Bolivia
Methods	Participatory democracy
Membership (2008)	c. 114,000[2]
Official languages	Spanish Aymara Quechua

The Federation of Neighborhood Councils-El Alto (Spanish: Federación de Juntas Vecinales de El Alto, FEJUVE) is a federation of almost 600 neighborhood councils that provide public services, construction and jobs to citizens of El Alto, Bolivia. Councils of the FEJUVE organise according to the principles of participatory democracy and consensus decision-making, while implementing systems of workers' self-management in the city's economy.

Based in the traditional organisational methods of the Aymara people, neighborhood councils were first established by residents of El Alto in the wake of the Bolivian National Revolution, in order to provide services for local inhabitants where the state had little presence. In 1979, these neighborhood councils united into a single Federation, the FEJUVE. Over the subsequent decades, the FEJUVE built infrastructure, schools and parks, and provided public utilities for many of El Alto's residents. The FEJUVE went on to participate in the Bolivian gas conflict of 2003, during which they took over management of most of the city's economy and organised a blockade of the capital of La Paz.

In the 2005 Bolivian general election, the FEJUVE supported the candidacy of Evo Morales and his Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS). Many members of the FEJUVE joined the new government under a policy of "constructive but critical collaboration", with FEJUVE leader Mabel Monje becoming the country's Minister of Water. This move was criticised by some of its members, who questioned whether the FEJUVE would be able to maintain their autonomy under the new government. While many of the FEJUVE's proposals weren't taken up by the MAS government, they managed to push it to support their policies of public housing, participatory planning and workers' control in El Alto.