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Successful experiences in Latin America
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This document has been elaborated by the UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme, in concert with the
ART Programmes of Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.
Katherine Grigsby
Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Bolivia
and Resident Representative of the UNDP Bolivia
Claudio Providas
Deputy Resident Representative
UNDP Bolivia
Giovanni Camilleri
International Coordinator
UNDP ART Initiative
Enrique Gallicchio
Chief Technical Adviser
UNDP ART Bolivia Programme
Author of the publication
Olivier Hidalgo Guillot
Strategic Planning Expert
UNDP ART Bolivia Programme
Translation
Zeina Mogharbel Vallès
Design and edition
Oihane Beñaran Muñoz
Communications Technician
UNDP ART Bolivia Programme
Acknowledgment
The active collaboration of the Global ART Initiative and the ART Programmes of Colombia,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Uruguay is appreciated.
ISBN: 978-99954-819-8-8
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bolivia, 2014
The contents of this publication can be reproduced as long as the source is acknowledged.
The criteria expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the United Nations or UNDP.
La Paz, Bolivia - 2014
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Acronyms ADELCO National Network of Local Development Agencies (Colombia)
ADELDOM Network of Dominican LEDAs
ADELMOPLA LEDA of Monte Plata (Dominican Republic)
ADET Territorial Economic Development Agency
APROLECHE Association of Milk Producers in the Dominican Republic
ART Articulation of Territorial Networks for Sustainable Human Development
AWP Annual Work Plan
CAT Committee for Territorial Articulation in Carchi (Ecuador)
CENSA Center of Farming Health (Cuba)
CIADEL Inter-Institutional Committee for Local Development (El Salvador)
CONALECHE National Council for the Regulation and Development of the Milk Industry
(Dominican Republic)
DECADA Project of Capacity Development for an Efficient Planning and Territorial
Development Management in the Province of Dajabón (Dominican Republic)
DGODT Directorate for Territorial Management and Development (Ecuador)
DINAE National Directorate for Employment (Uruguay)
FAMSI Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity
FOGAR Regions United
GADOR Autonomous Departmental Government of Oruro (Bolivia)
HLF-4 Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness
ILO International Labor Organization
JMD Joint Migration and Development Initiative
LED Local Economic Development
LEDA Local Economic Development Agency
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
META Technical Committee of Territorial Articulation and Management (Ecuador)
MIC Ministry of Industry and Commerce (Dominican Republic)
MIEM Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (Uruguay)
MSMEs Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
NCC National Coordination Committee
NGOs Non-governmental Organizations
PDLT Programme of Local and Cross-border Development
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PET MAN Project of Territorial Productive Economic Planning in Oruro’s Department —
Commonwealth Of Municipalities
PROCAL Integral Programme to Improve Milk Production and Quality
PRODEM Programme for Municipal Modernization (Ecuador)
PWG Provincial Working Group
RADEL Network of Local Economic Agencies (Uruguay)
RED ORMET Network of Labour Market’s Regional Observatories (Colombia)
SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
SEBRAE Brazilian Service in Support to Micro and Small Enterprises
SENPLADES National Secretariat for Planning and Development (Ecuador)
SETECI Technical Secretariat of International Cooperation (Ecuador)
SHD Sustainable Human Development
UCLG United Cities and Local Governments
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund
7
Foreword
We are pleased to present this document, which compiles and synthesizes the main
achievements in Local Economic Development attained in the last years by several UNDP
ART Programmes in Latin America. By analyzing the successful experiences and good
practices in the region, the document aims at stimulating debate on the key mechanisms
and tools to promote a sustainable development that brings about real change to the
living conditions of people.
Development is a complex process that requires the active and coordinated participation
of all actors, from governmental and sub-national institutions to civil society, the private
sector and cooperation agencies. From this perspective, UNDP considers ART an
instrument that facilitates the coordination and articulation of actors through the
promotion of multilevel and multi-actor governance for inclusive economic development.
In this sense, the ART initiative complements the new UNDP Local Governance and Local
Development (LGLD) strategy, which focuses on the consolidation of decentralization
and local governance processes.
This document, which puts forward the methodological and strategic elements that
characterize ART, calls for reflecting on how to foster exchanges and innovations
between countries under the South-South cooperation modality. In this context, the
UNDP ART Programme puts its experience and extensive network of partners at the
disposal of the countries to disseminate successful experiences in local development,
under a new paradigm that sheds the traditional donor-beneficiary relationship in favor
of a more horizontal relation between “partner countries”.
As the focal point for the Local Economic Development component of the ART
Programmes in Latin America, UNDP ART Bolivia has spearheaded the elaboration
process of this document. This systematization is the product of an extensive
participative process that incorporates the contributions of countries such as Colombia,
Ecuador, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, in addition to Bolivia. The
publication of this document grants me the opportunity to sincerely thank these
countries and their respective ART Programmes for their unwavering collaboration and
for their quality contributions, which have made this document an indispensable
consultation tool.
The document does not aim at being exhaustive or at determining a “one fits all”
solution to the challenges posed by economic development in our countries. Rather, it
seeks to outline leads for reflection that are based on the concrete experiences of
several countries at the local level. We hope these provide a deeper insight into UNDP
ART Initiative, facilitate decision-making and further exchanges between these countries.
Katherine Grigsby
United Nations Resident Coordinator
and UNDP Resident Representative in Bolivia
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With their diverse natural resources, cultures and traditions, multiple social and
economic actors with varying interests and relations, and with different spatial and
administrative divisions, territories are local systems where people live in relation to their
surroundings. Geographically speaking, the territory where communities live corresponds
to a radius of roughly 500 kilometers. Within this space, the community grows, studies,
works, has a family, produces, consumes, spends its leisure time, and generates —and
in many cases resolves— conflicts. To a large extent, the opportunity to undertake vital
projects depends on the relationship between the territory and its inhabitants, and on
the capacity of public and private institutions to organize and offer accessible, high-
quality and sustainable services to respond to the populations’ needs. When this is not
the case, citizens feel compelled to compete for basic needs such as water, housing and
work, and abandon their territories due to the lack of opportunities, or discrimination,
persecution and insecurity.
The level of cohesion established between multiple territorial actors is directly linked to
good governance, accountability, transparency, and less corruption and illegality, and
therefore, to better democracy. The territorial approach to development has proven to
be one of the most realistic, pragmatic and effective strategies to stimulate and
consolidate governance and sustainable development on the medium and long term. It is
also a determining variable to “localize” results, that is, to make the objectives agreed
upon at the global level by the international community felt in the daily lives of citizens
and elected local administrations; such is the case with the future sustainable
development goals within the global post-2015 agenda.
The ART Initiative (Articulation of Territorial Networks for Sustainable Human
Development) aims at contributing to UNDP’s global strategy, by stimulating dialogue
between territories as a strategy to face the global development challenges. It also
seeks to increase the opportunities of the world’s citizens (from the North and the
South) to voice their “common interests” on issues such as health, human and food
security, work, rights, water and climate; that is, on all the inherent, necessary elements
to human development. The challenge lies in linking the result of this dialogue between
territories with the local, national and global strategies to generate higher impact and
concrete improvements in people’s lives.
To this end, the ART Initiative offers a programming and operational framework
endowed with specific instruments that generate concrete practices and are able to
translate technical, technological, management and organizational innovations in
proposals and references that the countries can adapt and exchange, to strengthen local
human development processes.
The World Forums of Local Economic Development (LED), promoted and co-organized
by UNDP in Seville (Spain, 2011) and Foz do Iguazú (Brazil, 2013), clearly showed how
local and regional authorities, in collaboration with the territories’ socioeconomic actors,
such as LED agencies, Universities, civil society organizations and the private sector, can
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share their respective experiences as a “resource”, while taking into account the
different social, political, economic, cultural and religious contexts.
This publication aims to facilitate harnessing and sharing the territories’ immense
economic and productive potential, to respond to local needs and to compete in the
national and global market. This work showcases practices and innovations in LED that
have been generated by multiple actors who operate within ART framework programmes
in Latin America.
With the concrete experiences of six countries and wide participation of public and
private actors, we hope that this document will offer new perspectives and facilitate
exchanges between countries for an inclusive economic development.
Giovanni Camilleri
UNDP ART Initiative
International Coordinator
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1. The ART Initiative:
Approach and methodology towards 2015
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UNDP and the Strategy of Local
Governance and Local
Development
The 2014 – 2017 Strategic Plan of the
United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) focuses on
promoting Sustainable Human
Development (SHD), strengthening
democratic and inclusive governance,
and building resilience. The strategy for
Local Governance and Local
Development (LGLD) fits this
framework, since decentralization and
local governance are fundamental
aspects of LGLD that need to be
developed. Indeed, the strategy
underscores the importance of
supporting subnational governments to
achieve better, high-quality public
service delivery, of promoting the active
participation of civil society in
development processes and of
prioritizing local economic development
(LED). This strategy will start in 2014 in
a number of countries in Latin America;
it aims at harmonizing the interventions
of UNDP, UNCDF and UNV in the area
of local development and is understood
as a means to facilitate territorial
development processes that empower
local actors through active social
participation and inclusive economic
growth. In this regard, the ART Country
Programmes seek to put their
experience in multilevel and multi-actor
articulation at the disposal of UNDP,
through a territorial approach and the
participation of decentralized
cooperation networks in concertation
with other UNDP intervention areas.
The challenge is that of establishing
effective synergies under a rationale of
joint work that allows reaching concrete
objectives in democratic governance, to
improve the living conditions of people.
In this sense, the LED experience of
ART Programmes in the Latin American
region represents a valuable and
concrete conceptual contribution to
support UNDP’s new strategy.
How did ART start? What is it?
The ART Initiative (Articulation of
Territorial and Thematic Networks for
Human Development) started in 2004,
when UNDP and several other United
Nations agencies signed an agreement
to officially launch the Initiative. ART
aims at promoting a new
multilateralism that facilitates
articulation among actors and policies
in the territories. It supports national
and local governments in implementing
its decentralization and territorial
development policies, through the
establishment of an operational,
programming framework (ART
Framework Programmes) in the
countries that request it.
The initiative is currently active in 22
countries, nine of which are in Latin
America.
How does ART work? What is
its methodology?
The ART Initiative is characterized by a
specific methodology that combines the
creation of local, national and global
spaces and networks for articulation,
with the promotion of the strategic and
operational participation of multiple
international cooperation actors. The
Initiative fosters the implementation of
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the principles of development
effectiveness and improves the positive
impact of human development
processes.
Beyond these general considerations,
the ART methodology is flexible enough
to adapt to the territories’ political and
social particularities and their particular
economic contexts. Moreover, the
programme adapts to the strategic
orientations of the UNDP offices where
it operates. ART is able to mobilize and
articulate a large number of actors
representing the territories’ different
interests and sensitivities: regional and
local governments, the private sector,
academia, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and civil society.
The Programmes’ adaptability is the
result of practices developed in the field
over the years, in various countries and
continents, as the need grew to join
efforts with all actors to overcome the
structural challenges of development.
Modern international cooperation is
characterized by the high number of
development actors who intervene in
the countries. They often have common
objectives; however, these are
channeled through different
administrative mechanisms and
individual approaches. This generates
an important dispersion that might
jeopardize the interventions’
effectiveness. This is why one of the
priorities of the ART Initiative is to
facilitate a framework through which all
support is aligned to local and national
development strategies.
In a context of economic crisis,
what are the challenges of
development effectiveness?
The current economic and financial
crisis unfolds an uncertain scenario in
the field of cooperation and
development. A new architecture for
aid is being defined, with the
incorporation of new actors (such as
emerging countries) who assume a
greater leading role vis-à-vis “traditional
donors”.
The UNDP and particularly ART
programmes actively participated in the
Fourth High Level meeting (HLF-4) on
Aid Effectiveness in Busan in December
2011, advocating the significance of
local development to achieve aid
effectiveness. Various conferences were
organized in Latin America (Colombia),
Africa (Senegal) and Europe (Spain,
Italy) to dwell on the importance of
measuring aid effectiveness at the local
level. These meetings were crucial to
appraise the contributions of
decentralized cooperation and local
governments to improving development
indicators. The complementary role of
individual actors and the specific
contributions of subnational actors,
networks of local governments and
organizations such as UNDP ART were
seen as an opportunity for development
effectiveness. The experience of ART in
Ecuador, with the development of a
tool for measuring the effectiveness of
cooperation at the local level, is also
worth noting.
The UNDP is still very active in the
post-Busan reflection and in the various
consultative processes that take place
at different levels in relation to the
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future global post-2015 development
agenda, the year the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) should be
achieved. The objectives emerging from
these participatory consultations will
necessarily have to take into account
the need for better coordination
between actors and the importance of
the local and regional levels in fulfilling
people’s needs. The Initiative is
supporting the debates on development
effectiveness and following up on the
agreements made during the Rio+20
conference.
ART and the World Forum of
Local Economic Development
2013
The UNDP ART Initiative was one of the
organizers of the second World Forum
on Local Economic Development, with
FAMSI (Andalusian Fund of
Municipalities for International
Solidarity), Itaipu Bi-national, SEBRAE
(the Brazilian Service in Support to
Micro and Small Enterprises), PTI (the
technological park of Itaipu), FOGAR
(Regions United) and UCLG (United
Cities and Local Governments).
For this Forum, the UNDP ART
Programmes of Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican
Republic and Uruguay elaborated a
document explaining the main results in
multilevel governance and local
economic development in Latin
America. It is hoped that this document
will showcase the Programmes’
achievements and successful
experiences in various Latin American
countries and will contribute to
stimulate reflection and learning.
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2. The Programme’s Conceptual
Framework:
Local economic development and
multilevel governance for the promotion of
Sustainable Human Development
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The UNDP ART Initiative focuses its
efforts on promoting local economic
development and multilevel
governance, seen as prerequisites to
SHD. The human development
approach promoted by UNDP gives
people a central role in development
processes. It seeks to expand their
options and opportunities, improving
their capacities to lead decent lives and
have access to education, health,
housing, technology, social inclusion
and gender equality. This approach also
strives to ensure the necessary
conditions for the active and genuine
participation of communities in daily
matters, by giving them a say in the
decisions that affect their lives.
In relation to multilevel governance,
ART Programmes seek to foster
efficient articulation between the three
levels of action (local, national and
international), based on the territory’s
endogenous potentialities. These
Programmes also facilitate mechanisms
for dialogue and concertation among
the various actors and institutional
levels that operate in a given territory.
This allows aligning development
interventions to the priorities expressed
by the territories through local
development planning1. At the same
time, this promotes effective
articulation with national strategies of
development, facilitating dialogue
between various line ministries and
local governments, therefore avoiding
the potential fragmentation and overlap
1 Local Development Planning is a participatory process where local authorities and stakeholders discuss and prioritize their long-term vision of local development. The process results in a development plan with associated interventions, often at the municipal level.
of interventions and increasing their
impact.
Decentralization processes
As of late, there have been numerous
examples of Latin American countries
that have chosen to progressively adopt
de-concentration o decentralization
processes to give the territories a
greater role in defining public policies
and service provision modalities. It is
undoubtedly a challenge to shift from
policies that are defined at the central
level and implemented by local
institutions, to territorial policies where
the national and territorial policies
converge thanks to the articulation
generated by local actors themselves.
ART Programmes are directly involved
in consolidating the processes of
competency and resource transfer from
the central level to the territory, by
providing technical support to local
governments so they are able to better
fulfill their new responsibilities, and to
the central state, to help it avoid
disproportionate and unbalanced
territorial development.
In this sense, the articulation between
ART Programmes and the global
strategy of governance promoted by
UNDP is an ongoing process that
constitutes one of the key factors of the
Initiative’s success.
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Dialogue and participation of
actors
From multilevel governance
perspective, it is paramount to promote
adequate spaces for effective
concertation between public institutions
and the private sector, as these two are
not always accustomed to communicate
in order to coordinate actions and join
efforts. It is equally important to
reinforce the presence of academia in
the decision making process, taking
advantage of its theoretical knowledge
and innovation capacity, and of civil
society, to legitimize the process while
addressing the most pressing concerns
of the population as a whole.
Local democracy
The promotion of good local
governance improves people’s capacity
to participate in development processes
and significantly improves public service
provision by local institutions. Both
aspects have very positive
repercussions on human development.
Multilevel and multi-actor articulation
allows improving public policies and
bringing them closer to citizens. This, in
turn, reinforces the relationship
between decision makers and citizens,
as the latter become participants and
leading figures of the processes
undertaken in their territory. Indeed,
the process is about overcoming the
logic of “passive recipients of public
services” and replacing it with “active,
forthcoming players in public policy
making”.
Concertation platforms
The working groups established at the
local and regional levels with the
support of the ART Programmes
become concertation spaces where
members are able to decide on the
territory’s orientations from a strategic
and investment perspective, through,
for instance, the prioritization of
productive development. These are
multilevel and cross-sectorial structures
that seek to respond to the territory’s
needs and priorities. They are usually
led by officials from local or regional
administrations and have the objective
of boosting complementarity between
the interventions of National
Governments and those of international
cooperation actors. The articulation
between national development policies
and local development also allows
strengthening national strategic
planning and priorities at the local level.
Articulation between territorial
levels
The importance of articulation between
the local level (for instance,
municipalities) and the intermediate
level (regions, departments or unions of
municipalities) should not be
underestimated. Working on these two
fronts allows reaching more sustainable
development, for interventions then
take place through territorial and
national policies alike. In this sense, the
intermediate level appears to be the
ideal platform to foster articulation
between local and national
development dynamics, to influence
public policies and to ensure people’s
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democratic participation. Developing
this intermediate sphere requires
specific governance mechanisms that
involve all local actors and national
institutions, an element that UNDP has
consistently promoted. The challenge of
cooperation is to progressively abandon
the approach of backing specific
projects and bet instead on supporting
integrated development processes.
Working on defining and implementing
local economic development public
policies is a common objective of all
UNDP ART Programmes, to generate
dynamics of inclusive and sustainable
economic growth in the territories that
allow the gradual transformation of
people’s daily lives.
Local Economic Development (LED) is
one of ART’s main sectors of
intervention. The Initiative has adopted
an innovative approach to promote and
support a sustainable and inclusive
LED, based on years of learning in
many countries and territories. The ART
Initiative experiments with practical and
alternative solutions at the local level,
while their results in the field can feed
into the theoretical debate at the global
level.
LED approach
The ART Initiative does not view LED as
an objective or an end in itself but as a
means to achieve a SHD whose effects
are felt at the local level; however, this
SHD is constantly articulated with the
national and international levels. In the
eyes of UNDP, people’s opportunities
increase through local and community
development, which grows with the
individual progress achieved by the
community’s members.
LED strategies
UNDP ART Programmes support the
territories in the definition of economic
development strategies. These are
elaborated in a participatory way and
are based on the endogenous
potentialities and resources, taking into
account the territories’ political,
economic, social and cultural
particularities as well as national
policies. The aim is to endow the
territories with local capacities, and to
generate decent employment
opportunities and social equality, hence
securing the welfare of the population.
Gender approach
Despite the efforts made to date and
the significant progress achieved,
women still represent 60% of the
poorest groups at the global level.
UNDP considers that achieving gender
equality should be an absolute priority,
not only as a moral imperative but also
because it is convinced that this is the
best way to promote the prosperity and
welfare of everyone.
It is considered that inequalities related
to gender are an obstacle to local
human development. In this sense, the
Initiative adopts a transversal approach
to include gender in development
processes, ensuring that the
interventions it supports do not contain
any discriminatory gaps. Concrete
actions to empower and strengthen
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women’s capacities are simultaneously
carried out to allow them to re-
negotiate gender relationships in the
professional and personal spheres.
The active participation of women in
economic activities has been
emphasized, whether through actions in
support of local economic development
agencies or through the promotion of
specific public policies.
All the Working Groups supported by
ART’s Programmes place a special
emphasis on gender balance in terms of
representation. It is of outmost
importance, particularly at the local
level, to facilitate women’s true
participation in these discussion and
articulation spaces. This ensures that
their concerns are taken into account
and that projects and initiatives
promote a gender equality approach
that allows women to be empowered,
particularly in the economic sector.
Although gender issues are not always
considered a priority by local
authorities, UNDP ART seeks to position
this aspect by involving all population
groups in the territories.
The work carried out in the last years
by the MyDEL programme in El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Nicaragua is worth noting, for it has
laid the foundation for a strategy for
the economic empowerment of women
at the sub-regional level in Central
America, through an innovative
territorial and gender approach. The
joint initiative between UN Women and
the UNDP-ART Initiative had an
economic focus, by empowering
women economically so they be
acknowledged as “stimulators” of local
economies, and a political focus, by
strengthening the leadership of women
as the foundation for an active
citizenship and for participation in
political and economic governance.
Tools to strengthen a
sustainable LED
It is particularly important to set in
motion instruments and tools such as
Local Economic Development Agencies
(LEDAs). The Agencies’ objective is to
establish a public-private system of
technical and financial services to
promote the territory’s economic and
social development, addressing the
population’s needs but also those of
local businesses and institutions. In
short, LEDAs aim at ensuring that each
and every actor is able to play a role in
the territory’s economic development,
bolstering synergies and joining efforts
towards a common objective based on
the territory’s characteristics and
factors of opportunity.
ART reinforces local partnerships,
gathering the territory’s actors (from
the public and private sector, civil
society, etc.) so they define a joint
vision of the future and establish
common development objectives
through territorial marketing, among
others.
A successful example of such a
mechanism is the creation of chain
values, which gather micro and small
enterprises, cooperatives and other
social economy modalities.
The Initiative also endeavors to
empower local actors and develop
9
specific capacities, in order to form
agents of local development who foster
participatory processes that invigorate
the economic activity of a given
territory.
Exchanges and good practices
The UNDP also facilitates international
exchanges of experiences and good
practices, to take stock of those lessons
learned that are replicable to other
countries once they are contextualized.
This facet of ART’s work explains its
active participation in international
forums such as Foz do Iguacu on LED.
On the one hand, it allows raising the
awareness of local actors in relation to
these events; on the other, the
Initiative can generate a multiplier
effect, for local actors who are not able
to attend these events can, through
ART’s Programmes, have access to the
good practices presented in these
forums.
Nonetheless, the ART Initiative not only
seeks to promote exchanges at the
international level, but also at the
national and regional levels, between
territories, and within each territory. In
short, ART promotes innovation and the
dissemination of those lessons learned
in LED that have the potential of being
replicated to other territories.
Adaptability of the Initiative
One of the main characteristics of ART
is its adaptability to the territory’s
realities and particularities. In this
sense, there is no “magical recipe” that
can be uniformly applied to all
countries. Although the Initiative
started in Latin American countries, it is
nowadays active in Asia and Africa
(among others), where realities are
vastly different. UNDP-ART has been
able to adapt its methodology to the
specificities of each and every case.
This capacity for adaptation reveals the
pertinence of ART’s methodology to
development from a territorial
perspective.
To conclude, the specific added value
of ART is the articulation between the
local, regional and national levels
(vertical articulation), and among the
territories (horizontal articulation)
through decentralized, South-South and
triangular cooperation.
10
3. Results Achieved
By the UNDP ART Programmes in Latin America
11
What follows are the main results
achieved in various Latin American ART
Programmes of the UNDP in the last
years. To achieve a simpler and more
dynamic document, information is
organized along several main themes
where the Programmes have had a
significant impact.
A specific section is devoted to the
countries in the annexes, in synthetic
fast facts that highlight the good
practices of each country.
Impact on national public
policies
Bolivia
The Programme participated in the
design of the strategy of the Ministry of
Productive Development and Plural
Economy through the Council of
Sectorial Coordination in Productive
Development. This collaboration
involved six of the country’s
departments, facilitating better
articulation between the sectorial
policies promoted by the Ministry and
the territory’s priorities. The Council is
part of the technical team in charge of
the coordination of the Bicentenary
Patriotic Agenda 2025 organized by the
National Government, whose aim is to
design national policies in support of
the country’s development.
Moreover, in collaboration with the
Ministry of Planning, the Programme
has incorporated a territorial vision to
the State’s Integral Planning System,
through a database that improves
articulation between national and
territorial planning.
Colombia
Seventeen discussion platforms have
been supported, where civil society
proposals in relation to the Law of Land
and Rural Development are presented.
Concretely, in coordination with the
National Network of Local Development
Agencies (ADELCO) seven territorial
forums allowed 1,100 persons from 150
organizations to actively participate in
the discussion of the bill, which is
currently a regulation in the process of
implementation.
Likewise, in close collaboration with
ADELCO and with the National
Directorate for Planning, discussion
spaces were organized in ten cities;
these allowed 1,600 persons to debate
and present proposals to formulate the
National Policy on Local Development.
ADELCO continues working with
National Planning on positioning of the
policy, and has achieved recognition
from this body for local development
agency processes in the territory,
looking for joint projects such as the
Rural Mission, whose objective is to
improve the profitability of Colombian
agriculture. Through advocacy efforts
on public policy, ADELCO is positioning
itself nationally on the subject of local
development and has made significant
contributions to influence public
initiatives such as: Rural Associativity,
Transitional Justice and Income
Generation and the rural development
public policy, among others.
Ecuador
The ART Programme has supported the
decentralization process of
competencies in productive
12
development and development
planning. To do so, the Programme has
worked closely with the National
Secretariat for Planning and
Development (SENPLADES) to
elaborate the National Strategy for the
Territories, which allows articulating
public policies to the territory’s
conditions and particularities.
With SENPLADES as well, and in
concertation with the national
associations of the three subnational
governmental levels, good practices in
decentralized and national management
have been systemized; this constitutes
a valuable input for public policy
decision-making concerning LED in the
medium term.
El Salvador
With the Presidency’s Technical
Secretariat, the Ministry of Economy,
the National Commission for Micro,
Small and Medium Enterprises, the
Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of
Tourism and the Vice Ministry of
Salvadorians Abroad, the ART
Programme has promoted the creation
of the Inter-institutional Committee for
Local Economic Development (CIADEL).
This is a mechanism for the articulation
of national policies of economic and
productive development, with a special
focus on the territories and the
promotion of LEDAs as key
management tools.
In the framework of the National
Strategy for the Development of
Marina’s Coastal Strip and of the
National System for Productive
Development, the Programme has
become the Government’s reference
point to articulate the strategy of public
policies in the territories and to
strengthen and create LEDAs as
operational mechanisms that contribute
to economic governance.
The presidential programme “City for
Women”, aimed at promoting the
economic autonomy of women, has
been incorporated to ART’s territorial
methodology. Likewise, four national
policies (centers for entrepreneurial
development, touristic promotion of
“populations alive”, centers for the
promotion of investments and family
agriculture) are implemented through
the LEDAs.
Dominican Republic
In 2012, the ART Programme
supported the Government’s transition
process in three sectors: small and
medium enterprises, agriculture, and
tourism, taking into account the need
to invigorate the Government’s actions
at the local level.
After negotiations between the LEDAs
and the Vice Minister of Small and
Medium Enterprises, and through the
LEDAs network, it was agreed to
implement a programme of support to
medium and small enterprises with a
territorial development approach. The
creation of new LEDAs was also
encouraged throughout the country, to
offer entrepreneurial services at the
local level. Moreover, an ADELDOM
network was also promoted at the local
level, for the management and
localization of public policies on small
and medium enterprises. Thanks to
these alliances, more than fifteen
agreements with national entities have
13
been made for the implementation of
local economic development projects in
the territories.
Since 2008, the ART Programme has
been implementing a pilot project for
the integrated management of sectorial
policies on the dairy value chain. The
dairy chain has been organized in six
Dominican provinces through local
articulation groups active in this sector.
In October 2013, the LEDA network
organized, with all the sector’s
authorities, the International Congress
on Dairy Products, which will allow
gaining and sharing experience in the
management of the dairy chain. UNDP
chose this experience as a good
practice in South-South cooperation in
Latin America.
Processes for the territorial planning of
the bee value chain were also promoted
with the support of the “Milano
Polytechnic University”, using geo-
referencing methods in Monte Plata and
Dajabon. This exercise allowed the
LEDAs of these territories to manage
credit funds with the FEDA for a total
value of USD 700,000, which has
prompted a nationwide reviewing of
this sector’s laws.
Uruguay
In collaboration with the Ministry of
Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM),
the ART Initiative has designed and co-
implemented the Inter-institutional
Committee of Local Development.
The committee’s first objective is to
generate a space for coordination
between the institutions involved in
supporting Micro, Small and Medium
enterprises. There are currently three
ongoing such inter-ministerial projects.
Through the National Directorate for
Employment (DINAE), the first
territorial agenda for employment has
been designed with the subnational
level, companies, guilds, civil
associations and the International
Labor Organization (ILO). This agenda
allows designing policies on
employment training, in line with the
territorial value chains prioritized in the
country’s northern area, with a special
focus on the timber value chain. There
is an ongoing systematization of the
experience to evaluate its replicability in
other parts of the country.
For the first time, the gender
perspective has been included in the
marketing studies undertaken for the
design of employment policies aimed at
the Government’s third tier (i.e.
municipalities), together with the
Ministries of Industry, Work and Social
Development, and Academia.
Support to strategies on
territorial economic
development
Bolivia
In some of the territories, strategic
documents have been elaborated with a
high participation of the territory’s
actors and the ownership of the
process by local institutions. This is the
case of Tarija’s department, where
UNDP ART Bolivia has supported the
elaboration of a Departmental Plan for
14
Water and a productive-socioeconomic
diagnosis.
Throughout 2013, strategic plans such
as the Development and Peace Plan or
the Strategic Guidelines for Local
Development of El Alto Municipality
have been published, disseminated and
socialized.
The productive competencies of 1,158
indigenous families have been
reinforced through a stockbreeding
project in the province of Ingavi.
Colombia
LED issues have been included in
various National, Departmental and
Municipal Plans where ART is active and
even in other regions. There have also
been interesting initiatives to design a
public policy of rural economic
development from a territorial
perspective. An example of the
outreach of this process is the
elaboration of the Competitiveness
Regional Plan of Nariño.
In the past two years, ADELCO has
been working with the Ministry of
Agriculture and the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Tourism,
creating means for strengthening the
construction of public, private and
social consensus spaces that influence
regional local development, such as:
regional commissions on
competitiveness, sectorial agricultural
councils and municipal committees for
rural development. These spaces seek
to promote joint strategies where the
government and civil society plan and
execute actions for rural, local and
territorial development.
Ecuador
UNDP ART Ecuador is supporting the
implementation of the national
transformation policy for the productive
sector at the territorial level, through
the creation, with a zonal approach, of
an agro-industrial eco-park in the
province of El Oro.
The Programme is also coordinating the
platform for the implementation of the
joint project “Youth, Employment and
Migration”, which has contributed to
inclusive development through the
generation of 1,134 entrepreneurship
opportunities for youth (570 of which
led by women) and financial and non-
financial assistance to 1,479 youth (of
which 1,142 are young women).
Eighteen local financial entities and
three LEDAs were strengthened as part
of this process so they can offer their
services to local youth in the provinces
of Carchi, El Oro and Loja. Moreover, a
system to support entrepreneurship
and LED was developed. A key result of
this strategy is the change from the
National Programme of Popular
Finances to the National Corporation of
Popular and Solidary Finances.
El Salvador
The Programme has lent its technical
support to the Inter-institutional
Committee on LED to implement the
National Strategy for the development
of Marina’s Coastal Strip in the five
seashore departments. The Programme
has supported the elaboration of LED
departmental platforms, emphasizing
on the promotion of women’s financial
autonomy, on the insertion of youth at
risk (violence, maras –gangs-) to the
15
economic and technological fabric at
the territorial level, and on articulation
with the diaspora (migration and
development). In this case, the
Programme also articulates the
initiatives of the second phase of the
programme “Joint Migration and
Development Initiative” (JMDI) financed
in nine countries by the European
Union and the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Dominican Republic
The ART Programme has lent its
support to the provinces of Dajabon,
Monte Plata, Valverde, Bahoruco, El
Seibo and Sanchez Ramirez to design
and initiate Strategic Frameworks on
Local Economic Development. The
territories’ potentialities have been
identified, and value chains and
entrepreneurial development services
been identified and prioritized in a
participatory way. This action has set
the structural base for the localization
of more than 15 national projects and
programmes aimed at small and
medium production at the local level,
taking advantage of the platforms
initiated by UNDP.
Likewise, the individual and collective
capacities of the territorial institutions
to put in place territorial strategies have
been substantially improved with the
financial involvement of the area’s
actors, incorporating a gender
perspective in LED strategies. The
Ministry of Industry and Commerce has
incorporated territorial development
planning processes in LED and has
started to identify the country’s
potentialities based on local assets,
local value chains and the demand for
services in entrepreneurial
development, in line with regional
dynamics.
Uruguay
The Departmental Strategic Plan of
Artigas (2012 – 2025) has been
elaborated; it represents a novel
initiative in the country and has
counted with the active participation of
the political and private sectors and civil
society. In this framework, a Council for
Departmental Cooperation was created,
representing the interests of multiple
sectors and territories, to ensure an
even participation in decision-making
throughout the Plan’s elaboration.
More than ten sectorial public plans
oversee the implementation of the
various prioritized actions, from
infrastructure to the development of
the various departmental value chains.
The elaboration of the Climate Plan for
the metropolitan region represents a
pioneering experience in developing a
strategy at the subnational and regional
level on climate change, aimed at
reducing carbon emissions and
implementing adaptation measures
within national priorities. There has
been a high level of articulation
between the Department and the
Presidency’s Programme to mobilize
resources and support the initiatives
put forward in the plan. The latter has
been elaborated in coordination with
the national system against climate
change, and its strategic guidelines
contribute to the national policy in this
regard. Some of these measures were
incorporated in the national portfolio of
projects on climate mitigation.
16
Local Economic Development
Agencies
Bolivia
Together with the LEDA of La Paz, the
ART Initiative in Bolivia has supported
the elaboration of a strategy designed
to create a territorial trademark for the
metropolitan area of La Paz. Moreover,
the Programme lends its technical and
methodological support to position La
Paz as a point of reference in relation
to public-private articulation.
Colombia
The Programme has supported the
consolidation of the LEDAs and
ADELCO’s Network, as a useful tool to
generate employment and influence
local public policies on LED in ten
territories. Various LEDAs have been
strengthened technically throughout the
territory, and one of the major impacts
has been the successful involvement of
more than 9,000 families in
programmes for the improvement of
productive capacities and income
generation, through the LEDAs of
Boyaca, Adeproa, Nariño and Casa del
Agua.
The work on rural development policy
should also be highlighted, which is
being led by the Dinosaurios LEDA in
Boyacá, as well as the new Norte del
Valle LEDA which is championing a
regional local development policy and
four production chains for generating
employment and competitiveness in the
sub-region. The Zapatoza LEDA in the
department of Cesar has in turn been
very successful in its business
management model through a strategy
of social responsibility, and the GAL
Valletenzano Task Force in Boyacá is
specializing in issues of micro-financing,
community tourism, and rural
associativity, where it has achieved
important results. Finally, Casa del
Agua LEDA has stood out for its local
development work with a differential
approach emphasizing income
generation work with indigenous
populations and women.
Ecuador
Several agencies for local/territorial
development have been strengthened
in three provinces (Carchi, El Oro and
Esmeraldas) through specialized
technical assistance and their inclusion
within the Documents of Priorities, to
promote the public-private articulation
around territorial development priorities
and achieve sustainable, equal and
integral human development.
El Salvador
CIADEL has institutionalized LEDAs as a
mechanism for territorial economic
stimulation and for the implementation
of public national public policies; these
are currently covered in the five coastal
departments in the framework of the
National System for Productive
Development (Ministry of Economy).
The LEDAs’ headquarters are offered by
one of their members (whether local
governments or private actors),
showing the initiative’s involvement and
empowerment. Local resources and
members of the CIADEL cover the
17
yearly running costs for the manager
and equipment.
The Programme provides technical
assistance to CIADEL to create new
LEDAs in the coastal area. In 2012, the
LEDAs of La Union and La Libertad
were created; Sonsonate’s was
strengthened and those of La Paz and
Usulutan are currently being
constituted. The key strategies of these
LEDAs will be the articulation with the
national strategy for the development
of the coastal strip and for the
development of technological assets
(seaports of La Union, Acajutla,
international airport of Comalapa) and
with the strategy of inclusive economy,
as opposed to the big projects of
national and foreign investment.
Dominican Republic
There are six fully functioning LEDAs in
the Dominican Republic, supported by
the Ministry of Economy, Planning and
Development, and the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce. The LEDAs
are part of the Territorial Development
Councils, which are mechanisms
foreseen by the Law of Planning to
channel the territories’ demands into
the National System of Public
Investment. These councils manage an
average yearly portfolio of over USD
2,5 million and have channeled projects
to the territories with more than 15
national institutions. The LEDAs of
Monte Plata and Dajabon receive more
than USD 1,250.000 from the Special
Fund for livestock development. In
2013, the LEDA of Valverde received
the “Quality Award” by ILS-LEDA.
LEDAs have developed an evaluation
that has allowed to improve their
technical and managerial skills, push
forward micro-finance, saving and
investment mechanisms, and
incorporate them to LED strategies
through the creation of a Microfinance
Network.
The ART Programme technically
supports the network of Dominican
LEDAs (ADELDOM), to mange projects
and implement various initiatives such
as the OVOP Programme (one people,
one product) of the Japanese
Cooperation, the creation of a degree in
project formulation and management
and other specialized courses on
productive value chains in the
territories through the programme +
Small and Medium Enterprises financed
by the European Union.
Uruguay
There is a process of articulation
between ten LEDAs, the national and
departmental governments and the
international level to promote Local
Economic Development. LEDAs have
assumed a leading role in generating
dialogue with national programmes and
in promoting active participation in
implementing territorial policies.
Likewise, the Network of Local
Economic Agencies (RADEL) was
reinforced in relation to knowledge
management, local capacity
strengthening, network construction,
and articulation of the territory’s public
and private actors. Over 2,400 persons
have been trained in the framework of
the RADEL, and there are ten national
programmes and 75 programmes
directly implemented by the agencies.
18
Working Groups
Bolivia
The experience of Oruro’s Department
in Bolivia is worth noting, within the
project PET-MAN (territorial productive
economic planning in Oruro’s unions of
municipalities). Four multi-actor
working groups have been created;
they are operational in four unions of
municipalities in Oruro’s Department,
where strategies and actions of social
and economic development have been
articulated with the territory’s private
and public actors, the Directorate for
Municipal Strengthening and the
department’s secretariat of planning.
Colombia
Colombia developed the comprehensive
ART methodology in the region of
Nariño and in the town of Pasto,
facilitating the creation of multi-actor
and multi-level working groups that
allowed implementation of international
cooperation strategies where issues of
local development with a territorial
approach were prioritized as an
essential element for peacebuilding.
Support for the work on local
programming cycles - and the
revitalization of Nariño in this LEDA
framework - allowed coordination of
public institutions, the private sector,
civil society, academia and international
cooperation around a set of prioritized
and aligned Documents that permitted
effective management of territorial
development. This allowed coordination
of the different actors not only in
participatory planning processes but
also in processes of regional
participatory management, helping to
drive public policy and democratic
governance tools in the medium and
long term. The Nariño Experience was
rated as one of 10 best development
practices in Colombia, and the
Government is currently in a process of
appropriating the methodology to
deploy it in different areas where
working groups of articulators for
territorial dynamics are being created
around various Cooperation
Committees. Local Economic
Development Agencies will play a key
role in the revitalization of these areas.
Ecuador
Ten programming cycles (participatory,
community processes) in seven
provinces and two cantons have been
carried out to articulate among sectors
and public and private actors. Priorities
for the territory’s integral development
have been identified, as reflected in the
Documents of Priorities. These
documents are management tools for
territorial development and are aligned
with the National Development Plan.
Dominican Republic
As a result of the establishment of
territorial working groups in the
provinces of Dajabon and Monte Plata,
Territorial Development Councils have
been created as consultative tools.
These bodies are actually contemplated
by the Law to channel the main
demands of citizens and local
institutions within the National System
of Public Investment. The Councils of
the Dajabon province, with the support
of UNDP’s ART and PDLT (Programme
19
of Local and cross-border Development)
and JICA’s DECADA, have pushed
forward several thematic groups,
allowing the linking of national
institutions to local dynamics in relation
to the territory’s main projects.
Within the group on competitiveness
and productivity, the ADET of Dajabon
actively participates in the process and
supports the design and
implementation of projects at the
provincial level to achieve coordination
and articulation that benefits the local
population, with the participation of the
Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Monte Plata’s LEDA supports the
formulation of municipal Development
Plans, with the support of PRODEM
(Programme for Municipal
Modernization) and in coordination with
the DGODT (Directorate for Territorial
Management and Development).
Capacity strengthening
Bolivia
During 2012, the in-person class phase
of the master in International
Cooperation and Local Economic
Development was developed in
concertation with the University of
Pablo de Olavide. This allowed
gathering 40 participants who
represented ten public and private
institutions and four Bolivian
departments. The initiative was a
success in creating a space for
exchange between institutions that
would normally not engage with each
other, therefore overcoming traditional
political differences.
Colombia
The online teaching methodology "Course in Local Human Development with Emphasis on ART Practices and Methodologies" is available; it has been executed on two occasions and strengthened the capabilities of 50 members in regional cooperation committees. Currently, there is an ongoing strengthening process for the different LEDAs through an assistance and qualification strategy under the international EURADA- ILS LEDA, which seeks to improve the local LEDAs network as well as strengthening the capabilities of the ADELCO NETWORK as a guarantor for the international certification. The LEDAs are also at the forefront of trends in national development by strengthening capabilities in areas such as access to resources through royalty programs and projects supporting innovation systems for MSMEs.
Ecuador
National and territorial capacities in LED
were reinforced through multiple
exchanges of experiences and good
practices, in-country and with
international experts. These exchanges
led to the creation of an agro-industrial
eco-park in el Oro and a conceptual
framework to anchor decentralization of
productive development within the
productive model established in the
Constitution and the “Good Living”
National Plan.
20
El Salvador
The ART Programme has provided
advisory services to establish territorial
working groups in six departments: La
Union, Usulutan, La Libertad,
Sonsonate, La Paz and Morazan. There
are also three Platforms for Human
Development, whose projects have
been financed up to 65 percent with
local, national and international
resources.
As to economic development, the
working group of Morazan’s
Department has become the national
model for the implementation of the
“Management of Water Resources and
Sustainable Local Economic
Development” strategy, which has
allowed five national institutions to
coordinate their respective public
policies. This experience is being
implemented and systemized; the
Ministry of Environment and National
Resources will replicate it at the
national level. With the ART
methodology, an economic governance
model has also been applied to water
governance.
Dominican Republic
The ART Programme has promoted
governance mechanisms such as unions
of municipalities, development councils
and local economic development
agencies, which have created capacities
to mobilize funds and to articulate with
national institutions and international
cooperation organizations.
A total of 24 capacity building activities
on the methodologies of saving and
investment groups have been carried
out with the participation of 605
persons in five provinces. Likewise,
alliances have been established with
local and international universities, for
territorial strategic planning through
GIS (Geographical Information System)
methodologies and visual maps.
Through various international
cooperation exchanges, the ART
Initiative has boosted capacities at all
management levels. The selection and
presentation of good practices in South-
South cooperation between LEDA’s
network and Cuba’s CENSA in the 2012
Knowledge Forum of South Panama, on
the development of the dairy chain,
reflects the important results achieved
in this respect.
The alliances with the Milanese
Provincial Fund and the Polytechnic
University of Milan have generated
innovative experiences in territorial
planning with visual maps. These have
been replicated in the province of
Monte Plata and used by national and
local institutions to focus and improve
their interventions.
Aid effectiveness
Bolivia
Ownership
The working groups supported by the
PET-MAN project have been
institutionalized in the Oruro
Department as statutory organs of the
unions of municipalities. This allows
ensuring the actions’ sustainability,
given the level of leadership shown by
local authorities. It is an example that
21
will be taken into account for the
working groups supported by the
Programme in other departments. In
this sense, the creation of a Strategy
and Development Instruments Unit by
Tarija’s department shows real
ownership of the processes started by
ART.
Alignment
Actions have been undertaken with the
Ministry of Productive Development to
improve its guidelines’ complementarity
with territorial policies, through the
establishment of six departmental
agencies within the Sectorial
Coordination Council in Productive
Development, among others.
Harmonization
The presence of national actors (such
as ministries) in the territorial working
groups ensures that there is dialogue
between actors that traditionally would
not engage with each other. The
participation of various cooperation
agencies (Swiss cooperation, Dutch
cooperation, UNDP, etc.) in elaborating
the Water Plan for the Tarija
Department is a clear example of
harmonization among actors of
international cooperation, and of their
alignment with the regional
government’s priorities. This concrete
experience shows the importance of
ART’s endeavor in promoting meeting
spaces where the priorities of
cooperation actors converge with the
needs expressed by the territories.
Colombia
Ownership
The Presidential Agency for
International Cooperation in Colombia
is incorporating the ART methodology
approach into strengthening the
National System of International
Cooperation, seeking to decentralize
the management of cooperation
through Committees for Cooperation
and Harmonization of Aid. It provides a
baseline in 14 states on the
effectiveness of cooperation on
development, which is the basis for
annual monitoring of progress in
strengthening the National System of
International Cooperation. Several
regional Cooperation Committees are in
a strengthening process to incorporate
the ART methodology into their
prioritization processes, capacity
development and aid management.
It is also worth noting that the LEDA
strategy was recognized and
appropriated in the National
Development Plan for 2010-2014, a
great achievement for the sustainability
of LEDA work in Colombia. Local
Economic Development policies were in
turn incorporated into regional and
municipal development plans, with
emphasis on territories with the
presence of LEDAs.
Alignment
The transfer of ART methodology
appropriated by the Presidential Agency
on Cooperation (APC) to strengthen the
National System of Cooperation has
created an Annual Operational Plan
aligned with the priorities established in
the country’s International Cooperation
Strategy. APC and UNDP have jointly
prioritized a number of territories,
where they will implement a strategy to
strengthen Cooperation Committees,
through mainstreaming the ART
methodology at the regional level, to
22
facilitate preparation of Prioritization
Documents that meet the needs of the
region in the current context of peace
negotiations. Also in process is a
systematization of good local
development practices with the
ADELCO NETWORK and other
networks, to capitalize on economic
development experiences in conflict and
post-conflict contexts relevant to the
country’s new situation.
Harmonization
The work done regarding coordination
of actors in the context of the
Cooperation Committees, currently in
the process of defining priority
agendas, will allow cooperation to be
harmonized with the priorities
established for the regions, and
identification of the area’s needs in
order to arrive at a combination of
actions and multilevel cooperation.
It is noteworthy that in the context of
the work facilitated by the ADELCO
NETWORK, other working relationships
have been strengthened with strategic
partners such as UN Habitat, the EU,
and various embassies, to delve into
issues such as territorial marketing,
policy dialogue and strengthening rural
associativity and microenterprises.
Ecuador
Ownership
Local and national Ecuadorian actors,
whether public or private, have led the
Programme’s project actions and
activities; UNDP and the ART
Programme have assumed a supporting
role. In the territories, there has been
strong local leadership thanks to the
delegation, identification and
responsibility shown by local
institutions. There are ongoing
institutionalization and transfer
processes in relation to the
methodology proposed by ART, such as
in Loja (technical committee for
territorial articulation and management
–META-), Carchi (committee of
territorial articulation -CAT-, which is in
the final phases of institutionalization
through a decree), Playas
(Management, Dialogue and Cantonal
Council, institutionalized through a
decree in 2013), and El Oro (Provincial
Working Group –PWG- in the process of
institutionalization). Over time, these
processes will ensure the sustainability
of the work done and its
methodological transfer.
Alignment
The Programme’s Annual Work Plans,
approved by the National Coordination
Committee, are aligned and respond to
the country’s work guidelines. Likewise,
the ten Documents of Priorities (for
Azuay, Bolívar, Carchi (2), El Oro,
Esmeraldas, Loja, Los Ríos, Aguarico
and Playas) respond to the needs and
priorities established in the
Development Plans and Territorial
Management of the Subnational
Governments within the regions of
intervention. These documents are
tools for managing territorial
development, and allow for all
investments, whether national or
international, to be aligned to territorial
priorities.
Harmonization
Actions aimed at sharing information
among donors, promoting
complementarity among donors and
simplifying procedures have been
23
supported, such as in the FOCAD
projects in Carchi.
In addition, led by the Technical
Secretariat of International Cooperation
(SETECI), the Programme undertook a
study on the division of labor and
complementarity of cooperation, at the
request of the Council of Global
Dialogue of Cooperation. Good
practices in the province of Carchi were
identified, such as working groups and
the Document of Priorities, whose
implementation is recommended for the
whole country.
Moreover, the ART Programme in
Ecuador has elaborated an instrument
for the measuring of Development
Cooperation Effectiveness at the local
level, and has implemented it at the
national level. This experience has been
carried out in alliance with SETECI and
national associations of the subnational
governments (i.e. municipal, provincial,
rural parochial governments). The tool
was implemented in 24 provincial
governments, 216 municipal
governments, 24 provincial associations
of parochial governments, 32 civil
society actors and 32 cooperation
actors present in the territory. This
exercise allowed following up on the
current process of decentralization and
competency transfer of international
cooperation in the territories. It also
showed its capacity to strengthen the
capacities of subnational governments
in decision-making and management of
international cooperation. The final
report offers an insight on development
effectiveness at the local level in the
country and on the institutional
capacities of subnational governments
in relation to international cooperation
management in the territories,
providing valuable information for the
elaboration and implementation of
institutional strengthening plans in this
sector.
El Salvador
Ownership
ART’s methodology has been assumed
by CIADEL to implement the National
Strategy of Marina’s Coastal Strip and
the National System of Productive
Development. All the methodological
tools produced, such as the
methodological guide for the promotion
of LED, the methodological guide to
establish LEDAs and CIADEL’s
operational and political structure have
also been taken over by the
Commission.
The ART Programme has worked
closely with UNDP’s Regional Center in
Panama assist in the formulation of the
National Strategy for Decentralized
Cooperation. In light of this experience,
the Vice Ministry of Development
Cooperation (through the directorates
of non-official, decentralized, South-
South and Triangular cooperation) has
set the standard in public policy
making, and El Salvador has become a
pioneer in the formulation of public
policies with a territorial development
approach.
The advice and support ART has
provided, together with UNDP’s
Regional Center in Panama, to the Vice-
Ministry in response to the Aid
Effectiveness commitment, has
facilitated the systematization of the
“Integrated National System for
Development Cooperation”,
24
documenting the experience in El
Salvador to institutionalize the national
bodies that are in charge of this public
policy.
Alignment
Seven national policies (observatory of
water resources management,
promotion of development centers for
micro, small and medium enterprises,
rural tourism, women’s financial
autonomy, prevention of violence and
incorporation of youth at risk to the
productive network, migration and
development, national strategy of
productive development) are
incorporated to the territorial planning
promoted by the Programme, financing
local initiatives and transferring
institutional technical assistance.
Harmonization
Through the Vice Ministry of
Cooperation, the Programme’s tools are
presented to donors in order to improve
territorial articulation.
Dominican Republic
Ownership
The ART Programme has supported the
strategic planning of the Ministry of
Industry and Commerce (MIC),
particularly in relation to public policies
on small and medium enterprises
(which originated during the
governmental transition), incorporating
the territorial approach, localizing
projects on small and medium
enterprises and supporting the
technical and operational design and
startup of the new Ministry of Small and
Medium Enterprises.
The MIC has included ART’s territorial
approach in its planning and has
pushed forward the creation of LEDAs
as an instrument for local economic
development.
Alignment
ART’s promotion of LED is aligned with
national policies in relation to planning
and development and to the territorial
implementation of the National Strategy
for Development 2010 – 20130.
The Programme has promoted
articulation between the sectorial
policies of three ministries, (Ministry of
Economy, Planning and Development,
Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of
Industry and Commerce).
Harmonization
The ART programme has supported the
coordination and harmonization spaces
for national bodies and donors in three
different sectors. As a result, three
agencies now use the territorial
approach to development: FAO,
UNICEF and UNHCR. Furthermore,
there is an alliance with UN Women to
mainstream gender issues in LED
strategies. The Programme has 23
decentralized cooperation partners;
they are all participating in the
construction of strategic frameworks for
territorial action, by implementing
prioritized actions, exchanging
experiences and strengthening
capacities. The programme has also
facilitated ten agreements with
decentralized cooperation partners, in
line with territorial priorities.
Uruguay
Ownership
The Programme “Salto Emprende” is
fully funded by local and national
programmes, whereas programmes and
25
national ministries finance
socioeconomic studies. The local
agenda for employment in Maldonado
is a priority for the National Directorate
of Employment, who funds it.
Alignment
The working groups of Artigas, Bella
Unión, Tomás Gomensoro and Baltasar
Brum were the starting point of the first
calls to elaborate the plan and of the
creation of the Departmental Planning
Team 2012 – 2025.
Harmonization
The methodological implementation of
the Programme has yielded successes
such as Proyecto Franquia in Artigas.
Initially proposed by the working group,
the project was articulated at the local
level with civil society and with national
and local authorities, obtaining the
support of the Spanish municipality of
Huelva (decentralized cooperation).
The project “Strengthening
Environmental Protection in Franquia”
aims at designing a plan of integral
protection for the triple-border area
through decentralized cooperation
(Huelva municipality and Doñana
municipality). The project has managed
to include Rincon de Franquia in the
National System of Protected Areas
(within the National Advising
Commission), in line with the Manjeo
Plan guidelines, and with the approval
of national, departmental and local
authorities. Likewise, members of
Argentinian and Brazilian NGOs,
representatives of neighbors’
commissions and the general
population have been included in the
process.
26
4. Challenges and Pending Issues
27
This section offers a general reflection
on the challenges facing the ART
Initiative, by analyzing the lessons
learned throughout many years of
implementation. The ideas revolve
around the current international context
of cooperation, the need to establish a
new strategy of alliances, the work
carried out in the territories and the
adaptability of the methodology to the
territory’s particularities.
Resource mobilization strategy
and alliances with new partners
In response to the dwindling resources
of international cooperation, a fact that
could jeopardize the consolidation of
ongoing territorial processes and their
subsequent national ownership, it is
necessary to promote a strategy of
resource mobilization that seeks new
alliances with decentralized, bilateral
and multilateral cooperation actors.
Such a strategy should also promote a
wider role for national and local
institutions, encouraging a higher level
of ownership of the processes set in
motion.
In the framework of the Initiative’s
current and future financial
sustainability, South-South cooperation
constitutes one of the most interesting
paths towards financial and technical
resource mobilization. Several countries
that are not traditional donors have
shown interest in the accumulated
experience of the UNDP ART
Programme in the last years,
particularly in relation to its exhaustive
knowledge of articulation processes in
the territories.
In this sense, it is necessary to
systemize the experiences accumulated
by the ART Programmes, underscoring
the good practices that would allow a
better exposure of the achievements
and learning processes, to benefit the
local and national actors who work with
ART.
Work strategy in the territories
One of the major learning elements
stems from the adaptability of ART’s
methodology to the territories’
specificities and idiosyncrasies. This
means that ART is capable of adapting
itself to changing environments and
different institutional contexts. This
way, it has been able to achieve high
participation and the political leadership
of the territories’ actors. Another key to
its success has been its ability to
generate inclusive spaces of negotiation
that ensure the participation of the
territory’s actors in decision-making,
and its prioritization of interventions
based on demand (at the local and
national levels) rather than on the offer
of international cooperation actors.
It is essential to identify the optimal
territorial scales to develop the UNDP-
ART methodology, in order to ensure
results and impact at the local level. In
this sense, the work undertaken by
Oruro’s department in Bolivia has
demonstrated that working at the
territorial level was the right choice.
This has allowed working with several
municipalities that had scarce
resources in order to achieve a higher
28
impact on the population’s quality of
life.
All work proposals in relation to
development effectiveness and to
cooperation at the local level ought to
be designed around the territories’
assets and endogenous potential.
Acknowledging, appraising and building
on this potential do not exclude a
realistic approach to existing
challenges, but they facilitate
concertation and linking a wide range
of actors towards a positive
prospective.
The institutionalized processes and
articulation spaces promoted by the
Programme allow approving and
implementing projects in an effective
and articulated way. Moreover, these
processes and spaces promote a better
division of labor and the
complementariness of international
cooperation actors.
Working groups are a useful
mechanism to strengthen institutional
capacities in the framework of
competency decentralization such as
international cooperation management
and productive development, and to
promote their acknowledgement as
useful tools for cooperation
management. There are various
examples of the institutionalization of
these articulation mechanisms in
different countries. This is achieved
through a long dialogue process with all
relevant actors in a climate of trust and
mutual responsibility. The issue of
institutionalizing working groups needs
to be understood in terms of the
intervention’s sustainability.
The kickoff and design of
methodological tools that stimulate
these spaces/working groups in the
territory’s municipalities must generate
participatory, inclusive and local
planning processes on issues of human
development.
It is vital to reinforce the linkages
between the LEDAs and the working
groups, in order to generate more
synergies and to stimulate an inclusive
and sustainable LED. This also requires
more influence of the National
Government in the territories, to
promote the LEDAs’ political, social and
economic sustainability. These should
be brought closer to the Departments,
as tools for LED differentiated from
other financial institutions or consulting
firms. It is also important to systemize
the good practices and learning
accumulated by the LEDAs, disseminate
them and promote the exchange of
good practices between them.
One of the challenges facing ART
Programmes is the constant rotation of
civil servants, both at the territorial and
national levels. This has entailed the
renegotiation of agreements in the best
of cases and the temporary halt of
activities and in worst-case scenarios.
In this sense, it seems reasonable to try
and work with those technical officers
or civil servants who will remain longer
in their posts. To mitigate the effects of
these rotations, it is necessary to
devote enough time to contextualize
and explain the planned or initiated
activities to the new authorities. The
change in governmental positions
through regional and local elections
each four to five years, coupled with
the lack of continuity policies, pose a
29
real threat to the advancement of
regional processes.
It is also important to have strong
inter-institutional alliances, consolidated
political frameworks for ownership and
alignment, developed capacities, spaces
of participation and community
involvement, and strategic sectorial,
territorial or demographic projects. All
these elements facilitate the continuity
and sustainability of development
processes and social transformation,
which, as an example, aim at peace in
Nariño, Colombia. The latter is
characterized by its inclusiveness of
traditionally vulnerable groups and their
capacity development.
Alliances and inter-institutional
networks should be territory-based
(local actors and cooperation actors
who have a presence in the field), and
multilevel (the territory’s actors with
national and international actors). This
double dimension is fundamental to
ensure the effectiveness of
development cooperation at the local
level.
Implementation and adaptation
of the methodology
One of the major challenges for ART
Programmes is how to adequately
transfer methodologies and tools to
formulate and implement LED policies
that are linked to territorial and national
development priorities and that allow
achieving SHD.
Likewise, it is key to effectively
mainstream the gender approach within
the articulation processes and
mechanisms set in motion in the
country and within LED policies. To do
so, it is important to reinforce the
capacities of ART staff members and of
the territory’s interlocutors in this
specific area.
Developing local capacities to improve
local human development will require a
pedagogic approach and an ambitious
capacity building strategy. It is
necessary to develop capacities on
ART’s local programming cycle to foster
a higher degree of ownership of the
proposed methodology by local
institutions.
The National Coordination Committee
(NCC) is a coordination body that
gathers the different actors of the
National Government, territorial
authorities and community of donors
who participate in the implementation
or financing of ART Programmes. The
NCC, the working groups, Local
Development Planning and the
Documents of Priorities (or Territory’s
Guidelines) have shown that they are
valuable tools and spaces to facilitate
dialogue and articulation between
actors and governmental levels to plan
and manage the territory, reach
integral development and strengthen
national decentralized processes (such
as participatory planning, heritage
management, etc.)
An instrument to measure the added
value of the complementariness
between actors and of the articulation
of thematic and territorial networks that
operate in the framework of the
Initiative has been developed. The
implementation of this Instrument of
Added Value and its adaptation to
30
multilevel articulation and development
cooperation effectiveness at the local
level has become a strategic tool and a
baseline within this new process. This
will enable implementing the process
from a perspective of development
effectiveness in the future. These
starting points will facilitate undertaking
future evaluations and comparing the
progress between regions, in order to
have a better insight of development
cooperation effectiveness and multilevel
articulation.
31
5. Annex:
Good practices in Local Economic
Development per Countries.
32
ART Bolivia
PROGRAMME IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC POLICIES ON PRODUCTIVE
DEVELOPMENT TO STRENGTHEN AND PROMOTE MICRO AND SMALL
ENTERPRISES
November 2012 - June 2014
Region: Departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Pando, Beni and Tarija.
Objectives pursued: Strengthen articulation between the Autonomous Territorial Entities and Bolivia’s Central
Government in relation to policies, plans, programmes and projects in productive
development.
Achieved results:
Plans and productive development policies are harmonized and articulated through
inter-institutional spaces that facilitate planning and prioritization in the territories.
Planning and implementation productive investments have increased.
Real distribution of competencies among the autonomous entities in relation to
productive development and effective implementation of the Framework Law on
Autonomies.
Four productive projects in Pando’s Department, for an approximate investment of
61.116.827 bolivianos, have been elaborated.
Marketing studies (TESA level, i.e. Integral technical, economic and environmental
33
studies) of five productive projects have been carried out. It is estimated that the
investment will be around 100 million bolivianos.
In the Department of Potosi, pledges for 13 projects from the 2013 Annual Work
Plan (AWP) and draft 2014 AWP have been coordinated. The estimated investment
will be of 142.354.969,47 bolivianos.
Success factors and good practices:
Methodology implemented with strong national leadership.
Coordination, dialogue and agreements with the actors involved.
Approach oriented to solving local issues.
The methodology is adapted to the advice of the territories’ actors, taking into
account the socioeconomic reality of each department.
Clear distribution of the actors’ roles in the process.
Local empowerment.
Replicability:
The Initiative, based on the implementation of Sectorial Coordination Committees in
Productive Development, has been successful. This had led other actors to request the
initiative’s methodological support for other sectorial committees and productive
platforms, for various thematic areas and geographical regions.
Challenges / Sustainability:
The commitments of all parts need to be closely followed up to achieve results.
Likewise, to avoid duplications it is important to work on coordination strategies
between the various sectorial councils. Finally, sustainability will be achieved by
shifting departmental technical officers to internal positions within the Ministry of
Productive Development and Plural Economy, and by generating setting new
objectives for the future Council.
34
PROJECT OF TERRITORIAL PRODUCTIVE ECONOMIC PLANNING IN ORURO’S
DEPARTMENT —COMMONWEALTH OF MUNICIPALITIES (PET MAN)
December 2011 - February 2014
Region: Department of Oruro, Bolivia (six unions of municipalities that tally 86 percent of
the department’s municipalities).
Objectives Pursued:
The project seeks to consolidate and strengthen LED processes in Oruro’s Commonwealth of Municipalities of and their partner municipalities, strengthening them as strategic territorial spaces to plan the development of the Departmental Autonomous Government.
Specifically, the project seeks the following results:
Support the economic development processes of the Commonwealth of
Municipalities of Aymaras Without Borders, Azanake, Litoral and Minera, strengthening their regional working groups, offering support, facilitating technical exchanges and implementing projects in the framework of the strategic guidelines prioritized by the working groups.
Replicate the learning elements of the first phase of the Project “Territorial Productive Economic Planning Project in the Commonwealth of Municipalities” in the commonwealths of Frontera con Chile and Rio Desaguadero, by structuring the regional working groups, formulating the Territorial Economic Development Plan and elaborating profiles for the prioritized projects.
35
Systemize the experience of PET MAN in Oruro to consolidate a territorial local economic development that stems in the Commonwealth of Municipalities.
Achieved results:
An institutional strategic plan has been designed and implemented in each Commonwealth of Municipalities.
An articulation space of territorial actors for productive development has been created and is operational in each Commonwealth of Municipalities.
A private-public Plan of Territorial Economic Development has been designed and is operational in each Commonwealth of Municipalities.
Two projects have been implemented. Six projects have been included in the 2014 AWP of the Department and of the
Municipalities within the Commonwealths, with the participation of external actors (national and/or international). Others are being negotiated.
Gradual ownership of the regional planning methodology, facilitating a higher execution of productive public expenditure. UNDP contributed with 80 percent of the funds in the first phase of the project, whereas it now finances 15 percent of the ongoing second phase.
Success factors and good practices:
The project lies within the Department’s political priorities to regionalize its planning / intervention and meets the needs of the small municipalities to partner with each other in order to generate higher impact projects.
The Territorial Strategic Development Plan is a tool that guides: The organization of the Commonwealth of Municipalities, producers’ groups and
support organizations. Public expenditure, based to the strategic guidelines of productive development
agreed to in each territory. The gradual elaboration of strategies and processes (the project is in its second
phase) facilitates higher ownership and leadership by the Autonomous Departmental Government of Oruro (GADOR) and the other actors.
Replicability:
The initial intervention was planned in four of the Department’s Commonwealth of
Municipalities. Thanks to the success of the first phase, the Department and the
Commonwealth of Municipalities requested UNDP to implement a second phase, to
strengthen the ongoing processes and replicate the experience to other Commonwealths
of Municipalities.
The objective of the Department is to cover all its municipalities, to facilitate local-
departmental-national planning and create a departmental working group.
Challenges / Sustainability:
Continue supporting GADOR’s efforts to cover the whole territory.
Transfer the methodology and financial responsibilities to GADOR and the Commonwealth
of Municipalities.
36
ART Colombia
INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NARIÑO AS A PEACEBUILDING
PROPOSAL –EVEN AMIDST CONFLICT
2008 - 2013
Photo: Borja Paladini Adell ©
Region: Department of Nariño.
Objectives pursued and results achieved:
In partnership with UNDP, Nariño’s Government, the municipalities of Pasto and
Tumaco, Nariño’s LEDA and a wide range of actors are pushing forward innovative
local and territorial development dynamics in the region, incorporating elements of
good governance and democratic governance. These efforts have become an
innovative modality for peacebuilding and sustainable development that stems from
the local sphere, even amidst a tough armed conflict.
Nariño’s actors are spearheading development processes through cooperation
between various territorial, local, regional, national and international actors in a
multilevel rationale. They count on the coordinated support of the Territorial Office of
various UNDP programmes (ART REDES, DEI, RED ORMET, Growing up together,
Window of Peace of the Spanish Fund for the MDGs, among others) as well as other
initiatives by several United Nations agencies.
In the economic sector, several concrete actions for inclusive economic development
are carried out through innovative instruments for employment generation,
37
entrepreneurship, rural development, economic development of the territory, analysis
of economic opportunities in the region and sustainable development
Success factors and good practices:
UNDP’s support has extended to a wide range of pilot initiatives that offer possibilities and
ways to generate income and inclusiveness for the most vulnerable and excluded
population; through various policies, local actors are taking ownership of these activities.
A total of 6,933 families (i.e. 36.050 persons) participate and directly benefit from the
various economic initiatives. Their participation is consistent (it is not one-off) and is
carried out through various strategies:
They are owners or providers of inclusive businesses.
These persons are involved in livelihood projects ˆof living that have a technical
support of at least two years.
They have accessed seed capital (or credit) to finance their business and
entrepreneurship plans.
They are involved in training and capacity building processes (for instance with
SENA –Pasto) on the design, implementation and financing of business plans.
They own farms where diversified productive systems have been developed (such as
the Shagra or peasant farms) that not only generate alternatives for a licit life but
also protect and develop biodiversity, fight against climate change and protect
cultures and traditional practices that stimulate biodiversity.
Of these persons, 65 percent are women; 75 per cent of the families adopt an
environmental approach in their economic entrepreneurship. All of them are excluded,
highly vulnerable families (victims, rural youth, women, peasants, indigenous persons,
afro-Colombians, among others).
In addition to the economic aspect, the project tackles elements of governance and
democratic governance, which enrich the overall experience:
Transformative citizen participation has been consolidated, particularly in local and
territorial development processes.
Territorial, sectorial and demographic policies have been pushed forward on the
short, medium and long term, incorporating the visions and guidelines for
development elaborated by local institutions and actors.
A strong locally-based ownership and leadership feeling has developed, which
harnesses and convinces national and international actors to support the local
proposals expressed in the above mentioned agendas.
The territory has several political guidelines that gather and develop the territory’s
planning, with an emphasis on economic planning:
The last two departmental and municipal development plans of Pasto incorporate
inclusive economic development as a priority.
38
Sectorial and demographic policies that were formulated between 2008 and 2013
incorporate inclusive economic development as a main focus (gender equality and
youth policies as well, among others).
Territorial guidelines such as the “Plans for Living” of the indigenous, afro-
Colombian or peasant communities enrich the inclusive development approach with
rationales of “good living” and decent life.
The Pacific side of Nariño has developed its Territorial Rural Development Plans,
where its main economic choices and focus areas for economic development are
well defined.
This process has allowed strengthening various local institutions (Nariño’s LEDA,
Economic Development Secretariat of Pasto, Management Unit of Tumaco’s
municipality), which are leading local economic processes. It is worth nothing the
consolidation of Nariño’s LEDA as:
A leader and coordinator of various processes for the formulation of strategic plans
in Nariño: policies, competitiveness plans, integral rural development plans, and
productive chain plans.
A leader in processes that link lawful economic dynamics with territorial governance
ones.
A partner and main ally of various strategic plans on economic and territorial
development in Nariño:
Support to agreements on competitiveness and business plans for value
chains (coffee, fique -a vegetable fiber-, dairy products, vegetables, cacao,
tourism).
Regional leader for the stimulation of inclusive businesses: Al Sur
(marketing business of vegetables), support to the bi-national inclusive
business Colenap SAS, direct support to the project Nariño’s Food,
customs-free zone, among others).
Regional leader in processes of economic and political analyses: elaborating
studies on the active labor market, productive profiles for Tumaco’s
municipality with an emphasis on the vulnerable and victim groups,
productive profiles in five other municipalities, studies on the bi-national
economic dynamics, studies on the strategies and good practices of rural
development, diagnoses to stimulate development and peace programmes
and strategies, design of a development and peace geo-referenced
information system for Nariño, among others.
Leader and promoter of knowledge and good practices exchanges: for
instance, through the “DIRENA Programme: development with a regional
identity between Spain and Nariño”.
Support to regional dynamics that contribute to achieve development and
peace conditions for Nariño; member of the Development and Peace
Programmes Network of Colombia.
Leader in advocacy for the formulation of public policies for regional
development with an economic emphasis.
39
Replicability:
The process is being systemized and is at the disposal of interested actors.
Challenges / sustainability:
The recent mobilizations of the farmer sector in Colombia have put the issues of
rural development and peasant economy at the forefront of the Colombian political
agenda for 2014. This situation has generated a major challenge: to consolidate the
process described, developing it more intensely at the programming level, in order
to access new resources that have been put at the disposal of rural development in
Colombia for the year 2014.
It implies, among others, to continue pushing forward the current process to guide
the design of programmes and rural development interventions, and to avoid
fragmenting available resources in multiple little projects of scarce impact.
In 2014, a policy for the rural development of Nariño (CONPES) will be formulated,
and it will incorporate many of the learning processes of this experience.
40
ART Ecuador
SUPPORTING DECENT EMPLOYMENT AND YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
PROGRAMMES
June 2009 - February 2013
Region: The provinces of Azuay, el Oro and Loja
Objectives Pursued:
Benefit the micro and small entrepreneurs who have been traditionally excluded
from the formal finance system and need economic resources to acquire fixed assets
or finance their working capital.
Generate specific processes to improve the work and economic conditions of youth,
through sustainable processes and public policies for youth.
Achieved results:
The Institutional Management Model for Entrepreneurship has been created,
offering specific services for youth; it is based on a public policy that supports young
41
entrepreneurs through two financing lines for businesses and access to Guarantee
Fund services (depending on territorial demand, production characteristics, gender
considerations, payment capacity, and other externalities or market flaws).
These new financial services have generated 1,134 new youth businesses and
provided financial assistance to 1,479 businesses led by youth. Within this result,
women’s economic empowerment and strengthening ought to be highlighted; their
opportunities have improved, as reflected in the 570 businesses led by women.
Eighteen organizations from the Popular and Solidary Financing Sector now offer
credit for youth in the three target provinces.
The National Programme of Popular Finances, Entrepreneurship and Solidary
Economy has had its capacity strengthened and has been endowed with technical
tools, contributing to its transformation into “The National Corporation of Popular
and Solidary Finances”
As an institutional policy, the National Corporation of Popular and Solidary Finances
has allowed leveraging the Entrepreneurship Fund generated by this project (initially
worth USD 424,710.00), with a funding of its own of USD 2,553,340.17 and a total
funding of USD 2,977,050.17, generating 2,115 credit transactions for youth
between 15 and 19 years of age.
Success factors and good practices:
Directly working with local financial entities.
A methodology for the qualification of local financial entities and their strengthening.
The creation of new financial products for youth.
The joint work and coordination between the National Corporation of Popular and
Solidary Finances, local financial entities and the implementing agendas of local
development strategies (LEDAs, local governments, etc.).
Replicability:
The intervention was originally foreseen in three provinces, but owing to the project’s
success, the intervention’s area has been expanded to all the provinces in the country.
The National Corporation of Popular and Solidary Finances has been invited to several
international forums to present its experience as a good practice.
Challenges / Sustainability:
A permanent challenge is that of increasing the relationship between local financial entities
and local governments, and motivating a higher number of young entrepreneurs to use the
new financial services.
42
“ZONAL AGRO-INDUSTRIAL ECO-PARK, FROM A PERSPECTIVE OF
TRANSFORMING THE PRODUCTIVE MATRIX IN EL ORO PROVINCE” PROJECT
June 2012 - December 2013
*DRAFT
Region: El Oro province
Objectives pursued:
Undertake feasibility studies and the final design of the zonal agro-industrial eco-
park of el Oro with a 100-year horizon.
Diversify production, focusing on adding value to agriculture, fishery, aquaculture,
biotechnological and research products, generating employment opportunities.
Achieved results:
Articulation between local and national authorities on the territory’s proposal for the
transformation of the productive matrix has been achieved. The project is an
emblematic strategy pushed forward by the National Government.
Studies that can be directly implemented to transform the territorial productive
matrix in the country’s south have been undertaken.
Local capacities to assume the decentralized competency of productive
development have been strengthened.
The project has been positioned at the national and international levels, attracting
international talent to support the project’s implementation.
43
Success factors and good practices:
Articulation between local governments and the National Government for the
territorial implementation of a national strategy based on a territorial proposal.
A solid positioning of the project thanks to a strategic partnership with UNDP.
Replicability:
Many regions are interested in replicating the project. UNDP is at their disposal to
facilitate implementing similar projects, promoting local-territorial-national articulation
and strengthening territorial capacities for the management of the decentralized
competency on productive development.
Challenges / Sustainability:
The implementation of the project itself is the main challenge on the short-term, for
it requires a higher positioning at the national and international levels in order to
harness the necessary investments.
For a better sustainability of the project and similar initiatives, the National
Government should assume a strategy of national-territorial articulation for the
implementation, execution and follow up of this kind of projects, adopting the
project’s good practices.
44
ART El Salvador
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL POLICY OF THE MINISTRY OF
ECONOMY/CONAMYPE TO DEVELOP BUSINESS CENTERS FOR MICRO, SMALL
AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES BY THE LEDAS OF LA UNION
January 2013 - December 2014
Region: Department of La Unión.
Objectives pursued:
Strengthen the linkages between national policies and territorial focus.
Acknowledge LEDAs as implementing agents of national public policies.
Channel public investments towards territorial needs.
Promote the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the
territory, ensuring capacities, technical assistance and financing through public
resources.
Motivate the development and competitiveness of fishing associations in La Union,
generating employment and increasing performance.
45
Results achieved:
A cooperation agreement between two national public entities and the LEDA for the
implementation of the national policy on the promotion of micro and small
enterprises as well as a desk service for the promotion of investments.
The LEDA’s capacity to serve national entities has been established as a sustainable
model. LEDAs are territorial reference points for a more efficient and effective
policy implementation, thanks to their knowledge and diagnosis capacity in relation
to territorial productive units (specifically, fishery) and project design.
Six technical officers from the National Government are now based in La Union to
provide technical assistance to enterprises.
Fourteen projects to support MSMEs in fishery have been financed from February
to June 2013, benefiting 11 fishing associations, five of which are run by women.
Almost 200 jobs have been supported; an increase of 10 percent in new jobs is
foreseen.
LEDAs have been able to recover costs (service provision, space renting and
equipment for institutional technical officers).
The experience has been replicated to other LEDAs (Morazan, Sonsonate) and
expanded to other national entities (Ministry of Tourism for the implementation of
the policy “populations alive”).
Success factors and good practices:
Articulation with national public policies thanks to the establishment of CIADEL at the
national level and its linkages with the territorial level through the LEDAs, based on
local needs.
LEDA: Mechanism to stimulate public-private and national-local partnerships.
Replicability:
The experience is replicable to other LEDAs.
The LEDA’s experience is an attractive option to operate other public policies,
such as on Tourism, Agriculture and environment.
Challenges / Sustainability:
The LEDA mechanism, which integrates the national/local level in the
implementation of public policies in the territories, can be consolidated; this
would influence the elaboration and implementation of public policies that are
based on the territories’ realities.
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ART Dominican Republic
PROMOTION OF THE DAIRY CHAIN IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
WITH THE SUPPORT OF CUBA’S NATIONAL CENTER OF FARMING HEALTH
2008 - 2013
Region: Provinces of Dajabón, Monte Plata, El Seibo, Sanchez Ramírez, Bahoruco
and Valverde.
Objectives pursued:
With the overall objective of supporting a territorial development public policy, the
ART Programme has facilitated an agreement between Cuba’s Center of Farming
Health (CENSA) and the Dominican LEDA networks to promote the dairy chain in the
Dominican Republic through ADELMOPLA (Monte Plata’s LEDA).
To strengthen the LEDA’s work in the dairy sector, an integral programme of
technical support to the dairy chain was established with CENSA, including national
and local actors in the technical, organizational and structural aspects of the project.
The national level worked with public health organizations (on the practical
implementation of regulations on quality and innocuousness, good manufacturing
practices, good practices in milk production, risk evaluation), with the General
Directorate of Regulations and Quality Standards (to support those aspects of the
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norms and regulations related to milk and dairy products, quality specifications,
testing methods), with the Animal Health Organism (on programs to control
transmittable diseases to human beings such as brucellosis, tuberculosis, mastitis,
etc.). CONALECHE (National Council for the Regulation and Development of the Milk
Industry) and APROLECHE (Association of Milk Producers in the Dominican Republic)
played a decisive role at this level, and so did other organisms concerned with the
chain’s technical and normative aspects. At the local level, the programme
implemented concrete actions integrated in the chain, aimed at strengthening the
economic process of LEDAs. These interventions were aimed at direct actors (milk
producers, farmers, processors, distributors and eventually, consumers).
Success factors and good practices:
Strategies that encourage growth and integration in the milk chains have been
designed, and the foundations have been set to articulate national and local
instances.
Local produce has been brought closer to the country’s regulatory bodies; the
latter has, for the first time, an exchange platform with representatives of a
productive sector.
The mentality in relation to organizational approaches has changed, which was
a necessary step to integrate between producers at the chain level and
producers at the economic level, within a fragmented sector crippled with a
history of failed actions that led to mistrust between actors.
National integration between the various LEDAs, with the constitution of an
advising technical team composed of members of the Agencies in various
provinces. It was recommended to establish organizational frameworks for the
agencies, in the provinces and within the Network itself.
The capacities of local actors have been improved in technical, organizational
and normative aspects, contributing to initiate a process of empowerment that
should continue to evolve favorably. Furthermore, the capacities of national
technical officers, i.e. the producers’ permanent advisors such as those of
Megaleche (improvement of dairy farms in the Dominican Republic), have been
strengthened.
Experts from other countries have been identified, to channel the contributions
of international cooperation.
A contract between ADELMOPLA, as the representative of the country’s LEDAs,
and CENSA has been signed to market the Stabilak (a chemical to keep milk
fresh as it awaits pasteurizing).
The dairy chain has been fully integrated in three of the six LEDAs (Dajabon,
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Bahoruco, Monte Plata), and articulated with national bodies; significant
progress in the three other LEDAs has been made (El Seibo, Valverde and
Sanchez Ramirez). A business with all the chain’s partners will be created and
could become a model for the country.
The rapprochement and participative exchange between producers and national
institutions has endowed the dairy chain organizations with legal instruments to
improve their actions and the quality of their products. The dairy issue has been
inserted in local and national programmes, institutionalizing the process and
empowering local and national partners.
A number of good practices for primary producers were adopted within PROCAL
(Integral Programme to Improve Milk Production and Quality) as well as a
programme of good practices in manufacturing.
A technology transfer took place as a first step for future endogenous
production in the Dominican Republic.
The complementarity between the various cooperation modalities managed by
the LEDAs led to a common effort to improve the dairy chain.
Collaboration with the Haitian partners of the dairy chain took place in
Dajabon’s LEDA.
Replicability:
The process initiated in the six provinces where LEDAs are present is used as a
nationwide model to replicate and implement public policies on the dairy sector.
Challenges / Sustainability:
Thanks to the integration of the dairy chain, more than 15 businesses and
cooperatives have been created in the last year alone. This has contributed to
increase employment and the income of small and medium producers. The National
Association of Dairy Transformers was created In August 2013.
In 2013 as well, USD 500,000 from the Presidency’s Special Fund for farming
development were assigned to Dajabon’s LEDA, to support the dairy chain.
In October 2013, the International Dairy Congress the was held in Punta Cana in the
Dominican Republic, organized by the LEDA’s Network and the relevant national
entities, with the participation of the Dominican Republic’s Presidency.
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ART Uruguay
SALTO EMPRENDE (SALTO UNDERTAKES)
PROGRAMME TO SUPPORT THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM
ENTERPRISES
2009-2013
Region: El Salto Department
Objectives pursued:
Promote the competitiveness and development of MSMEs in El Salto by strengthening
local services for entrepreneurial development.
The strategy contemplates strengthening local services of entrepreneurial development
aimed at improving the competitiveness of those MSMEs associated to three prioritized
value chains (fruit farming, tourism and timber), to contribute to generate more a
competitive environment through a public-private strategies and strong local-national
articulation.
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Achieved results:
Initial funds have been multiplied by ten; ten national programmes participate in
executing them.
Over 250 visits for promotion and advice have been organized, out of the 144
planned ones.
The first advising center on 5 S technology has been created.
Two microcredit funds have been implemented; this has allowed granting credits
for USD 700,000.
Over 2,500 persons have been capacitated thanks to the training programmes.
Sixty business incubators were created in 2012.
Creation and invigoration of associations in the fruit farming chain, with pledges
of over USD 950,000.
Success factors and good practices:
Design of institutional incentives to allow local-national and local-local articulation
to implement national programmes in the territory, ensuring high levels of quality
and execution.
A strong association with the private sector, who is involved in decision-making
and co-executes the initiative. The private sector has consolidated its position as
a strategic actor in the prioritization of the associated MSMEs.
Ongoing training of human resources and consolidation of a technical team within
the programme to achieve a higher impact.
Raising awareness and advocacy with the department’s socioeconomic and
political actors to highlight the initiative’s relevance and stimulate strategies that
promote MSMEs.
Replicability:
The initiative has a high degree of replicability. It is possible to identify areas of
replicability in the following areas: design of institutional incentives to allow national
programmes achieving high levels of execution; agreements that guarantee mutual
responsibility in the implementation of activities; methodological replicability in relation
to the model of business services, the format of trainings and inter-institutional
articulation; and the balance between strategic and operational planning.
Challenges / Sustainability:
Expand the network of partners who are able to influence the strategic decisions
of the programme from a flexible, institutional public-private structure.
Diversify the budgetary structure, incorporating new partners and programmes.
Strengthen the technical team and encourage a more active role of academia in
the programme.
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