ART 2011 REPORT

Copyright © 2012 by the United Nations Development ProgrammeGeneva Representation OfficePalais des NationsCH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission from UNDP.

DisclaimersPhoto Credits (By author&pages).

ART Bolivia: 62; ART Colombia: 50, 63; ART Ecuador: 25, 27, 29, 46, 66; ART DR: 39; ART El Salvador: 44, 67; ART Gabon: 43; ART Kosovo: 41; ART Uruguay: 24, 68; HMSC: 73; Jean Michel André: 34, 35, 42; Adam Rogers: 10; Victor Mello: cover, 2, 4-5, 8-9, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30, 32-33, 36,37, 38, 40, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76, 78.

The designations of geographic entities in this report, and the presentation of the material herein, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the publisher or the participating organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

The cover picture of this publication was taken in the village of Mbaye, Louga Province, Senegal. The central subject is a water tower that is part of a project to provide drinking water to 15,000 villagers. This project is funded by decentralized cooperation partners from the regional and provincial governments of Lombardy (Italy). Their support also includes capacity building on issues related to water management. This picture captures one of the ART’s key functions: facilitating linkages between international partners and local communities in order to implement priority projects and to strengthen local capacities.

INFORMATION AND CONTACT

Giovanni Camilleri [email protected] International Coordinator UNDP – Geneva

Jose Dallo [email protected] SpecialistBureau For Development Policy (BDP)UNDP – New York

Lurdes [email protected] Programme Specialist - ART InitiativeUNDP – Geneva

Johannes Krassnitzer [email protected] Programme Specialist - ART Initiative UNDP – Geneva

http://web.undp.org/geneva/ART

To UNDP Country teams in Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Senegal, Syria, Sri Lanka and Uruguay.

To the Coordinators of the various ART

Programmes and their teams.

To the ART Initiative experts and international collaborators.

To the UNDP Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) in New York.

To the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) in New York.

To the UNDP Regional Bureaus.

To the UNDP Regional Service Centers.

To the UNDP Office in Geneva.

ART ANNUAL REPORT 2011Enabling Processes for Effective Development Cooperation at the Local Level

Acknowledgements

ART is a global UNDP Initiative that promotes sustainable human development at the local level.

ART’s immediate goal is to empower territories and people to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

To accomplish this, ART enables processes that improve articulation between the local, national and international levels, promote a more effective use of internal and external resources and foster sustainable partnerships between territories and global networks for development cooperation.

ANNUAL REPORT 2011

SummaryForewords

The ART touch Working on Essential Processes

2011 Milestones: The Year of Development Effectiveness

The Art Framework forEffective DevelopmentCooperation at the Local Level

Focus Development Effectiveness at the Local Level- In line with Busan, Accra and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness- HLF-4: On the Road to Busan. The Consultative Process

Processes Alignment Harmonization - From the field: Morocco- From the field: SenegalOwnership- The Experience of Uruguay- Alignment, Harmonization and Ownership From the field: Carchi and Esmeraldas

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Instruments National Coordination Committees- From the field: EcuadorTerritorial Working Groups - From the field: Lebanon / ColombiaDecentralized Cooperation - From the field: the ART-ISI@MED InitiativeLocal Economic Development Agencies - The First World Forum of LEDAs- From the Field: MyDel – Central America - ADELCO – Colombia - Dominican Republic Local Planning Cycles - From the field: Albania- From the field: MoroccoInternational Cooperation Guidelines - From the field: El Salvador- From the field: KosovoDevelopment Effectiveness Measuring Tool

ART Added value At the International Level At the National Level At the Local Level

ART & Natural Resource Management

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3637383940 414243 444546

47 48 49 50

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ART & Crisis Prevention

Country Framework ProgrammesFast Facts ART GabonFast Facts ART MauritaniaFast Facts ART MozambiqueFast Facts ART MoroccoFast Facts ART SenegalFast Facts ART BoliviaFast Facts ART-REDES ColombiaFast Facts ART-PHDL CubaFast Facts ART Dominican RepublicFast Facts ART EcuadorFast Facts ART El SalvadorFast Facts ART UruguayFast Facts ART MyDELFast Facts ART LebanonFast Facts ART SyriaFast Facts ART IndonesiaFast Facts ART Sri LankaFast Facts ART AlbaniaFast Facts ART Kosovo

ART in Figures

ART’s Way Forward

Trusting ART

Decentralized Cooperation Partners

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4 ENABLING PROCESSES

ART Articulation of Territorial Networks for Sustainable Human DevelopmentACCD Catalan Agency for Development CooperationAECID Spanish Agency for International Development CooperationADELCO National Network of Local Development Agencies in ColombiaART-ISI@MED Information Society Initiative for the Mediterranean ART-PAPDEL Local Economic Development Process Support ProgrammeBDP Bureau for Development PolicyBSS Beirut Southern SuburbsBCPR Bureau for Crisis and Prevention RecoveryBERA Bureau of External Relations and AdvocacyBAPPENAS National Development Planning AgencyCO Country OfficeCBO Community Based OrganizationCDP Communal Development PlanCPD Country Programme DocumentCSO Civil Society OrganizationCTT Communal Technical Team CPAP Country Programme Action PlanCSEM Center for Women EntrepreneurshipCIREM Center for European Initiatives and Research in the MediterraneanCODESUL Development and Integration Council of South BrazilDC Decentralized cooperationDP Development PartnerDR Dominican RepublicDAG Decentralized Autonomous Government DGCL General Directorate of Local CollectivitiesFAMSI The Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International SolidarityFELCOS Fund of Local Entities for Decentralized Cooperation and Sustainable Human Development GIS Geographical Information SystemGIZ German Society for International CooperationHLF-4 Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

ICG International Cooperation GuidelineICT Information and Communication TechnologyILS-LEDA International Links Service – Local Economic Development Agencies LDP Local Development PlanLED Local Economic DevelopmentLPC Local Planning Cycle LRG Local Regional GovernmentLWG Local Working GroupLEDA Local Economic Development Agency MDGs Millennium Development GoalsMyDEL Women and Local Economic DevelopmentMDG-IC Municipal Development Guidelines for International CooperationMINCEX Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic CollaborationNCC National Coordination Committee NGO Non Governmental OrganizationNTT East Nusa TenggaraNEDA Netherlands Development AssistanceORU- FOGAR Organization of United Regions - Global Forum of Associations of RegionsPER Regional Strategic Process PACA Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regionPWG Provincial Working GroupPDHL Local Human Development ProgrammeRPC Ministry of Local Administration and Regional Planning CommissionRIDA Regional Integrated Development AgencySDC Swiss Agency for Development CooperationSHD Sustainable Human DevelopmentSIDA Swedish International Development AgencySETECI Technical Secretariat for International CooperationSPADU Integrated Secretariat for Development PartnershipsSENPLADES National Secretariat for Development CooperationTWG Territorial Working Group UCLG United Cities and Local Governments UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework

Acronyms

5ANNUAL REPORT 2011

A Challenging 2011

firmly grounded on the promotion of mutually reinforcing partnerships, is well equipped to substantively contribute to enabling local development processes and promote a much needed dialogue between and among territories, as a constructive means to approach local, national and global partners.

Furthermore, ART’s experience has contributed to improved coherence between local and national processes of sustainable human development, in part thanks to its territorial approach, which incorporates the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable human development at the local level.

Despite the ongoing financial crisis and decreasing aid budgets, the ART Framework Programmes continue to thrive. The Initiative has consolidated its decentralized cooperation networks, mobilized new international partners and launched new Programmes at the request of the partner countries.

Today, the ART Initiative is strongly embedded in the UNDP corporate structure and brings in the territorial perspective to the emerging development paradigm.

The Initiative can now confidently capitalize on its six-year long experience and position itself in crucial development processes. ART would certainly not have achieved these accomplishments without the collective, steadfast and perseverant efforts of all its partners in the territories.

As ART’s International Coordinator and in the name of all the ART teams, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to each and every one of the 1,600 entities and networks (1,000 from the South and 600 from the North) that have contributed to proving that the harmonized effort of multiple players is indeed possible and has an important role to play in this complex financial crisis.

A year of changes, challenges and opportunities, 2011 has witnessed the consolidation of the ART Global

Initiative as one of UNDP’s leading innovative instruments for development cooperation.

The ART Initiative has become acknowledged as a reliable, tested and trusted mechanism to promoting development effectiveness at the local level, contributing to MDG achievement and favoring a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive human development.

The Initiative has also reinforced its position as an entry point for decentralized cooperation partners wishing to contribute to human development and decentralization processes.

Focusing on long-term processes rather than on one-off projects, ART’s multilateral, multi-stakeholder and multilevel approach,

Forewords

Giovanni Camilleri International Coordinator of the ART Initiative


Advancing the Territorial Approach

and alignment of development efforts of multiple actors at the sub-national level, such as in Mo-rocco, Colombia, Ecuador and Sri Lanka. This work is instrumental in contributing to achieve greater coherence among development part-ners, the importance of which has been empha-sized in Busan and in various fora prior to that, such as the UN 2002 Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development and the subsequent Doha Declaration.

The Initiative is also an important entry point for Decentralized Cooperation partners to UNDP and the development system, as it offers a tested multilateral framework to assist in identifying the territories’ needs and priorities and in making the territories’ voices heard. For instance, in 2011 ART had the support of more than 1,600 decen-tralized cooperation partners (600 from the North and 1,000 from the South) and 40 regional net-works and associations; these increasing num-

bers attest to the Initiative’s credibility, expertise and ability to deliver.

UNDP’s 19 ART Country Framework Programmes, innovative initiatives and case studies described in this report show that ART is well placed to meaningfully contribute to the new development paradigm and the post-2015 challenge. With its experience in the field, large networks of decentralized cooperation partners and closeness to local and subnational authorities, the ART Initiative can be the catalyst for achieving sustainable development for all.

T he UNDP launched the ART Global Initiative in 2005, as part of its com-mitment to support countries in their

efforts to accelerate progress on the MDGs and achieve sustainable development. Since then, the Initiative has demonstrated that re-gional, municipal and local authorities have an important role to play in promoting sustainable development.

This annual report captures some of the most compelling examples of how ART’s impact on the ground has helped narrow implementation gaps for achieving the MDGs and improve local eco-nomic development, health and education, water resource management, conflict prevention and gender equality, to name but a few areas.

The report also shows that ART’s territorial ap-proach is contributing to development effective-ness through the coordination, harmonization

Sigrid A. Kaag UN ASG and Director Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy - UNDP

Olav KjørvenUN ASG and Director Bureau for Development Policy - UNDP

7ANNUAL REPORT 2011

In the field of sustainable development, essential processes are invisible to the eyes, yet their results are very concrete:

Enabled territories - local ownership

Better governance - increased people’s participation


The overarching goals of these combined processes are to strengthen local capacities, promote ownership, consolidate coordination and harmonization and foster innovation.

ART’s interventions unleash invisible streams of networks, connections and new social and economic dynamics that reshape the territory’s opportunities. ART’s endeavors have time and time again revealed that in the development arena, the essential might be invisible to the eyes, yet the results can be tangible: improved governance, increased people’s participation and therefore, ultimately, enhanced sustainable human development.

In all cases the ‘ART touch’ has activated an array of coordination and planning processes and mobilized local and external resources and partners, hence simultaneously operating at the local, national and global levels.

Intrinsically embedded in the framework of the Paris Declaration on aid effectiveness, the Accra Agenda for Action and its outcome document of recommendations, these processes articulate and link the local, national and international dimensions, implementing and enhancing planning activities; facilitating dialogue among territories; and creating mechanisms to boost local economic activities and expanding the territories’ competitiveness.

The Touch: Working on Essential Processes

The ART Initiative operates in the context of wide-ranging development scenarios, yet with a single overall aim: to set in motion vital processes that will allow local communities to initiate, manage and consolidate sustainable human development (SHD).

Most of the geographic areas where ART is active are affected by varying levels of social and economic exclusion and a slow pace of development, while others might have experienced natural or man-made disasters.

In other instances ART has been requested to support a region in implementing its own demand driven social and economic agenda to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) locally.

9ANNUAL REPORT 2011

I n 2011, development effectiveness was at the core of the development cooperation discussion; this timely debate intensified

in the preparations for Busan’s HLF-4.

The Consultative Process and Busan: The Recognition of ART’s Approach and Instruments.

UNDP’s ART Global Initiative – Articulation of Territorial Networks for Sustainable Human Development – played a major role in these preparations, spearheading a wide international consultative process with development partners (DPs) that allowed appraisal of the role of the local level and local actors in achieving development effectiveness.

In Numbers: More than 150 local development actors participated in the pre-Busan consultative process. Four events were organized in Latin America, Africa and Europe.

The consultative process and the HLF-4 were milestones that also marked the acknowledgment of ART’s contribution to development effectiveness. The added value of ART’s articulation, alignment, inclusive

ownership and harmonization mechanisms, applied as an integral part of the Initiative’s approach since its inception, were recognized as innovative and practical tools to strengthen local capacities to deliver on development results.

Fast Fact: The head of the ART Morocco Framework Programme’s Working Group in the Tangier-Tetuan region was the first and only local government representative to participate in an official panel during the HLF-4 event.

Local Economic Development

ART’s efforts to strengthen capacities, generate employment and increase people’s opportunities to achieve a better quality of life are channeled through more than 60 Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs).

These agencies help the territories seize their endogenous potential and use their own resources to boost competitiveness and harness international opportunities.

Seville Forum: In 2011, ART’s efforts and mechanisms to contribute to sustainable development and support local economic

2011Milestones:The Year of DevelopmentEffectiveness

foto

Busan’s Fourth High Level Forum (HLF-4) signaled a meaningful conceptual and paradigmatic shift from aid effectiveness to development cooperation effectiveness. The latter captures the importance of an inclusive, sustained, equitable and collective process ultimately leading to sustainable human development.


development (LED) processes and agencies (LEDA) were given a new spin.

The First World Forum on Local Development Agencies organized in Seville in October 2011 and attended by over 1,300 participants from all around the globe, showcased the LEDAs’ capacity to advance the territories’ economic development: the agencies’ role in fostering a more inclusive, participatory, equal and sustainable economic development was established with many examples from the field.

In Numbers: In 2011 alone, LEDAs contributed to the creation of 1,500 small and medium enterprises and over 10,000 stable and permanent jobs.

Expanded Partnership Base

Throughout the year, ART worked towards expanding and consolidating its partnership base. The Initiative signed ten new agreements with decentralized cooperation (DC) partners and furthered its relationships with 112 local government associations and hundreds of cities from 95 countries grouped by United Cities and Local Governments

(UCLG) and the world’s regions represented by the Forum of Global Associations of Regions (ORU-FOGAR).

The engagement and active participation of these partners is a strategic and vital step towards more coordinated and harmonized collaboration; these new partnerships have brought forth an important international recognition of the sub-national level and will be instrumental to face the upcoming challenges of post-Busan and post-Rio+20 building blocks.

Other ART Milestones in 2011

OWNERSHIP. Several ART Programmes made progress towards ownership. National and sub-national partners from countries such as Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Morocco and Uruguay will be using the ART approach as a cross-cutting platform for local development.

ENVIRONMENT. In cooperation with UNDP, Ecuador has established a trust fund to facilitate investments in projects of renewable energy, paving the way for a new model of development, preserving indigenous cultures and strengthening the country’s national system of protected areas.

Fast Fact: In Ecuador, the National Secretariat for Planning (SENPLADES) has requested the use of the ART methodology to implement the YASUNI ITT initiative. The project will reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere by more than 400 million tons, creating a new modality of mitigation (the non-exploitation of reserves of oil and gas in areas of high biodiversity and overall social and environmental sensitivity).

SCALING UP. Drawing on the results achieved in the pilot regions, Governments in Ecuador, Morocco, Colombia and Bolivia have extended ART’s methodology and instruments to additional territories.

MAINSTREAMING. Moreover, ART’s meth-odology and approach were included in most Country Offices’ planning tools, namely the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), UNDP’s Country Pro-gramme Action Plan (CPAP) and the Country Programme Document (CPD).

11ANNUAL REPORT 2011

AlignmentHarmonizationOwnership

ProcessesDevelopmenteffectiveness at the local level

FocusNational Coordination CommitteesTerritorial Working GroupsDecentralized CooperationLocal Economic Development AgenciesLocal Planning CycleInternational Cooperation GuidelinesDevelopment Effectiveness Measuring Tool

InstrumentsMobilization of endogenous resources Dialogue between territories Making the territories heard Turning concepts into actions Enhancing development cooperation effectiveness Reducing the cost of international cooperation Scaling Up

Added Value

The ART Framework for Effective Development Cooperation at the Local Level


FocusEffective sustainable development starts at the local level

ART brings effective development cooperation to the ground


In line with Busan, Accra and Paris

O wnership, alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability were outlined as the

five cornerstones of aid effectiveness in the 2005 Paris Declaration.

A prerequisite for better development outcomes, aid effectiveness has been a high priority in the international development cooperation agenda for the last few years.

While the aid effectiveness debate started at the international level and was mostly concerned with how major donors and development players should join efforts for a better managed, higher-impact development cooperation, it became apparent that the process would be incomplete unless it focused beyond aid and local development actors were a part of the equation.

Indeed, the proliferation of DPs who operate at the sub-national level has shown that in order to achieve better development results, improved coherence and coordination equally concern the local level.

Acknowledging the increasingly important and active role of local and regional governments in deepening, democratizing and decentralizing the aid effectiveness agenda, Busan responded to the call for a new development cooperation paradigm, with the establishment of a “New Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation”, which is more inclusive of local stakeholders than any previous initiative.

ART and Effective Development Coop-eration: a Long-Standing Connection

Based on consensus-building, dialogue and an integral and multi-sector planning, ART’s instruments effectively promote harmonization, alignment and ownership, while contributing to avoid fragmentation and duplication of development efforts, as confirmed by the results of the “instrument measuring ART’s added value to Paris and Accra” applied in Ecuador in 2010 and 2011.

Through the participatory instruments activated by Framework Programmes such as National Coordination Committees (NCCs),

Territorial and LocalWorking Groups (TWGs / LWGs), Local Planning Cycles (LPCs) and International Cooperation Guidelines (ICGs), ART has proven to play a pivotal role in harnessing and strengthening the role of local and regional authorities in improving development effectiveness.

Since its launching, UNDP’s ART Global Initiative has consistently implemented the principles of development effectiveness. They are at the heart of its approach and operational mechanisms.

Furthermore, by adopting a territorial approach to development, that takes into account the endogenous potential of the territory, ART contributes to SHD, through cross-cutting, inclusive and integrated interventions at the social, economic and environmental levels.

FocusDevelopmentEffectiveness at the Local Level


In line with the new development paradigm, it is at the local level where development results must be delivered


HLF-4: On the Road to Busan The Consultative Process

The Initiative’s catalytic role in the consultative process effectively positioned ART’s approach as one of the driving forces of local development processes

The HLF-4 Side Event & the Busan Outcome Document

During the consultative process, common denominators were established and validated by DPs. These were reflected in the side event outcome document, which emphasized the importance of a territorial and multilevel approach to development.

The exchange that took place during the consultative process led to a stronger positioning in the aid effectiveness debate, and resulted in support to local authorities and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Busan’s final outcome document, a major qualitative step compared to outcome documents from earlier meetings (Rome -2003; Paris -2005; Accra -2008).

Four major events were organized between October 2010 and June 2011 in Barcelona, Dakar, Medellin and Foligno.

The meetings captured the viewpoints of Africa, Europe and Latin America from hundreds of local development actors and validated the messages to be conveyed in Busan.

This unprecedented consultative process gave a voice to the territories and allowed them to explicitly convey their concerns and key messages and to actively contribute to shaping Busan’s outcome document, hence broadening the debate on aid effectiveness.

The consultative process culminated with the celebration of the HLF-4 side event: Aid effectiveness at the sub-national level.

Through the ART Initiative and with the active collaboration of UCLG and FOGAR, the UNDP promoted a broad-based consultative process in the lead up to the HLF-4.

Giving a Voice to Local Actors

Specifically, Busan’s outcome document mentions the role that parliament and local governments “[...] play in linking citizen with government and in ensuring broad-based and democratic ownership of countries’ development agendas”.

Furthermore, signatories pledged to “accelerate and deepen commitments to strengthen the role of parliaments in the oversight of development processes and to further support local governments to enable them to assume more fully their roles above and beyond services delivery, enhancing participation and accountability at the sub-national levels”.

FocusDevelopmentEffectiveness at the Local Level


The active participation of local and regional governments (LRGs) represents an opportunity for the aid effectiveness agenda.

LRGs need an enabling envi-ronment to play an active role in development.

The added value of the work of LRGs’ networks and their articulation within multilateral frameworks in promoting territorial development processes.

LRGs can respond to develop-ment challenges through territorial development processes.

Busan’s Side Event Document of Conclusions

“As a member of the Tangier-Tetuan Regional Council and as a citizen committed to the development of my region, it was a great experience to participate in the Busan event, particularly because we had the opportunity to meet other delegations, exchange experiences on common challenges and set up a basis for coming collaboration agreements.”

Ms. Amina Rouchati, participant at the Busan Conference, representing The Tangier-Tetuan Regional Council, FOGAR and UCLG.

LRGs need to be included in the aid effectiveness agenda.

Articulation and concertation spaces can respond to the need of avoiding duplication and fragmen-tation.

Linkages between local, regional and national levels of government need to be strengthened.

LRGs are to be seen as full-fledged partners in the international governance of aid architecture.


Resilient territories for a sustainable future

Processes

Aligning policies and actions at the international, national and local levels


to manage development cooperation in a way that responds to the required transparency and accountability standards.

Moreover, development cooperation that is aligned to national and local priorities is inserted in national and territorial development plans and strategies, therefore not only responding to the real needs of the population, but also reinforcing and accelerating development processes.

On the other hand, when alignment is inadequate or deficient, the country’s systems and institutions can be undermined and even delegitimized, thwarting the sustainability of longer-term development efforts. This often occurs because alignment mainly refers to national level coherence with policies and with national budget systems.

Alignment is often measured against indicators of aid recorded in National budgets, grants aligned with country cycles, and use of national procurement systems to deliver aid, whereby the territories participate in managing the resources made available to them.

Alignment & ART

Fully aware of the significance of alignment and its impact on development results and their sustainability, the ART initiative, in theory and practice, has been a pioneer in supporting alignment processes.

ART’s mechanisms, such as the Local Planning Cycle and the International Cooperation Guidelines (or Document of Territorial Priorities) are among the most telling examples of how ART buttresses the alignment of development plans and strategies to national and local territorial priorities.

These mechanisms are not an end in themselves; they are rather the means through which ART is able to facilitate crucial processes, such as reinforcing local capacities to better manage territorial development and to negotiate implementation priorities with key decentralized cooperation partners. ART therefore contributes to aligning development actions to national and local development strategies.

T raditionally, one of the weakest links in development cooperation has been alignment, a critical

instrument to ensure that development fulfils its intended objectives. It is achieved when donors base their interventions on the partner country’s development priorities, policies and strategies, using and supporting the country’s own system of public financial management to implement these interventions.

Despite the efforts to align interventions with development priorities, in many instances alignment processes have stopped at the national level and fall short of being reflected in the field. This is where duplication and fragmentation often linger and policies do not necessarily reflect local needs or national priorities.

A prerequisite for effective development cooperation, alignment is directly linked to increased ownership by the country and its capacity to manage aid through accountability, transparency and effective use of resources. This in turn leads to reduced aid costs and more capacity building, as the countries brace themselves

Harmonization is all about trust and dialogue among donors and local actors, while alignment is about trust in the country’s institutions and development strategies


Processes


the local level (Barcelona, Dakar, Medellin, Foligno), which stressed the importance of joint work to support complementarities and promote multilevel governance. The meeting on the Harmonization of Administrative Procedures (Seville, October 2011) allowed European decentralized cooperation (DC) partners and the Government of Spain to exchange their views on the harmonization of procedures and the ensuing reduction of development costs.

Also, there were meetings in Brussels with various European DC partners, such as the one organized in December 2011 by the Basque Government on the promotion of coordination, joint planning and implementation.

A core development cooperation principle is harmonization. It contributes to reducing

fragmentation and duplication of development efforts while promoting more coordinated, cost-efficient and programme/ sector-based donor approaches.

Its success is measured by indicators such as integrated answers offered in support of programme-based approaches, joint missions with other donors, common analytical reports elaborated among various development partners (DPs) and use of local instruments.

However, by no means does harmonization intend to turn the donor community into a uniform entity. Rather, it aims at improving coordination, horizontal/vertical dialogue and prompting a “better division of labor” while preserving donors’ visibility, identity and strategic priorities.

Moreover, improved harmonization also means simplifying procedures and reducing

“If donors operate in few sectors, focusing on their areas of comparative advantage and make more use of silent partnerships and lead donor arrangements, then they can reduce transaction costs for partner countries while at the same time improving the quality of their engagement”.

Source: http://www.aideffectiveness.org/The-Paris-Principles-Harmonization.html

Harmonization & ART:

In response to the demand expressed by numerous decentralized and bilateral partners and countries, ART has evolved into a global platform that enhances the harmonization of development interventions in the planning and implementation stages both in the countries of origin and locally.

In this regard, throughout 2011 ART has played an active role in bringing together DPs from the South and the North, facilitating harmonization among them and strengthening the alliances between local, regional, national and multilateral actors.

The ART Initiative preceded or participated in a number of events in several countries, such as the various meetings linked to the international consultative process on aid effectiveness at

At the request of various partners, the ART Initiative has become an effective global platform for the harmonization of development actors both in the North and the South.


Processes

the burden on partner countries, who often have to manage too many donors with specific requirements and timetables.


From the Field Morocco

The Tangier-Tetuan (Morocco) territorial spaces for the articulation and coordination of local actors have become essential instruments of harmonization.

The Regional platform for the coordination of development actors in the Tangier-Tetuan region, gathers 54 actors (16 actors of bilateral and decentralized cooperation –including international non-governmental organizations– and 38 local actors) who attend the common planning sessions and ensure the monitoring and evaluation of local projects and other initiatives implemented in the region. For instance, in 2011 the platform organized 15 such meetings, involving more than 124 actors.

Through their mechanisms for articulation, dialogue and joint definition of development priorities, the Working Groups have effectively put local authorities in the driving seat of their own development processes, as the latter guide cooperation partners towards development priorities established locally, in concert with local stakeholders and partners.

“La Maison du Développement” created in 2008 in Tangier-Tetuan was made available to UNDP’s ART Morocco Framework Programme by the Regional Council. Focused on promoting exchanges and developing partnerships, it has become the entry point for DPs into the

regions, providing them both with a physical coordination space and a platform to harmonize and coordinate development efforts, therefore creating synergies and maximizing impact.

In 2011, more than 30 DPs were received in “La Maison du Développement” in the framework of multiple meetings, missions and other events organized within this multilevel coordination space.

On the other hand, decentralized cooperation missions are a source of information, discussions and harmonization of DPs’ initiatives. Eighteen such missions were organized in 2011 alone, becoming yet another instrument to promote coordination and partnerships.

These innovative and result-yielding experiences were presented in Busan by Ms. Rouchati, coordinator of the Platform and the only local government representative who participated in Busan’s HLF-4 main sessions. Her intervention was widely noted, as she highlighted the mechanisms put in place by UNDP’s ART Morocco Framework Programme and their impact on donor harmonization. She noted that while many development actors had sought to promote development in the Tangier-Tetuan region for the last ten years, little had been achieved due to fragmentation and duplication of efforts and initiatives,

which led to donor fatigue and squandering of resources. The situation changed drastically with the introduction of ART’s articulation and coordination instruments. The Tangier-Tetuan Regional Council has consolidated itself as a national reference for the implementation of harmonization and alignment practices. In 2011, it took a step forward in the elaboration of the “International Cooperation Guidelines” with the technical assistance of ART Morocco.

Example ofHarmonization


The Tangier-Tetuan Regional Council has consolidated itself as a national reference for the implementation of harmonization and alignment practices. In 2011, it took a step forward in the elaboration of the second edition of the “International Cooperation Guidelines” with the technical assistance of ART Morocco.


From the Field Senegal

strategies are identified and subsequently implemented, in full support of and alignment with the country’s decentralization and local governance processes.

Attesting to the Framework Programme’s alignment with the Government’s harmonization efforts, the following actions can be noted:

• Publication of the Government’s “Partnership Guide of the Decentralized Cooperation Directorate”, integrating ART as a framework for DPs wishing to operate in the country;

• Workshops at the regional level to improve the impact of DC with all territorial actors while also enhancing knowledge on its dynamics;

• Organization of the “International Seminar on Aid Effectiveness at the Local Level” including territorial actors and Government representatives from three continents;

• Joint planning missions facilitated between the Government and DC partners to ensure harmonization and alignment to local priorities.

Another example of ART’s harmonization support exists in Senegal, where the Government – through the Ministry of Planning and Local Authorities– has decided to promote donor coordination by establishing a Directorate for decentralized cooperation.

Realizing the potential of DC in supporting the local authorities’ development efforts, the Government has established a service-oriented national platform for harmonizing DC partners.

In this respect, Senegal represents a rather unique and remarkable example where harmonization kicks off at the national level with the operational and technical support of UNDP’s ART Framework Programme.

The Programme offers an operational framework that facilitates the alignment of DC partners with territorial priorities and development plans, allowing ART Senegal to gradually become a pivotal platform for many of the DPs who operate in the country.

The platform offers a dialogue and participatory space where development initiatives and

Example ofHarmonization



Processes

T he ART Initiative is firmly based on the principle of ownership and takes it one step further: ownership is

advanced at the national / governmental level and at the sub-national level, as the end result of the participatory and bottom-up mechanisms of ART’s Framework Programmes.

Ownership & ART:

The ART Initiative has long advocated for this inclusive view of ownership, transcending the government-to-government relationship and opening the ownership of development processes to local actors, stakeholders, CSOs and groups traditionally excluded from such processes.

The Experience of Uruguay

A telling example of ART’s commitment to set in motion ownership processes is the Artigas Department in Uruguay.

In 2011, its authorities decided to adopt ART’s methodology as a strategic framework to identify and elaborate local development policies. As a result, over the course of a

yearlong participatory process, the Department took the lead in developing its Strategic Plan.

The Working Groups established by the Programme have been crucial to the consultation process as platforms for exchange and inclusive dialogue, leading to the elaboration of the Strategic Plan in Uruguay.

As part of the ownership process of the Programme’s instruments and mechanisms, the Working Groups are being institutionalized within departmental structures. Internalizing ART’s methodology, the Department’s authorities brought together various stakeholders, among them traditionally excluded groups, to assist in the definition of their Department’s development priorities in an integrated, concerted and

All ART initiatives and Framework Programmes aim at the promotion and consolidation of the partner countries’ ownership of development processes.

collaborative process. In addition, the Department created a Cooperation Council in charge of managing development cooperation, which is another indication of process ownership by local authorities.


From the Field Carchi and Esmeraldas

the national Government in the Working Groups established in both Provinces. They fostered dialogue, consensus-building and articulation of the local development plans with the “Good Living” National Plan (Plan de Buen Vivir).

Moreover, the Programme has also started to directly transfer resources to the provincial or municipal authorities of Carchi and Esmeraldas under the national regulations, thus implementing the second principle of alignment, which has so far been the most difficult to achieve by the international community of donors

Fast Fact: In 2011, UNDP ART Ecuador transferred US$ 448,082 to local authorities using the national fund channeling mechanisms.

Additionally, the ownership of the Territorial Working Groups (called Provincial Dialogue Groups in the case of Ecuador) is shown by the institutionalization of these dialogue spaces as a tool for territorial management: out of seven Working Groups initially established by ART, only one still has a technical officer directly financed by the Programme. All other officers are civil servants that the Government has assigned to the Provincial Dialogue Groups. The Programme currently offers support services to the groups, which function autonomously and are led by the provincial authorities.

The Provinces of Carchi and Esmeraldas in Ecuador are telling examples of how UNDP’s ART Framework Programmes simultaneously contribute to alignment, harmonization and ownership.

In the Provinces of Esmeraldas and Carchi, the Local Planning Cycle was integrated and elaborated within the territories’ planning process in 2011; the International Cooperation Guidelines (ICGs) were therefore based on the participatory and consensual identification of priority actions for development actors to support.

Several projects identified in the ICGs have been financed by international cooperation partners and by the sub-national governments themselves. In 2011, 45 projects were supported / implemented at the territorial level.

This common planning process also had a direct impact on harmonization. More than 36 development partners have been using the diagnoses and identification documents carried out locally, therefore simplifying procedures and rationalizing the use of resources.

ART has made contributions to coordinate the existing multitude of initiatives and actors, by appraising various entities and maximizing their impact.

Local/national linkages were further strengthened with the proactive presence of 145 delegates from

Example ofAlignmentHarmonizationOwnership


Instruments

Focusing on results

Facilitating territorial planning processes


Committees and Territorial and Local Working Groups, where local stakeholders have the opportunity to decide on a wide range of crucial development and environmental issues together with government representatives.

Further, all ART instruments use planning exercises as a crucial component to incorporate development effectiveness principles. The Local Planning Cycle is another instrument at the disposal of the territories to support their development plans and priorities in a coordinated manner.

W ith the support of UNDP’s ART Framework Programmes, participatory and inclusive instruments are established at the local and

national levels to coordinate and streamline linkages and ensure ownership of development processes, harmonization of actors and actions, and alignment to national and local development priorities.

In short, ART sets in motion processes to articulate decision-making and resources at the local, national and international levels while implementing concrete actions aimed at meeting immediate and medium-term needs.

A case in point is the role of Local Economic Development Agencies, an instrument promoted by ART to identify local comparative advantages, improve production practices, attract external partners to local activities and facilitate access to new markets for local products. In this regard, the decentralized cooperation modality plays a crucial role by providing technical and financial resources to specific projects defined through another ART instrument: the International Cooperation Guidelines.

All these instruments share commonalities and interact with each other: they are all spaces for dynamic dialogue and consultation and have a direct impact on development effectiveness. This is supported by the National Coordination

All ART instruments are complementary; albeit from different angles, they all seek to promote ownership by local and national actors, facilitate integration to national planning and promote the sustainability of development policies, while aligning international cooperation actions to development processes concerted between the national and local levels.

National Coordination CommitteesTerritorial Working GroupsDecentralized CooperationLocal Economic Development AgenciesLocal Planning CyclesInternational Cooperation GuidelinesDevelopment Effectiveness Measuring Tool

Instruments


What: NCCs are a mechanism/platform for consensual decision making, established to articulate among actors and across sectors.

Where: At the national level.

Who: The national government, the line-ministry involved with the Framework Programme, any other relevant ministries, sub-national governments, bilateral donors, UNDP, and in some cases decentralized cooperation partners and CSOs.

Functions: NCCs promote dialogue, consensus-building and concerted decisions between the sub-national / local and national levels; favor durable territorial/ national/international linkages and articulation; contribute to institutional capacity strengthening; and take decisions on issues related to the Framework Programme’s implementation.

NCCs promote the leadership and ownership of national actors and facilitate the integration of territorial actors into national planning. They also promote the alignment of international cooperation interventions to development processes agreed upon between the national and local levels. They bring together various line ministries working in unison towards demand-based and integrated development. NCCs also contribute to promote the institutional framework needed at the national level to address the challenges posed by Sustainable Human Development

National Coordination Committees (NCCs) are undeniably one ofUNDP’s ART Framework Programme backbones. The most discernible of ART’s national level instruments, they are the expression of the Programmes’ drive to establish a partnership with the national government, based on dialogue, mutual responsibility, collaborative work towards common objectives and coordination.

Processes triggered by the NCCs

NCCs in Brief


Instruments


issues, such as selecting the territories where activities will be carried out.

Ecuador’s NCC is integrated by all governmental levels: the central, provincial, municipal and cantonal levels and the Consortium of Provincial Governments, represented by the National Council of Rural Parish Governments; this nationwide representation space generates articulation.

This platform also enhances multilevel dialogue, as it facilitates communication and coordination between the different government levels.

By 2011, all Framework Programmes had active NCCs, integrated by ministries or national institutions and sometimes under different designations, therefore reflecting and adapting to the specificities of each and every country.

Ecuador’s NCC: two key institutions lead it, the Technical Secretariat of International Cooperation and the National Planning Secretariat (respectively SETECI and SENPLADES, as per Spanish acronyms).

The Government has full ownership of the structure and the national actors make decisions related to the Programme’s strategic

From the Field Ecuador

For instance, in 2011, the NCC debated agreements regarding the countrywide planning and territorial management process, therefore truly making it a space of debate and discussion on wider development issues, not necessarily confined to ART Ecuador’s Framework Programme.

Further, the NCC has been instrumental in identifying good practices at the territorial level and has supported the sub-national authorities in establishing mechanisms to replicate them, as well as exchange knowledge.

Example of NCCsNational Coordination Committees


Territorial Working Groups (TWGs) and Local Working Groups (LWGs) promote strategic planning management; facilitate consensual decision making among local authorities, civil society and private and public stakeholders; strengthen and develop territorial/local capacities and provide an accountability and monitoring mechanism of cooperation actions.

What: Both are spaces for dialogue and articulation among development actors (between levels and across sectors).

Where: TWGs operate at the intermediate level (provinces, regions, districts or departments), while LWGs operate at the local level (municipalities or their equivalent).

Who: Sub-national/local authorities, representatives of the central government in the territories, the academic sector, CSOs, public, private and mixed economic sectors and international development cooperation partners.

Functions: TWGs and LWGs provide an accountability and monitoring mechanism of cooperation actions; are an entry point for development and decentralized cooperation partners to the territory; and influence the creation of public policies and their reinforcement. They also promote the social inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups.

TWGs/LWGs in Brief

Processes triggered by TWGs/LWGs

TWGs/LWGs enhance the management of local development priorities, facilitate the alignment of international cooperation partners and contribute to more coordinated, transparent and collectively efficient cooperation interventions. Moreover, TWGs/LWGs established at the intermediate level ensure articulation between the national and local echelons and act as the transmission belt between them.


Instruments


In Lebanon, the ART Programme established regional and thematic working groups: there are 25 regional and 11 thematic working groups across the four regions of intervention.

These working groups bring together sub-national authorities, CSOs, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs) and the private sector.

With the technical support of ART Lebanon’s team, in 2011 the working groups played an important role in the identification and prioritization of local needs.

A successful example in this respect was the involvement of the Dinnieh Working Group in a strategic planning exercise, which resulted in the elaboration of the first truly participatory and inclusive regional development guidelines for Dinnieh, one of the most disadvantaged areas of the country.

The planning cycle included surveying the available potentialities and resources of the region and identifying the most urgent needs to help further sustainable local development, in view of mobilizing partners and resources.

The Dinnieh Union of Municipalities was deeply involved throughout the whole planning process, therefore ensuring strong ownership and alignment with local development priorities.

In Colombia, the Working Groups are at the core of the ART-REDES territorial approach. These groups have become instruments for citizen participation and representation and a modality that facilitates interaction and coordination among the local and intermediate levels, institutions, civil society and international cooperation partners.

For instance, in Nariño the working groups contributed to define the Department’s development priorities, which were then translated into guidelines for public policies and strategic projects, and for development cooperation actors. The guidelines encouraged donor-partner complementarity, as territorial partners shared coherent and consistent information and territorial diagnoses with DPs.

Moreover, working groups have also supported ethnic and community-oriented organizations (“Mingas of thought”) and the writing of peace-building ethno-development plans for rural, indigenous, black and traditionally excluded communities.

As an example, the conflict-sensitive elaboration of Nariño’s Cooperation Strategy and the city of Pasto development plans, public policies and International Cooperation Guidelines (ICGs) show the extent to which a complex system for the coordination, planning and implementation of development cooperation activities has been institutionalized and formalized.

In Pasto, these documents were formulated based on inter-institutional partnerships involving public agencies and social, community, ethnic and other representative stakeholders (universities, unions, etc.), with the involvement of over 150 international cooperation and social actors.

In 2011, over 280 organizations were linked in one way or another to the ICGs of Nariño and Pasto, consolidating six dialogue spaces and eight Municipal Working groups altogether. Through these actions, US$ 28,850,000 were mobilized for projects, programmes and strategic plans aimed at peace-building and sustainable human development.

Five of these spaces are now operating independently from UNDP’s ART-REDES support, attesting to the high level of CSO ownership and empowerment.

In Eastern Antioquia, the Regional Strategic Process (PER) conducted by the working groups led to the identification and implementation of five regional strategic projects, coordinated through five thematic Working Groups that articulate over 40 organizations within the local planning cycle.

Territorial Working GroupsLocal Working Groups

Example of

TWGs/LWGs From the FieldLebanon/Colombia


Decentralized Cooperation in Brief

What: Through the DC modality, local governments and CSOs support the efforts of developing countries in achieving their sustainable human development goals. Operating through a multilateral framework, DC actors can interact with other partners and find complementarities.

Who: Institutions outside the central government such as local authorities, associations, universities, cooperation funds, city councils, NGOs, CSOs and private sector companies.

How: DC partners have been working in a coordinated and complementary way through UNDP’s ART Initiative cooperation networks for the past six years. Their wealth of experiences, good practices and innovations are put at the disposal of partner countries through the Programmes’ operational frameworks. The decentralized cooperation modality represents ART’s characteristic capacity to offer a “local-local linkage” in support of local development.

The ART initiative understands DC in a broad and inclusive sense, where local and sub-national governments, civil society, NGOs, the private sector and academia work with counterparts in other countries to advance local sustainable human development. In this sense, ART has the ability to maximize its immense potential to contribute to a new “development paradigm”.

Processes triggered by DC

Decentralized cooperation (DC) enables constructive dialogue between territories, which in turn promotes more equal relationships among DPs from the North and the South. It plays a crucial role in promoting local development and development effectiveness: the use of joint programming frameworks reduces fragmentation, ensures multilevel interventions and furthers synergies and complementarities among actors as well as coherence between local processes and national strategies.


Instruments


In 2011 alone, nine new partnerships were established to support the ART Initiative as a whole and also for specific programmes and initiatives, attesting to the unwavering credibility and trust generated by ART as a platform and a service facility for development partners.

Five cost sharing agreements were also signed, with the Cantabria Coopera Fund (for the Dominican Republic and Ecuador Framework Programmes) and with AEXCID (for the Lebanon and Mozambique Framework Programmes).

Three Statements of Intent have been institutionalized with the Sassari Province, Florence Province and the Fund of Local

In Numbers: In 2011, ART had 600 active DC partnerships channeled through the Framework Programmes. In the period 2005 – 2011, the ART Initiative has signed 69 cooperation agreements.

These partners have chosen to articulate and channel their development interventions through ART and the trend is growing. In this respect, it is worth noting that associations of local authorities and local actors such as the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI), a long standing ART partner, often represent by themselves hundreds of entities (150 in the specific case of FAMSI, 900 in the case of FOGAR, and 1,100 in the case of UCLG).

Entities for Decentralized Cooperation and Sustainable Human Development (FELCOS-Umbria).

Additionally, one direct contribution to the Trust Fund has been made by FELCOS-Umbria, and there has been one Exchange of Letters with the University of Geneva.

Meeting of Lombardy’s regional representa-tives (Italy) with local authorities of Louga Province (Senegal) in the framework of a jointly implemented drinking water project.

Decentralized Cooperation initiatives provide local authorities a space to exercise their decision-making autonomy based on their communities’ needs.


From the FieldART-ISI@MED Initiative

System (GIS) platform in Tripoli, Lebanon, with the participation of the municipalities of Tripoli (Lebanon) and Malaga (Spain) and the collaboration of the Al Fayhaa Urban Community. This initiative provided Tripoli with a powerful, customizable and technologically advanced system for creating and maintaining a directory of the municipality’s streets and postal addresses, as well as for enabling better strategic planning of the public services delivered to citizens.

A second such initiative is the replication of ICT initiatives across the Mediterranean divide by linking up cities to share knowledge, experiences and resources. For instance, the city of Malaga (Spain) was paired up with the cities of Oujda and Chefchaouen (Morocco) to provide software and training for the management of human resources, as well as an advanced document management system.

These two initiatives clearly underscore the role of decentralized cooperation in linking communities together, fostering collaboration among them and promoting solidarity for development among territories in the Mediterranean.

ART-ISI@MED further showcases the potential of South-South and triangular cooperation and ART’s added value as an institutional framework for such initiatives, as ART puts

its large network of decentralized cooperation partners at the disposal of DPs and offers its wealth of experience in local planning processes, community empowerment and multi-stakeholder collaboration to maximize the reach and impact of interventions.

ART-ISI@MED (Information Society Initiative for the Mediterranean) is an example of how decentralized cooperation partners can use the ART Framework to work on a specific thematic issue such as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), providing an integrated response to existing needs. Such harmonization enables the use of common diagnoses, therefore reducing the cost of development aid; it also eventually contributes to scaling up successful experiences to other regions.

ART-ISI@MED was designed by UNDP to address the digital divide within the Mediterranean region and to leverage new technologies to facilitate and accelerate the improvement of livelihoods and the creation of new opportunities.

Lebanon and Morocco were selected to implement the first-phase pilot initiatives; ART-ISI@MED now aims at consolidating and capitalizing on the outcomes of these first two initiatives. During the second phase, results and best practices will be shared with other cities and regions in the countries of implementation and subsequently transferred to sub-Saharan countries and other Mediterranean countries using South-South and triangular cooperation.

One of ART-ISI@MED’s outcomes was the establishment of a Geographic Information

Through ICT, communities are accelerating development processes to improve public service delivery, education quality and job opportunities

Example of DCDecentralized Cooperation


LEDAs are vehicles of consensus-building for the social and economic sectors. They are ideal entry points to promote environmentally sustainable and inclusive projects, with a special focus on women and youth. Processes triggered by LEDAs

Through ART’s networks, the agencies activate relationships with actors from other countries, promoting commercial, technological and knowledge exchanges and the implementation of common projects. To do so, ART’s networks play an essential role in facilitating the search for international partners interested in supporting the countries’ local economic development (LED).

ILS-LEDA: The ART Initiative has engaged in a strategic partnership with the ILS LEDA (International Links and Services for Local Economic Development Agencies). ILS LEDA provides technical assistance, promotes and contributes to establish LEDAs, systemizes their experiences and disseminates lessons learned and knowledge generated.

LEDAs in BriefWhat: LEDAs are sustainable, integrated, legal and nonprofit public-private entities, which deliver technical and financial services in support of the socioeconomic and human development of the population.

Where: LEDAs operate both at the national level and territorial level.

Who: All interested actors can participate in LEDAs: local administrations, decentralized institutions, productive associations, financial institutions, educational and research centers, NGOs and the private sector.

Functions: LEDAs facilitate the implementation of complex initiatives and partnerships, provide specific solutions that lead to poverty reduction, gender-equality and micro and small enterprise development. They also provide feasibility and identification analyses based on the appraisal of endogenous resources.

Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs) are instruments to enhance territorial economies for a fair, balanced, inclusive and sustainable development.


Instruments


Attended by 1,300 participants and delegations from 47 countries, the forum enjoyed wide international representation and legitimized ART’s LEDAs as a powerful and innovative tool to promote inclusive local economic development, multilevel governance and proactive dialogue with national governments and the international community. The event also underscored the importance of designing territorial strategies for development with the active participation of citizens. All these factors are in fact key elements of a development model that takes into consideration social, economic and environmental concerns.

Results: a Permanent Forum of Local Development was created, which is expected to become a first ever working tool and open space to generate dialogue and exchange of knowledge on this matter. The Permanent Forum will draw on its wealth of experience in local development in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe, and will contribute to respond to the needs of LED.

Owing to the success of this first encounter, a second World Forum on Local Economic Development will be organized in 2013 in collaboration between ART, FAMSI and the Technological Park of Itaipu in Brazil. The upcoming forum will focus on integrating the three dimensions of SHD through LEDAs, understood as instruments for the promotion of a balanced, equitable and inclusive development.

In her opening remarks, the Minister of State Administration of Mozambique, Ms. Carmelita Rita Namashula, demanded more resources for institutions that support local development: “…we, in the South, have to look inwards, towards our own development”.

The representative of UN Women, Ms. Rita Cassisi, said that LEDAs “give priority to local economic development policies that empower women […] economic growth on its own does not overcome inequality and

gender inequality. Women producers need strategies to articulate themselves with other political, economic and social actors”.

As for Mr. Douglas Gardner, Deputy Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Development Policy (BDP), he underscored that “our current consumption model is unsustainable. Sustainable development is not a new concept, but the challenge is to […] change the existing fluxes; to do so, UNDP offers its support to those countries that wish to promote local policies for a sustainable, local development”.

Noteworthy Interventions

First World Forum of LEDAsLocal Economy Development Agencies

Activities of

LEDAS


The MyDEL Programme (Women and Local Economic Development) is a regional Programme that covers El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It aims at furthering practices and initiatives that promote women’s economic and political empowerment.

In partnership with the LEDAs, MyDEL supports 13 Service Centers for Women Entrepreneurship (CSEMs); these centers coordinate financial and business services, tailoring them to the needs of rural female entrepreneurs.

MyDEL consolidated the economic rights of almost 7,000 women, institutionalized a number of policies advanced by the Programme and reinforced its articulation with various territorial, national and regional bodies and platforms dedicated to accelerate women’s economic autonomy.

Exemplifying ART’s contribution to interagency articulation, MyDEL also submitted a joint action proposal between

UN Women and UNDP to capitalize on the experience of MyDEL and ART’s added value, and open a new phase of the project focused on articulation with other similar initiatives in the region.

Finally, in view of Rio+20 MyDEL paved the way for women’s participation and positioning as proactive players and leaders of development and governance

From the Field MyDEL - Central America

processes, through an initiative for the “Promotion of Women’s Green Production Chains” and the constitution of a multi-sectorial consortium between 16 institutions, thus gathering the private sector, the government, academia and international cooperation partners for the implementation of joint initiatives.

Local Economic Development Agencies

Activities of

LEDAS


From the Field:ADELCO - Colombia

The Network has therefore established itself as a powerful tool to influence public policies and create new alliances for local development, becoming an influential and legitimate actor in the promotion of LED.

Indeed, ADELCO has significantly contributed to improving the competitive and comparative advantages of the territories and has influenced four existing local development plans and new rural development policies. It has further become a leader in network building and in supporting transfers of capacities and experiences, notably through sub-national South-South initiatives.

Today ADELCO has become an important body for the implementation of projects that integrate the three pillars of SHD, promoting the strategies elaborated by the National Council of Economic and Social Policy to generate income for impoverished groups.

For instance, Nariño’s LEDA has been working with the community-oriented Minga to establish an agro-ecological school that promotes sustainable development and food security in small rural communities.

ADELCO is the National Network of Local Development Agencies in Colombia; it groups more than 15 such agencies and covers 11 regions and over 159 municipalities, boosting public-private-social partnerships for social development.

In 2006 ADELCO gathered 183 actors but today it groups over 314 local partners.

Since their establishment, the agencies have directly benefited 52,000 people (48% of them women), led to the creation of more than 34,400 local jobs (43% for women) and strengthened 1,800 businesses and 380 organizations - further benefitting 50,700 people, out of which 23,600 were women, with capacity development activities.

In 2011 alone, 7,000 persons directly benefited from productive projects carried out in partnership with LEDAs.

By reinforcing the LEDAs on the ground, ADELCO has supported the territories to formulate local policies that empower them to spearhead their own development, particularly through resource-management, the design and formulation of development programmes, the creation of new local development models and the promotion of public mechanisms geared towards local development.


Activities of

LEDAS


In close coordination with the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development and the Office of Territorial Management and Development, the Dominican Republic’s ART Framework Programme promoted peer-to-peer exchanges on LED with Cuba, Colombia, Uruguay and Haiti to learn from the experiences of Brazil, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina.

These exchanges involved 4,300 partici-pants, 80% of whom were sub-national rep-resentatives and 20% national Government officials. Eventually these exchanges en-couraged the formulation of the Dominican Republic’s National System of Planning and Development, an incipient process which in-volves strengthening institutional capacities for the implementation and management of development initiatives and a gradual de-concentration and decentralization of the current sectorial ministry lines.

Further, facilitated by the Programme, an agreement was signed between Cuba’s National Center for Agricultural Health and Monte Plata’s LEDA (Dominican Republic). Among others, the agreement aims to support the milk value chain in five Dominican provinces through an alliance with CONALECHE (the National Council for the development of the dairy industry).

In the framework of this collaboration, more than 2,400 persons have been trained on issues related to milk value chains.

Another technical assistance agreement between ADELCO’s network (Colombia) and ADELDOM (Dominican Republic) was signed to promote business associations and networks at the territorial level in the DR: as a result, more than 600 participants have been trained in network building, fundraising and territorial planning.

From the FieldDominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic, the ART Framework Programme illustrates the potential of the successful convergence of South-South Cooperation, Local Economic Development and ART’s territorial approach.

Through South-South, North-South and triangular cooperation, the Programme has facilitated knowledge exchange and good practices, scaled-up at the local level.


Activities of

LEDAS


Processes triggered by the LPC

LPCs feed into development effectiveness at the local level, contributing to ownership by territorial actors, who exercise authority over the process. Local Planning Cycles eventually become integrated in local development planning systems, promoting a longer-term and therefore more sustainable human development.

The Local Planning Cycle (LPC) is the territory’s long-term vision of its development ambitions and potential; it seeks to concentrate activities around the most urgent problems and involves the collaboration of all local key stakeholders.

What: LPCs are a participatory, bottom-up strategic process, aimed at identifying a territory’s development priorities. Integral, holistic and multi-sectorial, they allow the territory to envision its own path towards local development.

Where: LPCs are carried out at the territorial level.

Who: Territorial authorities, representatives of the national level in the territories, the academic sector, civil society, economic public-private and mixed sectors, international cooperation partners, existing dialogue spaces, thematic experts and communities take part in the LPC through the Working Groups. Sometimes initiated by the territory itself as part of its existing strategic planning processes, it is then accompanied by the ART Framework Programme’s technical assistance and support.

Functions: LPCs allow territorial actors to strategically identify, plan, prioritize, implement and follow up their territory’s development priorities.

Local Planning Cycle in Brief


Instruments


From the FieldAlbania

A process of participatory training and capacity building in the regions of Shkodra and Vlora culminated in the creation of a comprehensive strategic planning document taking into account these two regions’ needs and potentialities.

The ART GOLD2 Albania Programme provides some of the most comprehensive insights into the implementation of the LPC (known in Albania as strategic planning process) that achieves a shared local development strategy and ultimately feeds into the MDGs.

For example, during the process the Programme paid special attention to involving stakeholders from the international, regional and local levels and to establishing synergies with national-level bodies in order to create a truly multilevel coordination platform between local needs and national policies.

The four typical phases of the process were followed: launching; framework analysis (including a SWOT and surveys of existing strategic frameworks); action plan (where focus

“The design of this strategic plan will have a considerable impact on achieving sustainable territorial development. This also represents a good example of a democratic and all-inclusive process”.

Mr. Ylli Piro Chairman of Vlora Regional Council.

Local Planning Cycles

Example of

LPC

groups collected project proposals and ideas, prioritized and developed them); and public consultations to present the plans.

In figures: this impressive holistic process involved more than 170 general meetings; 72 meetings with stakeholders; 13 missions; 15 field-surveys; 300 participants; 80 institutional actors; and resulted in more than 200 project proposals and ideas put forward, 11 of which are currently being implemented with the financial and technical support of ART GOLD2 Albania.


From the Field Morocco

In Morocco, the process initiated in 2010 to support 15 “Communal Development Plans” (CDPs) continued into 2011. CDPs are ensured by law and carried out by the Communal Councils.

ART Morocco has been accompanying these local participatory strategic planning processes, mostly by reinforcing the Communal Technical Teams (CTTs), introducing a culture of follow-up and evaluation and carrying out an innovative peer evaluation system, whereby the CTTs and decentralized cooperation experts jointly evaluate the process.

In this context, the Programme organizes and guides technical assistance in the target “communes”; coordinates the phases of LPC elaboration with the General Directorate of Local Collectivities (DGCL, as per French acronym); mobilizes and organizes missions of decentralized cooperation experts; ensures the coordination of all actions with the target communes and the DGCL; equips the necessary spaces; undertakes the appropriate communication tasks; and follows up on the activities related to this process.

In 2011, CDPs in 15 communes of the two pilot regions of Tangier-Tetuan and L’Oriental were appraised and systemized through methodological instruments and units of Monitoring and Evaluation, including the dissemination of a tool for peer evaluation to involve the communities’ civil servants and technicians. In addition, a network of cities in northern Morocco was established, gathering urban cities capable of initiating and promoting DC partnerships, resource-mobilization and knowledge and expertise sharing.

In figures: this participative process involved 15 communes in more than 19 coordination and experience-sharing meetings, six training workshops and capacity building activities, with the participation of over 150 technicians and elected representatives and 12 DC partners: FAMSI, FELCOS/INU, the Centre for European Initiatives and Research in the Mediterranean (CIREM), Medcités, the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD); the Spanish cities of Barcelona, Cordoba and Jaen; the Campo de Gibraltar association of communes; the municipality of Algeciras; and the Italian cities of Foligno and Trevi.

Local Planning Cycles

Example of

LPC


What: The ICGs are closely linked to the Local Planning Cycle. They are often one of its outputs, yet they can also be undertaken separately when no LPC is underway in the territory. These ICGs specifically target international cooperation partners, providing them with a plan for action which is identified, elaborated and prioritized at the local level, becoming a “bridge” between development plans and concrete actions. Depending on the country, they are called “International Cooperation Guidelines” or “Document of Territorial Priorities”.

Functions: By definition more focused and somewhat narrower than LPCs, they nonetheless have the crucial functions of guiding cooperation interventions towards a harmonized vision of the territory’s future through concrete initiatives, new partner identification and resource mobilization. Regularly updated, they are always aligned with the national development priorities and integrate with the territorial development strategies identified during the LPCs.

By nature and purpose, ICGs promote the harmonization of development partners in a given territory, in line with its own needs and demands. They enhance transparency and collective efficiency through common working frameworks that offer joint diagnoses, guidelines and strategic projects. ICGs also facilitate the alignment of international cooperation partners with the territory’s strategies, institutions and procedures.

The International Cooperation Guidelines in BriefProcesses triggered by ICGs:

From a broad perspective, the International Cooperation Guidelines (ICGs) are the practical translation of the new cooperation paradigm, whereby donors’ resources respond to the concerted demands of the territories.


Instruments


to the post-disaster needs; furthermore, a strategic platform for the articulation of local, national and international actors was created to support early recovery and transition to development, using the revised Plataformas as a stepping stone.

Moreover, in response to the priorities expressed in the Plataformas in the specific area of LED, ART EL Salvador supported the establishment of two LEDAs in the departments of Usulutan and La Union.

UNDP’s ART El Salvador Framework Programme is an instance of how ART’s territorial articulation mechanisms are put into play at the regional level and are adapted to local contexts and needs.

The Programme’s International Cooperation Guidelines (called Plataformas in the case of El Salvador) were elaborated following a situational analysis, with a multi-sectorial, integrated and gender-sensitive approach.

Priorities were defined by the local actors themselves and were linked to national policies and MDG achievement: 20 participative workshops per area of intervention were carried out in the course of their elaboration.

In 2011, the Plataformas were edited, published and disseminated at the local, national and international levels, featuring 74 project proposals prioritized locally.

In response to the priorities defined within the document, national programmes and policies were promoted and strategic alliances with international partners pushed forward.

After the tropical depression E-12, the Plataformas were updated and contextualized

As part of the promotion of the ART instruments (concretely the TWGs and Plataformas), ART and the Vice-Ministry of Development Cooperation supported the formulation of a public policy on decentralized cooperation, based on local demands in El Salvador.

From the FieldEl SalvadorInternational Cooperation Guidelines

Example of

ICGs


From the Field: Kosovo

that it is endowed to act as a facility for other projects and actors operating in a given territory.

The process in Dragash was implemented with Belgian and Finnish resources and has catalyzed other UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO, to concentrate efforts in Dragash, one of the four most vulnerable municipalities in Kosovo.

In Kosovo, a five-month process culminated in the constitution of one Municipal Working Group and five Local Working Groups, and in the elaboration of the Municipal Development Guidelines for international Cooperation (MDG-IC).

The groups undertook a needs assessment aimed at compiling the MDG-IC. This document provides a validated participatory and multi-stakeholder framework to complement the municipal development plan and is fully endorsed by authorities.

The MDG-IC has been officially presented to a number of potential partners, including Turkey, USAID, the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), who are interested in contributing to Dragash’s development process or using similar instruments in other areas of Kosovo.

Through the Working Groups and the MDG-IC, the ART approach has demonstrated

The MDG-IC have also been endorsed by the central Government (Ministry of Local Governments Administration) as an innovation and acknowledged as an important tool for demand driven cooperation in Kosovo.

International Cooperation Guidelines

Example of

ICGs


ART supported the elaboration of the Development Effectiveness Measuring Tool to quantify and evaluate develop-ment cooperation performance as well as consistency with processes such as alignment to national policies, owner-ship and harmonization.

What: A new tool designed by the Government of Ecuador and ART to measure development effectiveness at the local level.

Where: The tool is implemented at the local level.

Functions: Measuring development effectiveness in its five dimensions: harmonization, alignment, ownership, mutual accountability and results-oriented management. This tool points out the leveraging effects that ART processes can trigger in partner countries. Boosted by favorable factors at the country level and inspired by the previous experience with the measuring instrument of ART Framework Programmes’ added value to Paris and Accra (implemented in 2010), the government of Ecuador embarked in this joint initiative to measure aid effectiveness at the local level.

Transparency and accountability. Initially piloted in Ecuador, the tool is indirectly contributing to the recognition of local experiences in promoting planning, participation, management and accountability, many of which were facilitated by ART UNDP Ecuador. The tool has proven useful in strengthening the capacities of the Decentralized Autonomous Governments (DAGs) to manage international cooperation. The tool has also helped actors develop an understanding that local implementation of development effectiveness principles constitutes an opportunity to strengthen multilevel governance and the role of governments and local stakeholders.

Processes triggered by the Development Effectiveness Measuring Tool

Development Effectiveness Measuring Tool in Brief


Instruments


Local ownership of development processes

Connecting partners to increase the effectiveness of development cooperation

Added Value


At International LevelAt the National LevelAt the Local Level

Added Value Providing a multilateral frameworkART provides international cooperation partners and networks with a tested framework to identify a territory’s local needs and priorities and to align development interventions accordingly. ART also facilitates direct connections with territorial partners, enabling pertinent and swifter cooperation agreements.

Enhancing Development Cooperation EffectivenessTo mention but one indicator of this tangible contribution, the aid effectiveness measuring tool developed and implemented by Ecuador clearly suggests that in those areas where ART’s platforms and instruments are active, development effectiveness indicators are noticeably higher.

Reducing the cost of international development cooperationThe instruments established with ART’s support at the territorial level have become pivotal platforms that boost articulation and coordination among international development actors and across levels. ART therefore contributes to reducing the overlap and fragmentation of international cooperation resources by promoting more focused and demand driven support. This common operational platform also allows for a shared legal framework and coordinated diagnoses, formulation and monitoring and evaluation missions, which altogether cut down the cost of development cooperation.

Turning concepts into actionsART contributes to the international development debate by capturing useful elements and experiences from the field; in turn, it is able to translate lessons learned into practice and results at the local level.

Making the territories heardThe wide platform of ART networks allows the territories to “be heard” by potential providers of technical and financial resources. In the lead-up to Busan’s HLF-4, ART conducted a wide international consultative process with over 150 local development actors, giving them a collective say in the event and therefore enriching the aid effectiveness debate. Only a few weeks before the Busan HLF-4, the first World Forum of Local Economic Development Agencies organized in Seville enriched the theoretical LED discussions with the lively contributions of practitioners from all over the world, providing concrete examples of how LED is implemented through ART’s LEDAs at the territorial level, where development matters the most.

Through facilitating the integration of development cooperation projects into Local Development Plans, ART contributes to maximizing development effectiveness and reducing aid costs.


ART-instigated good practices to other parts of the country. Such is the case with Morocco, Ecuador and Colombia, where national governments have requested the respective Programmes to encompass additional areas, in view of the palpable results achieved in the pilot regions in a variety of sectors.

MonitoringART’s framework and instruments also provide a powerful mechanism for governments to monitor development initiatives operating at the local level, facilitate synergy-building among various actors and ensure that at all times, development interventions are aligned and coherent with national strategies and priorities.

Linking Territorial LevelsART’s multilevel framework has proven to be an operational and efficient tool contextualized and adaptable to the realities of each country, able to link territorial processes with regional strategies and national programmes.

Scaling UpART’s multilevel governance approach supports governments in the implementation of national development policies at the territorial level while strengthening the local/ national linkages that allow the territories to convey their needs and priorities, therefore increasing the pertinence, coherence and ultimately the sustainability of development actions. All these elements pave the way to scale up


Added Value

ART’s initiative at the local level works as a “social lab” where governments and civil society test and enhance planning and decision-making mechanisms. Many of these initiatives are later adopted by governments as a model for national programmes.


Mobilization of endogenous resources Fundamentally based on a territorial approach, it is naturally mostly at this level where ART’s added value has the highest impact, as the Initiative first and foremost appraises local human and natural resources, which increases the potential for endogenous development processes and enables the territories to lead and manage their own development.

Coordination and Planning Moreover, the use of common territorial diagnoses and LPCs enables collaborative planning in response to the integrated demands from the territories. As a result, the ART Initiative becomes one of the most suited entry points for development players interested in actively participating in territorial governance. The emphasis on longer-term, demand driven and locally owned interventions shifts the focus from fragmented, sectorial and stopgap projects to meaningful, articulate and sustainable development processes.

Aid Multiplier By enabling all these unique processes at the territorial level, ART becomes a multiplier agent leading to an increased contribution by donors and partners into the territories, while ensuring that more accountable and effective mechanisms are put in place in the territories themselves.

Dialogue Between Territories One of ART’s most notable and distinctive features is its ability to generate mutually enriching relations between and among territories. Indeed, ART enables territories to connect with each other through a vast network of over 600 decentralized cooperation entities from the North, including regional and local governments, associations, universities, NGOs, foundations and private sector companies. ART also facilitates a structured South-South and South-North dialogue around issues of common interest such as health, education, youth employment, citizens’ rights, the environment and migration, among others.

ART’s multilateral framework further allows DC partners to connect and exchange experiences and knowledge in an equitable, co-responsible and mutually respectful way. These “multi-stakeholder dialogues” ultimately lead to development processes that are more transparent, participatory and inclusive, as they take into account and acknowledge the importance of a broad-based involvement of local authorities and actors in the path to sustainable development.

Facilitating “dialogue between territories” is one of the most important ART added values. Thanks to its 19 active Framework Programmes worldwide and its links with many institutions focused on promoting territories, ART has become a natural platform to implement this innovative cooperation modality.


Added Value


In Lebanon, a project on water management and water infrastructure improvement in South Lebanon involved 168 southern municipalities, in a concerted effort to establish and equip five water maintenance centers and to train technicians to repair water leakages.

The project also involved a nationwide water media campaign to promote water conservation.

ART’s instruments directly facilitated the project’s success: the Working Groups established by the ART Lebanon Programme contributed to identify and formulate the project through an inclusive and bottom-up participatory approach, while unprecedented national/local linkages and dialogue were promoted.

Decentralized cooperation partners mobilized through ART provided technical assistance and funded the project, which in addition to its environmental impact, also contributed to ease community tensions that had been heightened due to water shortages.

In Ecuador, the integrated and integral water resource management of the Jubo river Basin has followed the collaborative and participative approach fostered by the ART Framework Programme in Ecuador.

D espite worldwide efforts, environmental, social and political progress still lags behind economic growth.

The complex relationship between the environment and development essentially means that to achieve the goals of Sustainable Human Development in its three dimensions, environmental imperatives must be reconciled with development goals.

Fully aware of this intrinsic and delicate relationship, the ART initiative has been a long-time proponent of the need for greater global responsibility for environmental issues, as these have a direct impact on the daily lives of people.

ART’s methodology and instruments indeed provide an ideal platform to implement demand driven, process-based and integrated environmental projects identified locally.

Three concrete examples illustrate how ART’s approach has been utilized for the purpose of environmental sustainability and high impact, results-yielding projects in Lebanon, Ecuador and Senegal.

Water users, the DAGs, the competent state administrations and private entities have all joined efforts to design an environmentally sound and sustainable project not only to manage precious water resources but also to promote the participation of key stakeholders in the process and strengthen their capacities in water management.

The project involves two regions, three provinces, 13 municipalities and 22 parish governments; it is fully aligned with the National Plan of Buen Vivir (Good Living) aimed at promoting territorial integration.

Lebanon

Ecuador



With the support of ART Senegal in its capacity as a key partner of the General Directorate of Decentralized Cooperation within the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Collectivities, the Regional Council of Louga prioritized the financing of water access projects.

In order to support the development of hydraulic infrastructures, the project “Improving the access to potable water in the Departments of Kemeber and Louga” was elaborated with the active involvement of the Regional Working Groups.

The region of Lombardy and the Union of Lombardy’s Provinces are supporting the three-year project financially and technically through a Memorandum of Understanding with ART’s Geneva Office; on the ground, several national and local level partners are involved in the initiative as well, making the project a truly multilevel and comprehensive initiative mostly channeled through the Working Groups and led by local authorities.

Throughout the process, ART’s platform and mechanisms have allowed for the exchange of expertise and good practices on water management and have been instrumental in mobilizing resources and technical assistance, ultimately supporting the Government of Senegal in improving access to water and hence in MDG achievement.

Senegal

In Senegal, water has been a perennial problem despite governmental efforts in improving the quality and access to water resources.


T hrough its Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR), UNDP supports efforts to reduce the impact of natural

disasters, prevent armed conflicts and assist in recovery from crises when they occur.

BCPR and ART have been collaborating for several years in a number of countries where ART Framework Programmes are active: Sri Lanka, Colombia, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic/Haiti and Lebanon.

In Colombia, ART and BCPR are working together to coordinate early recovery initiatives, social peacebuilding, poverty reduction and MDG achievement. In the border areas between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Intra-Municipal Border Committees,

reinforced by ART’s Framework Programme, are serving as consultation and dialogue mechanisms to address post-earthquake needs, therefore directly contributing to post-disaster recovery and planning.

In Sri Lanka, ART’s instruments facilitated the harmonization of national and international development actors’ operations in post-disaster areas, allowing for a more articulate and sustainable intervention.

Territorial Approach for Peacebuilding

In Colombia, the ART-REDES Programme began its operations in Nariño in 2007. Situated on the southwestern border with Ecuador, Nariño is also one of the areas most affected by social, economic and political tensions, often resulting in violence.

Combining elements from BCPR’s Reconciliation and Development REDES Programme and ART’s territorial approach, ART-REDES has established local institutional frameworks for joint decision-making.

These platforms have allowed national and local stakeholders, as well as civil society, to collectively plan and lead development processes prioritized on the ground. In so doing, the process has also connected national strategies to local plans, therefore promoting sustainable human development initiatives in municipalities traditionally isolated and prone to conflict.

Indeed, the territorial multilevel governance framework established with the support of ART-REDES in Nariño has facilitated the elaboration

of integrated and participatory development planning documents: local stakeholders - including traditionally excluded sectors such as indigenous groups, Afro-descendants, women, displaced farmers and victims - have contributed to identify the department’s priorities and have actively participated in the elaboration of development initiatives.

These short-term development plans and the medium to long-term public policies or community plans are translating the DP’s contributions into concrete multi-sector and holistic initiatives. Furthermore, this bottom-up and participatory approach is contributing to boost donor harmonization and alignment to demand driven development processes, therefore improving development effectiveness at the local level and enhancing local peace-building processes.

The conflict-sensitive elaboration of Nariño’s Cooperation Strategy and Pasto’s public policies and ICGs show the extent to which a complex system for the coordination, planning and implementation of development cooperation activities has been institutionalized.

For instance, in Pasto these documents were formulated based on inter-institutional and multi-actor partnerships that gathered public agencies and social, community, ethnic and other concerned stakeholders such as universities and unions; the elaboration also involved over 150 international cooperation and social actors. These documents confirm the public officials’ political leadership and the citizens’ clear willingness to lead the day-to-day development processes of their region’s social and political transformation.

ART & Crisis Prevention


National Framework Programmes


E stablished at the request of the countries and contextualized to each and every local situation,

UNDP’s ART Framework Programmes are at different implementation stages. They col-lectively position ART as a unique initiative whose contribution to dialogue (e.g. Colom-bia, Lebanon), local capacity development (e.g. Ecuador, Morocco, Bolivia) and local economic development (e.g. Mozambique, Albania) is increasingly acknowledged by governments, civil society and other DPs.

In 2011, the ART Initiative had 19 active Framework Programmes across Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Balkans and the Mediterranean: Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gabon, Indonesia, Kosovo, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Syria and Uruguay.

Country Framework Programmes


In 2011 alone, the Programme financed 16 micro-projects in poverty-reduction with a particular focus on women, and six micro-projects in the field of health and education. As a result, 100 women were trained and received funding to develop income-generating activities. The health and education micro-projects improved the quality of healthcare and education for over 250 people.

ART Gabon has signed three partnership agreements with local institutions, aimed at reinforcing capacities and supporting agricultural and infrastructure projects financed by the Programme.

Further, the Programme is a cosignatory of the South-South cooperation partnership agreement initiated in 2011 with Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania.

Specifically, in 2011 ART Gabon has:

Established five Provincial Working Groups and nine Local Working Groups;

Formulated nine new Local Development Plans under the leadership of the Provincial and Local Working Groups;

Trained about 200 people including 65% women in Result Based Management, planning and decentralization;

Allowed 70 women to have an activity which increases their revenues;

Reinserted 45 young orphans in a center where they are supervised and go to school;

Improved the quality of health care and education of over 250 persons by funding the rehabilitation and equipment of a hospital and several schools;

Increased agricultural production and fishing for 70 men and women and introduced new methods of processing products.

In 2011 ART Gabon conducted an evaluation of its first operational phase (2006 – 2011) and formulated the second one (2013 – 2016). The evaluation’s findings have revealed that the Programme has generated tangible and measurable results in local participatory platforms, local planning processes, capacity-building and financing of income-generating micro-projects.

Acknowledging ART Gabon’s added-value as a mechanism to promote horizontal and vertical linkages, the Government has requested the Programme to accompany its decentralization processes in the framework of the decentralization laws that will shortly come into force. ART Gabon will be the partner of the National Directorate of Decentralization in a national training programme and will support local governments in planning processes and other activities such as local economic development, local taxation and the use of mechanisms and tools of good governance developed by the Programme. Further, the Government wishes to incorporate ART’s methodology in the elaboration of its local development plans.

In 2011, the Programme expanded its areas of operation to two new provinces at the request of the National Coordination Committee (NCC); the Government has pledged to increase its contribution to the Programme from US$1,000,000 to US$1,500,000 per year. The NCC is co-presided by the Ministry of Planning & Development Policy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, Francophonie and Regional Integration. As part of the ownership and institutionalization process of ART Gabon’s mechanisms, the NCC and the Working Groups have all been given a legal framework through ministerial decrees.

Main national partners

Main Decentralized Cooperation partnerFocus areas/sectorsProgramme overall budget

Start datePhase of the ProgrammeProgramme areas

2006

Consolidation.

Estuaire; Ogooué-Maritime; Haut-Ogooé; Province du Moyen Ogooué; Province du Woleu-Ntem.

Ministry of Economy, Employment and Sustainable Development; local governments; territorial institutions; National Direction of Decentralization and Local Development; Association of Municipalities of Gabon; UN Agencies; private sector partners.

Netherlands Development Assistance (NEDA).

Poverty reduction, health and education.

US$ 7,000,000

ART Gabon

FAST FACTS ART GABON


In 2011 ART Mauritania reinforced the Programme’s institutional component through the establishment of the National Coordination Committee and two Regional Working Groups (the latter through a Wali’s decree) to support regional development processes.

Through the Working Groups, ART Mauritania has implemented participative regional planning processes in local development. Furthermore, the Programme conducted an extensive mapping of ongoing development projects and actors in the two Wilayas, therefore enhancing donor harmonization. It also contributed to mobilize resources for local priorities that were identified in the matrices elaborated by the Working Groups.

Through the Working Groups, ART Mauritania supported the elaboration of the Regional Plan of Fight Against Poverty, integrating the diagnoses and analyses carried out during the participatory planning process.

In 2011, the ART Mauritania Programme signed a South-South cooperation partnership with Morocco, Senegal and Gabon, to support the decentralization processes in these countries.

One of the year’s strategic focuses was on gender: the Programme supported the participation of elected Mauritanian women to the First Forum of Elected African Women. The encounter resulted in the creation of a regional network that will have a national antenna in Mauritania. Further, ART Mauritania elaborated a participatory diagnosis on gender equality, with regards to the MDGs, in the two Wilayas, in order to facilitate gender mainstreaming in all regional planning systems.

The Programme has strengthened the planning capacities of the newly created groups through a training programme followed by over 50 persons (representatives of deconcentrated Technical Services, Civil Society Organizations, representatives of Mayors, representatives of Educational Centers and representatives of international cooperation projects and programmes). Most activities carried out tackled development planning.

FAST FACTS ART MAURITANIA

Main national partnersMain national sub-partners

Main Decentralized Cooperation partner

Focus areas/sectors

Programme overall budget


2010

Start-up / consolidation.

Brakna and Assaba (consolidation); Gorgol and Guidimakha (start-up).

Ministry of Interior and Decentralization.

The regional authorities of the areas where the Programme is active.

Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID); GEF Small Grant Programme; Andalusia Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI).

Local development; institutional and operational strengthening; promotion of international partnerships.

US$ 1,550,000

ART Mauritania


UNDP’s ART Programme in Mozambique (ART-PAPDEL) distinguishes itself by focusing on local economic development (LED). Through the Provincial Planning and Finance Directorate, ART-PAPDEL is supporting the Government in introducing local economic development as an integral part of national development strategies so as to fight poverty and empower local communities –particularly women.

ART-PAPDEL established its National Coordination Committee (NCC) in 2011; it is chaired by the minister of State Administration and integrated by UNDP, international cooperation partners and ministries involved in LED. The Programme has three National, five Provincial and 18 Territorial Working Groups, which in 2011 contributed to strengthen local participatory dialogue; moreover, as an ART-PAPDEL-unique characteristic, there is also a National Working Group exclusively devoted to LED issues.

Six international cooperation guidelines have been produced so far and presented to the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD), Valencia’s Fund for Solidarity, Galicia’s Fund for Cooperation and Solidarity, Extremadura’s Cooperation Agency, AECID and FAMSI.

The Programme has supported the establishment and/or operation of eight Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs); in this context, ART-PAPDEL has contributed to create 400 jobs through the promotion and constitution of rural associative enterprises, capacitating the beneficiaries of District Development Funds and advising entrepreneurs and micro, small and medium enterprises.

In line with its core-focus on LED, in 2011 the Programme channeled its support to district planning processes through various LED-related activities: capacity-building, diagnoses for the establishment of new LEDAs and the development and publication of territorial planning documents.

ART-PAPDEL signed an agreement with ORU-

FOGAR to provide administrative capacity-building to 22 municipalities on LED implementation, whereby 43 training sessions at the local and national level have been conducted.

LED-specific chapters were elaborated in 18 districts

and inserted in the local strategic development plans; ten projects identified in the Local Planning Cycles (LPCs) are in course of execution.

During the Regions’ World Forum, the European Union specifically commended UNDP’s ART Programme as a model to be followed in local economic development.

Recognizing the added-value of complementary actions within the multilateral framework and decentralized cooperation, the Government decided to adopt the ART approach as a model for its local economic development policies.

In 2011, ART-PAPDEL took part in the UNDAF

programming for 2012 – 2015, aligning itself to the Government’s poverty reduction plan and national priorities.

Main national partnersMain national sub-partners



2008

National ownership.

Maputo, Gaza, Inhambane, Nampula, Cabo Delgado.

Ministry of State Administration.

Governorates; districts authorities; budgeting and planning provincial directorates and local economic development agencies.

AECID and six decentralized cooperation partners.

Poverty reduction.

US$ 4,250,000

ART Mozambique

FAST FACTS ART MOZAMBIQUE


In 2011, the Programme boosted its capacity-strengthening component with the second edition of the ‘International Experts Course on Decentralized Cooperation’, a cycle of courses on ‘local governance for local civil servants’ and on ‘planning processes’ aimed at Civil Society Organizations.

In view of the Programme’s outstanding contribution to articulation and harmonization among cooperation actors, the Government and the Fes-Boulemane Regional Council have initiated steps to expand ART Morocco’s area of intervention to that region.

Furthermore, the Programme championed the signature of a South-South cooperation Memorandum of Understanding and roadmap with Mauritania, Senegal and Gabon, to further exchanges and collaboration on the countries’ respective decentralization processes; in this regard, the activities of ART Morocco have been integrated in the good practices of the Global South-South Cooperation Forum held in Rome in December 2011.

Taking harmonization one step further, the Programme supported the establishment of “La Maison du Développement” in Tangier-Tetuan, as a physical reference point for national and international development actors and a platform for the coordination of cooperation actions. Along the same line, the creation of the Foundation of the Oriental Region for Decentralized Cooperation is but another indication of the institutionalization of the Region’s Working Group.

ART Morocco has also facilitated the creation of “the Strategic Network of Cities” in the Region of Tangier-Tetuan. This pilot and innovative initiative of networking between the region’s cities will reinforce the exchange of good practices and experiences among the northern cities of Morocco in the field of local strategic planning and local affairs management.

Since its launching, ART Morocco has worked towards creating a participatory programming framework for decentralized cooperation (DC), based on the needs of the territories. In its second phase (2010 – 2012) the Programme has focused on reinforcing local and national ownership, capitalizing on the instruments already established and replicating ART’s methodology to new regions.

The Programme established the National Coordination Committee (NCC) in 2007; each of the two areas of operations have active Territorial Working Groups (TWGs) that have become reference points on issues of DC partnerships and strategic planning of local development: in 2011 alone, the Working Groups took part in 18 exchange missions involving 124 development partners (DPs) and also participated in a local governance training cycle.

In Tangier-Tetuan, the Working Group has been institutionalized within the existing local structures as the “Regional Platform for the Coordination of Development Actors”, signaling its effective ownership by the regional authorities. Strong with its 54 actors (16 international and decentralized cooperation and 38 local actors), it has truly become an entry point to the region for DPs.

The Programme’s International Cooperation Guidelines, produced and distributed in 2008 and then updated in 2011, have been systematically presented to DPs interested in supporting local development processes. In this context, more than 27 projects from the Guidelines have been implemented in 2011.


Main national sub-partners


Focus areas/sectors



2007

Ownership / replication.

Tangier-Tetuan and L’Oriental.

Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

Local governments, territorial institutions.

AECID; Italian Development Cooperation; Belgian Cooperation; and 39 other decentralized cooperation partners.

Democratization; social and political dialogue at the local level; and decentralization.

US$ 9,000,000

ART Morocco

FAST FACTS ART MOROCCO


Created in 2009, ART Senegal seeks to contribute to improve the population’s living conditions. To achieve this, it supports national decentralization, institutional capacity building and participatory local planning processes.

Some of the key activities of ART Senegal are: establishing mechanisms that facilitate the articulation of international cooperation with national policies and local processes; implementing innovative development projects in partnership with DC partners, focused on community priorities identified locally; supporting the modernization of the territorial administrative system; and improving the provision of basic services at the regional level.

In cooperation with several other partners, in 2011 ART Senegal supported the elaboration of more than 50 Local Development Plans (LDPs) and one Regional Development Plan in the Louga region. The documents were validated technically by the Working Groups and politically by the regional council, specifically contributing to ownership, alignment and harmonization of development partners.

The Directorate for Decentralized Cooperation - within the Ministry of Local Governments and Territorial Planning - promotes harmonization and alignment of DC actors at the national level with the support of ART Senegal.

Based on the LDPs, the Working Groups in Louga and Ziguinchor have elaborated the Guidelines for Development Cooperation, incorporating cross-cutting issues such as local economic development, gender, environment and the MDGs, with a particular focus on appraising local expertise.

ART Senegal also strengthens “community-interest groups”, which gather local authorities within a given department. The technical support provided to these groups is a key element in reinforcing cooperation between local authorities and hence in promoting innovative solutions in service delivery and other development challenges at the local level.

The Government of Senegal requested to upscale the territorial approach introduced by the ART Senegal Programme to other regions of the country.

A strategic process in the field of local economic development was initiated with the support of Valencia’s Generalitat (Spain) in the region of Louga, involving all relevant territorial actors as well as international cooperation partners.

Local Development Houses were established in the regiones of Louga and Ziguinchor with the cooperation of the Valencian and Balearic autonomous governments. These are operated by local authorities and serve as a “meeting space” for civil society institutions as well as public and private sectors; they are also an entry point for DP actors.

Approximately 7,000 people of the Kebemer Department, Louga region, obtained access to potable water through a project supported by the region and provinces of Lombardy. Over 8,000 additional persons will be covered in the project’s second phase in 2012, which will focus on improving the regional water management system.




Focus areas/sectors



2009

Ownership / institutionalization.

Regions of Louga and Zinguinchor.

National Government of Senegal and Associations of Local Elected Officials.

The Regional Councils of Louga and Zinguichor; local authorities; the decon-centrated governmental structures.

AECID; Generalitat of Valencia (autonomous government of Valencia); VIC Municipality; Balearic Islands, Lombardy Region and Union of Lombardy Provinces; PACA Region (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur); Tuscany Region.

Governance; hydraulic resources; pro-fessional training; local economic devel-opment; tourism and ICT.

US$ 2,500,000

ART Senegal

FAST FACTS ART SENEGAL


Operational since 2008, ART Bolivia has become an important tool in support of the country’s decentralization process and reorientation of its productive sector, with a special focus on governance and local development.

Owing to the achievements of local economic activities

(LED) initiatives promoted by ART Bolivia, the Programme has become UNDP’s main instrument to implement LED strategies. For instance, the Programme is now managing the project “Promotion, Management and Consolidation of Public Enterprises”, an initiative originally designed by the Ministry of Productive Development to evaluate and strengthen the public sector.

The Programme is also finalizing the design of the project “Articulation of Public Policies Addressed to Productive Development”, in collaboration with the Ministry of Productive Development. What is more, the Government itself has expressed its interest in streamlining the Programme’s LED activities within national public policies.

ART is creating a Local Economic Development Agency (LEDA) in the Tarija province, restructuring the LEDA of Oruro, and turning the LEDA of La Paz in an institutionalized platform.

Three Local Planning Cycles have just begun in the

regions of intervention, in collaboration with the Vice Ministry of Planning and Coordination and the Ministry of Productive Development –through the Vice Ministry of Micro and Small Enterprises.

Strategic Cooperation Guidelines have been produced in the departments of La Paz and Oruro and the El Alto Municipality.

In 2011 the Programme strengthened its National Coordination Committee (NCC), which is led by the Ministry of Development Planning.

It also expanded its area of intervention to the Tarija Department.

Furthermore, the Programme mobilized new resources thanks to intensive efforts in boosting departmental, local/national and private/public partnerships. Worth noting in this respect:

The alliance with SNV (an international not-for-profit organization initially launched by the Netherlands) and the Project “Inclusive Enterprises” (for a total of US$ 1,000,000 of which US$ 500,000 have been implemented in 2011);

New funds secured through the Basque Government (US$ 400,000). ART Bolivia established new national alliances in 2011,

namely with the Ministry of Productive Development, on two large-scale strategic projects whereby the Programme will provide technical assistance in support of specific public enterprises prioritized by the government.

An active proponent of South-South cooperation, ART Bolivia will foster articulation at the regional level with other ART Programmes, through cooperation exchanges with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.




Focus areas/sectorsProgramme overall budget


2008

Consolidation.

Departments of La Paz, Oruro and Tarija.

Ministries of Development Planning; Autonomies; Productive Development and Plural Economy; Work, Employment and Social Welfare.

Regional and local governments, Municipality of La Paz, Regional Government of Oruro and Tarija.

Italian Development Cooperation and 10 other national and provincial counterparts; AECID; French embassy in Bolivia; eight decentralized cooperation partners and four multilateral partners.

Governance; local development.

US$ 3,550,000

ART Bolivia

FAST FACTS ART BOLIVIA


The ART-REDES Framework Programme closely works with the Bureau for Crisis, Prevention and Recovery (BCPR); it seeks to strengthen the role of local communities in achieving sustainable local development, democratic governance, MDGs and reconciliation.

The Programme is present in six territories and has a particular focus on women, youth and victims of conflict. It reaches more than 55,000 families, approximately three million persons.

The Programme has a National Coordination Committee (NCC), integrated by its national and sub-national partners, in addition to multilateral, bilateral and decentralized cooperation (DC) partners.

ART-REDES has supported the establishment of two Working Groups in Antioquia and Nariño; six departmental dialogue spaces; and eight Municipal Working Groups, which have become reference points for development aid management, peace-building and human development.

Elaborated with the Programme’s support, Nariño’s Strategic Guidelines have contributed to increased local capacities –particularly of traditionally excluded groups– in management, articulation and influence on public policies. Currently, these guidelines are being used as an articulation framework by more than 280 local, national and international organizations. These locally-elaborated documents have been instrumental in securing national public investments and mobilizing international cooperation resources and partnerships: in the last four years, ART-REDES has succeeded in mobilizing US $28 million.

Five strategic new projects within Nariño’s Strategic Guidelines have obtained the support of DC partners and six DC partners have used the Programme’s framework to align to territorial development priorities.

Nariño’s experience has become the reference for the National System of International Cooperation in Colombia and has been established as one of the ten good development practices by the National Department of Planning, prompting a process of ownership.

In 2011 ART-REDES facilitated the organization of one of the meetings of the “Consultative Process on Aid Effectiveness at the Local Level” in Medellin. This event allowed local and regional governments from Latin America to convey their positions and concerns in the Busan HLF-4.

Throughout 2011, the Programme has been intensely active in both areas of intervention; for instance: in Nariño, 2,000 youngsters had their capacities reinforced in 27 “youth-leadership” schools; 2,500 youngsters participated in six sub-regional roundtables within the Departmental Working Groups; 800 women had their leadership capacities developed in 15 municipal schools (therefore contributing to gender equity); the “Nariño decides” alliance was created to promote public influence in electoral processes within the UNDP strategy for departmental and municipal elections; and 250 women, youth and farmers were trained in the “political training school”.

Further, the Programme promoted the establishment of the Inter-institutional Articulation Platform, articulating various civil society organizations (CSOs) involved in the Regional Strategic Process (PER). With the support of UNDP’s territorial office in East Antioquia, proposals elaborated through the PER were presented to municipal, departmental, national and international stakeholders. As a result, a project for US$ 1,000,000 was approved by the European Union and will be implemented by UNDP and five CSOs.






2008

Ownership / institutionalization.

Department of Nariño; Department of Eastern Antioquia (Oriente Antioqueño).

Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation; National Department of Planning.

Nariño’s Government; Pasto Municipality; ADELCO (the network of Colombian Local Economic Development Agencies).

Multilateral: UN Women; UNHCR, OHCHR; UNFPA; OCHA; ILS LEDA, IDEASS. Decentralized and Bilateral Cooperation: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA; AECID, Italian Development Cooperation; ACCD; Tuscany Region; FAMSI and six other European institutions and centers.

Social peacebuilding.

US$ 18,130,000

ART-REDES Colombia

FAST FACTS ART-REDES COLOMBIA


nine universities, six bilateral cooperation institutions, 200 development actors and institutions, chambers of commerce, social cooperatives, research/study centers and foundations, therefore becoming the most important single platform for development actors in the country: no less than 18 decentralized cooperation partners use ART-PDHL as an articulation platform.

In 2011, 33 municipalities in four of the country’s provinces were strengthened through the implementation of strategic instruments for local management.

A total of 367 local actors took part in capacity-building training (40% of which were women).

Seventeen enterprises/institutions from 14 municipalities dealing with housing, health, education and water, were strengthened through more than 110 actions including training, pilot projects and capacity-building for local actors on the use of information and communication technologies.

Through over 40 training programmes, nineteen LED projects were carried out in three provinces, more than 90 business project plans elaborated and management skills developed in local economic development.

Sixteen new projects identified through the participative processes set in motion by the Programme were approved and supported by over 75 sectorial institutions.

Furthermore, the Programme supported 11 national strategies having a direct impact on local development such as the Municipal Decentralization Initiative and the Local Food Production for Self-supply strategies.

For the first time ever, the Government adopted the

international cooperation guidelines formulated with ART-PDHL’s support as an official strategy to articulate international cooperation actors in the provinces.

The most senior of all ART Programmes, the Local Human Development Programme (PDHL), has emerged as a unique platform for Local Human Development in Cuba. It has maintained and reinforced its pivotal role to promote and facilitate UNDP’s and other UN organizations and agencies’ actions in local development, mainly thanks to its strong alliance with local governments and actors.

Owing to its long trajectory and achievements, ART-PDHL was singled out as the main instrument to implement Local Human Development, one of the five top priorities of the UN strategy in Cuba (as per UNDAF 2008 – 2012).

The ART-PDHL was identified as one of the Country Office’s (CO) priorities for 2008 – 2012 by both the government and UNDP’s senior management. The Programme accompanies the national authorities’ efforts in supporting prioritized development processes such as technical and administrative decentralization, local economic development, territorial services and mainstreaming the gender approach.

The Programme works in nine of the country’s 15

provinces and in 69 of its 169 municipalities, with the support of ten Provincial Working groups and 18 Municipal Groups.

The ART-PDHL established a National Coordination Committee (NCC) in 1999, integrated by MINCEX, UNDP, local actors, line ministries and international actors.

Throughout its lifetime, the Programme has established

a vast network of alliances with more than 14 NGOs,






1998

Sustainability / transfer.

Habana Vieja, Pinar del Rio, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Las Tunas, Holguin, Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Granma.

Presidential Agency for Social Action and International Cooperation; National Department of Planning.

Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Collaboration (MINCEX).

AECID; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Canadian International Development Agency; other 23 decentralized cooperation partners; MDGs Fund; EU; FAO; UNOPS; WFP; UN Habitat; UNESCO and UNICEF.

Local development processes.

US$ 19,800,000

ART-PHDL Cuba

FAST FACTS ART-PDHL CUBA


The ART Dominican Republic Framework Programme was born in 2007. The Programme works in line with the Government’s strategies for local development and decentralization. Furthermore, the activities of the ART Dominican Republic Programme are implemented within the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and the UNDP Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP).

The Programme is active in the Provinces of Monte Cristi, Dajabón, Elías Piña, Pedernales, Independencia, Valverde, Bahoruco, El Seibo, Monte Plata, Sánchez Ramirez, Hato Mayor and two border-zone departments in Haiti.

In the main three border provinces (Elias Piña, Dajabón and Independencia – Bahoruco) ART Dominican Republic has supported either the creation or the strengthening of three inter-municipal public institutions.

The Programme has promoted the establishment of municipal and provincial development platforms in the pilot area of Dajabón.

Two cross-border integral development platforms have been created with Haiti –in Elias Piña and Dajabón.

More than 300 territorial institutions and 30 national bodies are currently integrated in these territorial platforms.

In the Haiti border areas, ART Dominican Republic concentrated on recovery and capacity-building to enhance local capacities in dealing with the effects of the 2010 earthquake.

The Programme has created three Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs) and reinforced three others; it has also strengthened the National LEDA Network (one of the promoters of the Latin American LEDAs’ Network). This has had a direct impact on 9,485 producers and entrepreneurs and strengthened more than 15 value chains in the territories.

In line with its two prioritized areas for the year 2011, the Programme focused its activities on strengthening the Territorial Development Councils: ART Dominican Republic cooperated closely with the Directorate of Territorial Policies and Development to implement the law that will establish the National System for Planning and Public Investment and create the Territorial Development Councils. The latter will actually institutionalize the Working Groups as inter-sectorial and inter-institutional coordinating mechanisms for territorial development.

Through the created and strengthened territorial

platforms, the Programme has had a direct influence on local development and decentralization national policy initiatives.

Over 30 international cooperation partners have

harmonized their actions through the ART Dominican Republic including: Extremadura’s Local Fund for Development Cooperation; FELCOS Umbria; Como’s Association for International Cooperation; Municipality of Milan; Cantabria’s Cooperation Fund; Milan Province’s Fund for International Cooperation; Provincial Councils of Huelva, Cordoba and Granada; USAID; The European Union; Municipality of Cordoba; AECID;and Italian Development Cooperation.

Start datePhase of the Programme

2008

Consolidation.




Focus areas/sectors


Programme areas 11 Dominican Republic provinces; 2 of Haiti’s border Departments.

Dominican Republic: Fourteen partners led by the General Directorate of Territorial Development and Land Management of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development. Haiti: Seven national partners led by the Department of Frontier Affairs (Ministry of Finance).

Thirty-eight municipal and provincials’ partners in the Dominican Republic and 13 municipal and departmental partners in Haiti, led by the municipal governments.

Over 30 international DPs, regional councils, financial institutions and academies.

Local development and development effectiveness.

US$ 4,770,400

ART Dominican Republic

FAST FACTS ART DOMINICAN REPUBLIC


In 2011, the Programme reinforced the country’s decentralization processes, planning, territorial management and public policies: ART’s methodology for the articulation of territorial networks is now incorporated in the planning and territorial coordination processes at the national level and in five geographic areas. Further, owing to the remarkable level of ownership by the sub-national government of ART’s methodology, multilevel governance mechanisms were established in seven provinces. These processes are being institutionalized in four provinces.

One of the year’s most significant and innovative breakthroughs was the design and implementation of the “instrument to measure aid effectiveness at the local level”, in collaboration with SETECI. In a nutshell, measuring aid effectiveness principles in the territories revealed that ART-like mechanisms, such as the use of concerted priority agendas that are inserted in local planning, are factors that directly contribute to alignment, ownership, and harmonization of cooperation actions and actors.

On a slightly different but related activity, in 2011 the Programme furthered its work on the publication “International cooperation effectiveness at the local level: UNDP ART Ecuador’s added-value (2008 – 2010)”. To this end, a measuring and monitoring tool complementing other evaluation tools and containing indicators that specifically measure ART’s contribution to the implementation of the Paris Principles and Accra Agenda for Action, was designed and carried out.

In numbers: 170 sub-national governments, 65 civil society organizations (CSOs) and private sector, 12 academic institutions, and 25 actors of international cooperation are integrated at the territorial level through the Programme’s mechanisms.

positioning ART’s mechanisms at the heart of territorial development’s best practices.

ART UNDP Ecuador puts ART’s multilevel governance instruments at the disposition of national and local actors, in support of the country’s development strategies and MDG achievement. In this context, the Programme has activated five Provincial Working Groups and one Cantonal / Municipal Working Group in seven of Ecuador’s provinces.

The Programme established the National Coordination Committee (NCC) in 2008, which is today a well-consolidated national level articulation mechanism.

In 2011, the Programme produced several major

guidelines to boost development planning: one territorial planning guideline, one institutional planning guide and one guide for the formulation of public policies. It also supported the elaboration of the “Document of Territorial Priorities”, which facilitated the alignment of international cooperation interventions and public investment with local priorities concerted between public and private actors in four provinces.

In the area of Local Economic Development, the

Programme supported the creation of three new territorial economic development agencies in the provinces of Carchi, El Oro and Esmeraldas. Further, ART Ecuador facilitated the participation of several Ecuadorian development agencies in the First World Forum of Local Economic Development Agencies which took place in Seville (Spain). In this context, the Programme published a much-noted knowledge-product: “What is territorial economic development? Advantages and opportunities of having an economic development agency”.

In 2011, UNDP ART Ecuador and ART’s methodological proposals were recognized as key to the innovative decentralized cooperation management model elaborated in collaboration with SENPLADES, SETECI and the Decentralized Autonomous Governments’ (DAGs) national associations: the model adopted articulation, complementarity and concerted priority agendas as its fundamental elements, therefore


Main sub-national partners


Focus areas/sectors

Programme overall Budget

Start datePhase of the Programme

Programme areas

2008

Transfer / sustainability / ownership / institutionalization (in the province of Esmeraldas).

Seven provinces and one canton.

National Secretariat for Planning and Development; Technical Secretariat for International Cooperation; Consortium of Ecuador’s Provincial Governments; Ecuadorian Municipalities Association; Council of the Rural Parish Governments of Ecuador.

A total of 225 territorial actors from the State administration, NGOs and civil society, private sector, academic institutions and international cooperation.

Autonomous Governments of Valencia, Basque Country and Balearic Islands; Cantabria’s Cooperation Fund; and 15 bi-multilateral partners.

Territorial planning; development effec-tiveness; environmental management.

US$ 10,850,000

ART Ecuador

FAST FACTS ART ECUADOR


In response to the tropical depression E-12, the Programme was instrumental in creating an articulation platform for local, national and international actors to support early recovery and post-disaster transition to development.

At the request of the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency, in 2011 the Programme supported the elaboration and institutionalization of the country’s productive development strategy at the national level and its implementation through the establishment of Local Economic Development Agencies in the provinces of La Union and Usulután.

One of the Programme’s major breakthroughs in 2011 was the support provided to the formulation of national public policies in respect to development cooperation and productive development.

Regarding South-South cooperation, in 2011 ART El Salvador signed a partnership agreement with CODESUL, the city of Medellin (Colombia) and the Dominican Republic on issues of common interest.

ART El Salvador offers technical assistance and participatory instruments to implement local development national policies and development effectiveness initiatives at the local level.

The Programme’s National Coordination Committee (NCC), established in March 2011, is integrated by the national government, local governments, partners of decentralized and international cooperation and UN agencies.

Further, ART El Salvador has established three Territorial Working Groups, contextualized to the territories’ needs and existing structures.

Through participative workshops held throughout 2011, the three Working Groups supported the elaboration of the territorial strategies for human sustainable development; these documents are called “Territorial Platforms”.

ART El Salvador launched and supported a regional debate on decentralization in Central America.

Quickly responding to the needs generated by the E-12 tropical depression, the Programme elaborated an Early Recovery Proposal and adapted its existing strategic guidelines to the new context, including tailor-made actions such as recovery of means of living, restructuring of the productive system at the local level, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. By supporting early recovery and transition to development after the devastating effects of E12, ART El Salvador hence contributed to donor harmonization and articulation.




Focus areas/sectors



2010

Consolidation.

Torola River Basin (Provinces of Morazán, San Miguel and La Unión); Fonseca Gulf Basin (Province of La Unión); Jiquilisco Bay Basin (Province of Usulután).

Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Vice-Ministry of Development Cooperation; Secretariat for Strategic Affairs; Sub-secretariat of Territorial Development and Decentralization; Technical Secretariat of the Presidency.

Governorates of Morazán, La Unión and Usulután.

Council for the Development and Integration of South Brazil (CODESUL); ACCD; Barcelona’s local administration; Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation; FELCOS Umbria; IOM; Basque Agency for Water.

Decentralization, territorial development, local economic development, early recovery.

US$ 2,750,000

ART El Salvador

FAST FACTS ART EL SALVADOR


LEDAs were institutionalized as a tool to contribute to territorial policies. The Programme promoted the creation of a National Network of Development Agencies.

The Programme carried out actions aimed at strengthening the third tier of the government, with the aim of enhancing the elaboration of territorial agendas for development.

Municipal capacity development was implemented

throughout the year, through trainings on planning, negotiation and territorial management in 21 new municipalities.

National capacity-building cycles were carried out with

the participation of over 89 mayors and 400 municipal councilors in the 19 territories of the country.

In collaboration with Inmujeres (National Institute for Women) and national, departmental and local actors, ART Uruguay had a significant impact on gender in 2011, through the elaboration of the country’s first-ever diagnosis on employment and gender in a micro-territory.

The diagnosis followed a participatory methodology and

the initiative has become the first plan to institutionalize the gender component in the third tier of Government.

A pilot initiative with three “Municipia” projects was launched to elaborate territorial agendas that are inclusive of the gender approach and that showcase women’s contribution to economic development.

UNDP’s ART Uruguay Framework Programme supports the government in its decentralization efforts with a special focus on the second and third tiers; it also supports local economic development by strengthening territorial governance instruments.

ART Uruguay contributed to design local policies for micro, small and medium enterprises among public and private actors in four of the country’s departments: Artigas, Colonia, Rivera and Salto. In this context, the Programme carried out more than 80 visits to promote, diagnose and elaborate plans to improve management; three programs for entrepreneurial capacity-building were carried out and were attended by over 1,500 participants.

As a result, the Programme “El Salto Emprende” (El

Salto undertakes) was awarded one of the eight prizes for the most innovative initiatives by the National Agency for Research and Innovation.

In 2011, the Programme created eight Territorial Working Groups and six District Working Groups, in addition to six Thematic Working Groups. Most Working Groups have been inserted in the institutionalization process supported by ART. In the context of its ownership process, ART Uruguay has shifted its strategic orientation towards technical assistance.

The National Coordination Committee (NCC),

established in 2007, is led by the Office of Planning and Budgeting.

ART Uruguay engaged in a process of territorial and sectorial focus, concentrating on issues related to local economic development.

In 2011 the Programme contributed to strengthen ten

LEDAs in eight departments.




Focus areas/sectors



2006

Ownership.

Departments Artigas, Cerro Largo, Colonia, Florida, Salto and Rivera.

Office of Planning and Budgeting; Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining; Ministry of Work and Social Security; Ministry of Education and Culture; Technological Laboratory of Uruguay; National Agency for Research and Innovation; University of the Republic.

Departmental governments; gender commissions; development agencies; municipalities; and civil associations.

AECID and over 20 decentralized cooperation partners from Spain and Italy; UN Women; FAO; and ILO.

Decentralization and local economic development with a gender perspective.

US$ 3,800,000

ART Uruguay

FAST FACTS ART URUGUAY


Moreover, in 2011 the Programme preceded the formulation of the strategic plans of the 13 CSEMs and elaborated the “methodological guide for the creation and functioning of CSEMs”.

Further, MyDEL has played a crucial role in positioning and promoting the participation of the region’s women in Rio+20 with initiatives such as:

The promotion of green-inclusive production chains managed by women entrepreneurs in Guatemala’s rural areas;

Capacity-strengthening for rural women entrepreneurs in the framework of a green economy through a comprehensive and inter-institutional support aimed at generating employment and income and improving the living conditions in rural areas;

The mitigation of the environmental impact of economic activity. To achieve this, the initiative has formed a

multi-sectoral consortium with: the Government of Guatemala (Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food and Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources); academia (University of Rafael Landívar); the private sector (Guatemalan Exporters’ Association); NGOs (Foundation for Development and Conservation, Fundación Solar, Rainforest Alliance, The Nature Conservancy); and international organizations (UN Women, the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, the World Bank, FAO and UNDP).

Women and Local Economic Development (MyDEL) was the first ART regional-level initiative aimed at directly addressing gender equality in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It is coordinated by UN Women and headquartered in Guatemala’s regional coordination offices. It aims at laying the foundation for a Central American strategy on women’s empowerment to promote and enhance women’s entrepreneurship.

Throughout its life-span, the Programme has

established a solid platform of alliances: 16 at the national level, 15 at the departmental level and 284 at the municipal level. Moreover, 13 LEDAs and 13 Service Centers for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CSEMs), as well as nine Universities and research centers are part of this alliance.

At the territorial level, MyDEL has promoted platforms with departmental and municipal development councils, associations of municipalities (i.e. mancomunidades), women organizations and development centers within the micro, small and medium enterprises.

In the four countries of intervention, MyDEL has

supported the establishment of 13 CSEMs within LEDAs; these centers have so far provided technical and financial assistance to more than 12,000 women.

In 2011 MyDEL expanded its geographical coverage and now encompasses 13 departments in four countries, reaching out to a total of 6,976 women entrepreneurs, through more than 506 activities in sectors such as textile, agriculture, agribusiness, tourism, trade and services.

This year the Programme took a step further in the consolidation of CSEMs by strengthening the training unit within LEDAs and consolidating the 13 existing CSEMs at the regional level through capacity-building activities.

FAST FACTS ART MyDEL

ART MyDEL

Main regional partners



Start datePhase of the ProgrammeCountries of action

2005

Transition.

El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

System of Integration of Central America; Council of Ministers for Women Affairs; Center for the Promotion of Micro and Small Enterprises; Central American Bank of Economic Integration.

Local economic development agencies; municipalities; women municipal commissions; women NGOs.

Italian Development Cooperation; FAMSI; UN Women; MDG Fund.

Women & local economic development.

US$ 4,400,000

ART MyDEL


ART Lebanon’s overall goal is to support the national government and the local communities in its areas of intervention and in the elaboration and implementation of strategic development plans, with a special focus on disadvantaged groups.

ART Lebanon established its National Coordination Committee in 2007; it is chaired by the Council for Development and Reconstruction. The NCC is integrated by the ministries of Interior and Municipalities; Social Affairs; and Economy and Trade.

Currently, the Programme collaborates with 35 operational Regional and Thematic Working Groups; it had supported their establishment at the beginning of operations, in four of the intervention areas.

A key example is the Regional Working Group of Dinnieh in North Lebanon: throughout 2011 the group has been intensely involved in the territory’s Strategic Planning.

Regional Working Groups, usually led by the heads of Unions of municipalities, have facilitated the participation of smaller municipalities in Local Planning Cycles, therefore allowing them to benefit directly from broader projects when the involvement of regional authorities is necessary, such as in projects of water and waste management, social services and health.

In 2011, ART Lebanon has consolidated its collaboration with 15 European DC actors and initiated ten new partnerships, resulting in more than 50 active partnerships established since the beginning of the Programme.

In 2011, the Programme established Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs) in each of the four areas of intervention; these agencies are the first of their kind in Lebanon and the Arab region, as the Agencies are paving the road for a new private-public partnership in the delivery of important economic services.

One of the year’s highlights was the implementation of the Geographic Information System platform in Tripoli, an initiative developed by the Municipality of Tripoli with the support of the Municipality of Malaga (Spain) and in partnership with Al Fayhaa Urban Community, under UNDP ART-ISI@MED (Information Society Initiative for the Mediterranean). This initiative provided Tripoli with a powerful, customizable and technologically advanced system for creating and maintaining a directory of the municipality’s streets and postal addresses, as well as for enabling better strategic planning of public services.

In 2011 alone, local economic activities represented a whopping 50% of the Programme’s total budget. In this context, the Programme supported, among others, 40 women’s food processing cooperatives while using the technical assistance of the private sector for the first time; it equipped 1,100 fishermen; and benefited more than 30,000 farmers.

Moreover, in the framework of ART Lebanon, UNDP launched a programme to promote the role of municipalities within their communities and to advance their development processes. During the first stage, the Programme targeted 1,100 senior officials (most of whom were elected for the first time as members of municipal councils) in 300 Lebanese municipalities.




Focus areas/sectors


Phase of the ProgrammeProgramme areas

2007

Consolidation.

Beirut Southern-Suburbs (BSS); South Lebanon; North Lebanon and the Bekaa.

Council of Development and Reconstruction; Ministry of Interior and Municipalities; Ministry of Energy and Water; Ministry of Agriculture; Ministry of Public Health; Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Affairs.

Local authorities; unions of municipalities and federations of municipalities; Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (under the Ministry of Agriculture).

Over 50 decentralized cooperation partnerships established since 2007 with European regions in Italy, Spain, Belgium and Monaco.

Governance; environment; agriculture; youth; LED; education; health.

US$ 14,400,000

ART Lebanon

Start date

FAST FACTS ART LEBANON


ART Syria supports the Government in implementing pro-poor regional development agendas with an inclusive, participatory and sustainable approach to development planning and management.

Difficult circumstances prevailed throughout 2011, marked by social, political and security unrest. The overall volatile situation hindered the Programme; however, several results were achieved in relation to the establishment of the Programme’s mechanisms and implementation of impact projects:

In 2010, a National Coordination Committee (for now limited to the RPC) a Provincial Working Group (PWG) and three Local Working Groups (LWGs) were established in the Al Raqqa Governorate.

In 2011, LWGs received four training sessions on local development planning while the PWG received a three-day training course on communication and outreach in addition to three advanced trainings on local development planning.

The Programme’s work plan was developed based on a participatory assessment of the communities’ needs with the full involvement of all Working Groups and local authorities.

To further this encouraging result, ART Syria developed a draft manual on participatory development planning at the local level and mainstreamed it among the directorates participating in the Working Groups.

Through this participatory process, the Local and Provincial Working Groups identified at least 20 priority projects in various fields; the Programme implemented eight of them in 2011 and local authorities implemented another eight projects.

In 2011 ART Syria provided capacity development and technical assistance to the RPC to finalize its organizational structure in a manner that enhances its knowledge sharing and management.

The Programme engaged in a much-needed comprehensive mapping and compilation of databases on development projects in Al Raqqa.

Thirteen directorates working in the Governorate of Al Raqqa have endorsed the participatory planning approach and are currently using it in their annual planning exercise.

In the prevailing circumstances and ensuing withdrawal of most development actors in 2011, ART Syria has become one of the very few vehicles to provide assistance to the most vulnerable groups, through several small-scale but much needed projects in solid waste management, education, social and health areas.

A major achievement in 2011 at the regional level was the commitment of the line directorates and Al Raqqa’s public authorities to contribute financially and programmatically to development in the five target communities. A total of US$ 490,000 was allocated for various development projects in the villages and implemented in 2011, in line with the needs identified locally.



Main Decentralized Cooperation partnerFocus areas/sectors



2010

Start-up.

Al Raqqa Governorate – Damascus.

Ministry of Local Administration, Regional Planning Commission (RPC); Planning and International Cooperation Commission; Governorate of Al Raqqa.

Al Raqqa Governorate; Thawra Municipality; Tal Othman Municipality; Debsi Faraj Municipality; Family Planning Association; Youth Voluntary Group of Al Raqqa.

AECID, UNICEF, UNFPA.

Poverty, social development and local governance.

US$ 2,000,000

ART Syria

FAST FACTS ART SYRIA


ART Indonesia established a National Coordination Committee in 2009.

Both Gorontalo and NTT have Provincial and Working

Groups (PWGs) since 2009. In Gorontalo, the PWG has been recognized as a

platform to steer international development cooperation actors and actions and has been mainstreamed within the provincial government’s structure.

In the NTT province, the PWG has merged with the Province’s mechanism for aid effectiveness, the “Integrated Secretariat for Development Partnerships” (SPADU). The PWG has been therefore institutionalized as an official unit within the provincial government, contributing to development effectiveness through the harmonization and alignment of development partners with locally established priorities.

Both provinces underwent participatory Local Planning

Cycles during 2009 and formulated International Cooperation Guidelines that have been integrated in the territorial development strategies.

Three years into its launch, ART Indonesia has established itself as a platform to strengthen and develop regional governments. In the context of the implementation of the Jakarta Commitments and in line with the Paris Declaration Principles, the Programme has positioned itself as a pivotal player in promoting development effectiveness in Indonesia. Considering NTT’s Provincial Working Group success at the local level, the Government is planning to upscale this unique instrument of coordination to other Provinces and at the national level.

The SPADU was established in NTT in 2011 through a governmental decree. Overseen by the Provincial Planning and Development Agency, the Secretariat is responsible for coordinating international aid, in a territory that has seen a high number of interventions during and after the Timor Leste conflict, and ensuring that projects are in line with provincial priorities and provide training to relevant civil servants on the management of fund channeling.

Further, ART Indonesia has pioneered South-South cooperation partnerships since 2008, leading to exchanges on local governance, decentralization and agriculture with Sri Lanka’s Southern Province. This experience has been adopted as a model by the national Government and its lessons learned and experience were used as a case study to furnish Indonesia’s Grand Design and Blue Print on South-South Cooperation, which is being prepared by the Directorate for Multilateral Funding within BAPPENAS.




Focus areas/sectors



2008

Institutionalization.

Provinces of Gorontalo and NTT (East Nusa Tenggara).

BAPPENAS (National Development Planning Agency) and Ministry of Home Affairs.

Regional Planning and Development Agencies of Gorontalo and NTT provinces.

Association of Italian Medical Doctors; Southern Province of Sri Lanka Institutions; ACC1O (Catalan Business Support Agency, Spain); Bicocca University of Milan, Italy.

Local economic development; south-south cooperation and development effectiveness.

US$ 1,650,000

ART Indonesia

FAST FACTS ART INDONESIA


The comprehensive Diploma Course on Governance for elected members of Provincial Councils, successfully piloted in the Southern Province, was replicated in Uva at the request of the provincial authorities with only minimal support from the Programme, in a clear sign of the authorities’ ownership of such a comprehensive capacity building initiative.

The Programme further supported the partnership with Umbria Province to implement the National Mental Health Strategy at the provincial level; in partnership with ART Albania, the mother kangaroo method for neonatal care was introduced to Sri Lanka with promising results for future replication.

The RUEDA continued its successful credit guarantee scheme for SMEs in the Southern Province, to promote strategic local economic development in the Province.

ART Sri Lanka started its activities in 2006 in the wake of the devastating December 2006 Tsunami. The Programme quickly became a valuable platform to coordinate the intervention of scores of decentralized cooperation partners wishing to support the country’s post-disaster and early recovery schemes.

The Programme established a National Coordination Committee (NCC) in 2007, and continues to count on an active and experienced Provincial Working Group in the Province of Uva.

In 2011, ART Sri Lanka continued to strengthen its wealth of decentralized cooperation partnerships, with a special focus on its existing South-South cooperation exchanges, namely with the Province of Gorontalo (Indonesia) and with Albania.

The Programme focused on capacity strengthening for newly decentralized authorities, as well as institutional support for the LEDAs (called RUEDA in Sri Lanka). For instance, exchanges continued with the Province of Gorontalo in the agricultural sector, specifically in the exchange of know-how and expertise on maize production.




Focus areas/sectors



2006

Consolidation / transfer.

Southern Province; Uva Province.

Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils.

Uva Provincial Council; Southern Provincial Council.

AECID; FELCOS Umbria; FAMSI; Catalan Fund for Development Cooperation; Galician Fund for Cooperation and Solidarity; Galician Higher Center of Hostelry; Emilio Moro Foundation; Extremadura’s Local Fund for Development Cooperation; Local Administrations of Huelva and Malaga; Andalusia’s Foundation of Training and Employment; Como Region; Veneto Region; Foligno Commune; and the Spanish NGO Peace and Development.

Capacity building; education; local economic development.

US$ 5,400,000

ART Sri Lanka

FAST FACTS ART SRI LANKA


One of the most innovative features of 2011 has been the Programme’s piloting of school laboratories for human development through the establishment of partnerships with the Ministry of Education and Science, Labor and Social Affairs, and several universities and local authorities. A premiere in the country, these laboratories will be followed by the creation of the Albanian School of Human Development – a concept in the making– as part of the International School of the Millennium Development Initiative, bringing together development actors, academia and think tanks on issues of socioeconomic development and cooperation.

Moreover, the Programme has made the first steps in identifying innovations in the field of good local/national development practices, carrying out a holistic survey of the entire territory. In this context, an international conference co-organized in 2011 by the Governments of Albania and Italy and ART GOLD2 Albania received great attention and enjoyed an outstanding high level of participation.

As a result, the Albanian authorities committed to scale up development components promoted by the Programme such as the LEDAs/RIDAs role in the framework of regional development and participatory strategic planning, while the Italian Government and other representatives from key European agencies committed to utilize ART as an effective instrument for the activation of development cooperation and decentralized partnerships.

Showcasing the Programme’s strategic planning process as a prime example of multi-stakeholder participatory planning, in 2011 ART GOLD2 Albania started exchanging expertise with the ART Kosovo Programme in order to initiate a process of mutual learning and eventual replication of best practices as well as possible joint cooperation in areas and locations of common interest.




Focus areas/sectors



2010.

Consolidation.

Regional Councils of Vlora and Shkodra.

Five national government ministries led by the Ministry of Interior.

Regional governments of Vlora and Shkodra; municipalities (Vlora and Shkodra); more than 20 municipalities and communes; two LEDAs; two universities; one commercial bank.

Italian Development Cooperation; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy; five DC partners; three UN partner agencies.

Local economic development, reform agenda.

US$ 2,400,000

ART Albania

In collaboration with its national counterparts and UNOPS, ART GOLD2 Albania provides support to the reform agenda for the country’s accession to the EU, MDG achievement and development effectiveness.

The Programme has established two LEDAs in the two regions of intervention; they will soon become Regional Integrated Development Agencies (RIDAs) as part of the institutionalization and ownership process. In light of the agencies’ success in promoting local development, the Ministry of Interior has indicated that it wishes to use the agencies as a model to be incorporated in National Policy Formulation. Neighboring Kosovo has also expressed its interest in replicating a similar model in support of local development.

Furthermore, ART GOLD2 Albania has been providing support to infrastructure projects prioritized by both the government and the regional partnership councils. These include the restoration of old buildings, museums and other structures of historical, cultural, archeological and touristic value, green spaces and equipment of public spaces.

The Programme’s strategic planning processes have achieved a high level of ownership by the regional councils, owing to their participatory and inclusive nature. Two regional partnership councils were created in the course of these processes, which brought together a balanced representation of government, business and civil society representatives.

About 200 project ideas and proposals were identified in both regions, 11 of these were considered high priority and developed since the commencing phase; six of them have been implemented with ART GOLD2 Albania funding. At least three of the priority projects were funded by other agencies while many others are in the pipeline of implementation or funding.

FAST FACTS ART ALBANIA


In view of the particularities of the region and the proliferation of development actors, ART has put its instruments and methodology at the service of existing initiatives and actors. In this sense, the Kosovo experience represents ART’s added value par excellence as a facility for articulation, coordination and participation, offering instruments capable of enhancing and contributing to the agendas of existing development actors and donors to-be.

In line with ART’s mainstreaming trend within UNDP

and in the context of the project, ART has put at the disposition of development actors an institutional UNDP instrument to optimize results and maximize impact vs. available resources (value for money).

A first example of this facility modality was provided

through interaction with the “Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use Management in Dragash project”. Indeed, this Finland-funded UNDP project was initially limited to its sectorial specificity and did not consider participatory planning at the community level. However, introducing ART’s approach and methodology helped to complement the technical and scientific work of the “Dragash project” with a participatory planning process that linked locally identified priorities to the Municipal Development Plan, producing a solid and integrated basis for development actions and paving the way to further interventions beyond the duration of existing projects.

Due to the political and legal specificities (i.e. under UNSC resolution 1244) there is no NCC in Kosovo, but an integrated mechanism at the national level ensures the functions that would normally be performed by the national mechanism, which include gathering and integrating stakeholders, donors and other development partners.


Main national sub-partnersMain Decentralized Cooperation partnerFocus areas/sectors



2010

Consolidation.

Dragash Municipality (Southern region).

Ministry for Local Governments Administration, Association of Kosovo Municipalities.

Municipality of Dragash.

The Governments of Finland and Belgium.

Decentralization process, sustainable development, economic development, energy strategy and capacity development.

US$ 450,000

ART Kosovo

FAST FACTS ART KOSOVOIn late 2010 the ART Programme in Dragash produced

the Municipal Development Guidelines for International Cooperation (MDG-IC), using participatory planning processes. In 2011 the Guidelines were endorsed by the Municipal government as a complement to the Municipal Development Plan; they were also used by several development partners as the reference tool for cooperation actions in Dragash territory.

Within the overall objective of the Programme, which is the establishment of a sustainable development framework in Dragash, five “quick win” projects at the village level were initiated and four of them were completed.

Five Working Groups at the village level and one Municipal Working Group have been established as platforms for participatory and inclusive dialogue (covering 40% of Dragash’s population).

Five new villages will undergo an updated participatory planning process during 2012; this means that the Programme will cover more than 60% of the population of Dragash as direct and indirect beneficiaries (Dragash has an estimated total population of 45,000).

Following interest expressed by donors, national authorities and UNDP are contemplating the expansion of the processes set in motion by ART to other regions.

In view of the successful integration of ART’s facility services within the “Dragash project”, ILS LEDA will engage in 2012 with cost-shared Belgian-Finnish funds, to design a LED strategy in Kosovo’s territories.

In October 2011, UNICEF and UNFPA announced their decision to work in Dragash in the framework of the Municipal Development Guidelines.


ART in Figures

US$ 16,960,297 Disbursed funds (2011).

US$ 13,130,538 Funds channeled through UNDP Country Offices (2011).

US$ 5,000,000Mobilized funds from sub-national Governments, TRAC resources, and multilateral cooperation (2011); multiplier effect.

US$ 156,127,106 Total funds mobilized 2006-2011.

Trust Fund Geneva

UNDP CO

Total funds (in US$)

LocationDecentralized Cooperation

Multilateral Contributions

National Governments

Indirect Support

Total (in US$)

79,384,170 12,542,579

18,635,487

2,095,000 5,200,000 3,912,449

3,912,4495,200,000

91,926,749

64,200,357

156,127,106

46,900.000

46,900.0002,095,000

6,092,908

79,384,170

Bilateral Contributions % % % % % %

UNDP Core Fund

51 12 1 30 3 3

ART funds: source and financial allocations

The strategic components of the ART budget are:

Framework Programme activities developed and implemented by UNDP Country Offices.

Technical assistance; knowledge manage-ment; monitoring; workshops; support to Lo-cal Economic Development (LED).

Global activities including the establishment and follow up of decentralized cooperation partnerships, mobilization of partners and the strengthening of ART’s global services.

19 Countries with ART Framework Programmes.

19 National Coordination Committees created.

75 Regions where ART is implementing programmes.

100 Territorial Working Groups created.

325 Municipalities working in partnership with ART.

60 Local Economic Development Agencies established.

14%

76%

10%

ART staff/2011

(2006-2011)


ART staff/2011

As UNDP’s ART Initiative looks forward to initiatives stemming from Rio+20 and the imminent MDG deadline, it is ready for a challenging year of opportunities that should be seized to buttress sustainable human development for all.

ART will continue scaling up its programmes and areas of operation, hand in hand with national and local authorities. The steady requests for Framework Programmes to cover additional regions in the countries indicates the increasing ownership of the Initiative by national and local governments and

reinforces ART’s conviction that its territorial and multilevel governance approach to development within a multilateral framework is the path to follow.

Six years after the first Framework Programmes started their operations, ART is now in a position to systemize its wealth of experiences; to disseminate, integrate and mainstream best practices; to adjust to changing realities and take stock of lessons learned; and to engage in an ambitious knowledge management exercise.

Finally, ART will reinforce its support to local governments and local actors, as these

are ever more acknowledged as essential stakeholders in the development architecture. Indeed, they play a crucial role in the definition of sustainable human development strategies at the local level. This does matter, because it is at this level where needs should be identified and where development efforts truly make a difference.

ART’s timely territorial approach will continue to strongly advocate for local governments and stakeholders to assume a leading role within the new global partnership for development, a prerequisite for the international community to achieve an effective development cooperation that addresses needs on the ground.

ART’s Way Forward


Six years after ART’s launch, the Initiative is now globally acknowledged by local communities, partners and donors alike as a promoter of change, innovation and a “new development paradigm” able to trigger long-term development processes.

ART’s focus on processes rather than projects is increasingly recognized as an intrinsic philosophy and practice that yields

more balanced, integrated and sustainable human development results.

Through the ART Initiative, local authorities are “rediscovering” the value of the territorial approach to development and crediting the importance of the high quality, specialized and unwavering accompaniment and support from ART.

As a result of the Framework Programmes’ concrete achievements on the ground, ART’s network has grown from 400

TRUSTING ART

Bilateral PartnersBelgium

Canada

France

Italy

Monaco

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

European Union

partners in 2005, to over 1,600 in 2011 (600 from the North and 1,000 from the South). The Initiative further counts on the support of nine bilateral partners, 18 United Nations Agencies and 40 regional networks, foundations and associations.

This steady increase reflects the trust generated by ART’s methodology and instruments and the gradual ownership of the Initiative by development partners and stakeholders.


Belgium: Association de la Ville et des Communes de la Région de Bruxelles Capitale - Commune de Forest - Municipalité de Bruxelles - Municipalité de Saint Trond (Sint-Truiden) - Ville d’Anvers.

Canada: Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) - CARE Canada - Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN) - Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) - Fondation SOCODEVI (Société de Coopération pour le Développement International) - INSERTECH ANGUS - Municipality of Clarenville - NGO Alternatives - Suncurrent Industries - The Global Peace and Security Fund (GPSF) - University of Cape Breton - Université du Québec - University of Moncton - York University.

France: Agence Française de Développement (AFD) - Association Cuba Coopération France - Association de solidarité avec le peuple Cubain France Cuba - Association Migration Solidarité et Echange pour le Développement (AMSED) - Association Terroirs et Cultures - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM) - Centre de Marseille pour l’Intégration en Méditerranée (CMI) - Citées Unies France - Collectif Approche et Gouvernance Territoriale, Démocratie Participative et Citoyenneté ( ANECR) - Comité d’Entreprise de la RATP - Commission Coopération Décentralisée de Cités et Gouvernements Locaux Unis de Lyon (CGLU) - Comité d’entreprise de France Telecom - Commune de Champs sur Marne - Conseil Général de l’Aude - Croix Rouge Française - Délégation à l’Action Extérieure des Collectivités du Ministère des Affaires étrangères et Européennes Français (DAECT) - Département de la Drôme - Entreprise SEMISE - Entreprise TOTAL - Faculté de Droit Aix Marseille - Financière OCEOR - Fondation Air France - Fondation Mitterrand - ONG Association Ville d’Aurillac - ONG Auvergne - ONG Secours Populaire - ONG Ville in Transition - Parc Naturel Régional du Lubéron - Province Pyrénées Atlantiques - Région de Champagne Ardennes - Région de Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) - Région Rhône-Alpes - Réseau des Amis de Cienfuegos de la Région d’Auvergne - Réseau d’amis de Cienfuegos de la Région PACA - Servir les ambitions économiques et urbaines du Val-de-Marne (SADEV 94) - Service de Coopération Culturelle (SCAC) - Syndicat Intercommunal d’Aménagement de Réseaux et de Cours d’Eau (SIARCE) - Ville de Cournon d’Auvergne - Ville de Fleury Merogis - Ville de Marseille - Ville de Martigues - Ville de St. Denis.

International Networks: Arco Latino - Association of Local Democracy Agencies (ALDA) - Forum of Global Associations of Regions ORU/FOGAR - Committee of Regions (European Union) - European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA) - Medcitès - Observatory for Decentralized Cooperation EU/LA - United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) - World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty (WACAP).

Italy: ARCI International - ARCI Toscana - Armadilla Cooperativa - Associazione Comasca di Cooperazione Internazionale (ACCI) - Associazione Nazionale Comuni d’Italia (ANCI) - Cittadinanzattiva - Comune di Arezzo - Comune di Bergamo - Comune di Brescia - Comune di Cecina - Comune di Como - Comune di Cremona - Comune di Firenze - Comune di Foligno - Comune di Genova - Comune di Grosseto - Comune di Lecco - Comune di Lodi - Comune di Livorno - Comune di Mantova - Comune di Napoli - Comune di Mazara del Vallo - Comune di Milano - Comune di Padova - Comune di Parma - Comune di Pavia - Comune di Prato - Comune di Siena - Comune di Spoleto - Comune di Varese - Comune di Venezia - Comune di Viareggio - Coordinamento Nazionale degli Enti Locali per la Pace e i Diritti Umani (CO.CO.PA.) - FELCOS Umbria (Fondo di Enti Locali per la Cooperazione Internazionale e lo Sviluppo Umano Sostenibile) - Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena - Fondo Provinciale Milanese per la Cooperazione Internazionale (FPMCI) - INU (Istituto Nazionale di Urbanistica) - Istituto Cooperazione Universitaria - Laziosanità (Agenzia Sanità Pubblica Regione Lazio) - Medici Dirigenti/ANAAO - ONG Cospe - ONG Ricerca e Cooperazione - ONG VIS - Osservatorio Interregionale di Cooperazione allo Sviluppo (OICS) - Oxfam Italia - PEACE GAMES - UISP Cooperazione Sportiva Internazionale - Provincia di Alessandria - Provincia di Bergamo - Provincia di Ferrara - Provincia di Firenze - Provincia di La Spezia - Provincia di Lecce (Management Consortium of Torre Guaceto Park - Management Consortium of Coastal Dune Reserve) - Provincia di Pavia - Provincia di Sassari - Provincia di Siena - Progetto Sviluppo Liguria (PROSVIL) - Provincia di Torino - Provincia di Viterbo - Regione Abruzzo - Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia - Regione Lazio - Regione Liguria - Regione Lombardia - Regione Marche - Regione Puglia - Regione Toscana - Regione Sardegna - Regione Umbria - Regione Veneto - Sudest Donne - SudgestAid - Unione Province Lombarde (UPL) - Università degli Studi di Firenze - Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca - Università degli studi Bocconi di Milano - Università degli studi di Perugia - Università degli studi di Pisa - Università degli studi di Siena - Università degli studi di Urbino - Università di Venezia (IUVAV) - Water Foundation.

Spain: Agencia Andaluza de Cooperación Internacional - Agencia Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament (ACCD) - Agencia Extremeña de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AEXCID) - Agencia Vasca del Agua (URA) - Agencia Vasca de Cooperación para el Desarrollo/Gobierno Vasco - Asociación de Entidades Locales Vascas (Euskal Fondoa) - Ayuntamiento de Barcelona - Ayuntamiento de Bilbao - Ayuntamiento de Córdoba - Ayuntamiento de Huelva - Ayuntamiento de Lasarte Oria - Ayuntamiento de Málaga - Ayuntamiento de Mallorca - Ayuntamiento de Prat de Llobregat - Ayuntamiento de Sabadell - Ayuntamiento de Sevilla - Ayuntamiento de Vic - Ayuntamiento de Vitoria Gasteiz - Ayuntamiento de Terassa - BEAZ Bizkaia - Centro de Estudios y Documentación Internacionales de Barcelona (CIDOB) - Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional (CERAI) - Centre for Research on the Economies of the Mediterranean (CREMed) - Centro Superior de Hostelería de Galicia - Centro UNESCO de Cataluña (UNESCOCAT) - CIC Batá - Diputación de Barcelona (DIBA) - Diputación de Córdoba - Diputación de Cádiz - Diputación de Granada - Diputación de Huelva - Diputación de Jaén - Diputación de Sevilla - European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMED) - Federación de Empresas Valencianas de Economía Social (FEVES) - Fondo Andaluz de Municipios para el Desarrollo Internacional (FAMSI) - Fondo Cantabria Coopera - Fondo Extremeño de Cooperación al Desarrollo (FELCODE) - Fondo Galego de Cooperación e Solidarieda - Fons Català de Cooperació al Desenvolupament - Fons Valencia per la Solidaritat - Fundación Andaluza Fondo de Formación y Empleo (FAFFE) - Fundación Centro de Iniciativas e Investigaciones Europeas en el Mediterráneo (CIREM) - Fundación CODESPA - Fundación Emilio Moro - Fundación ETEA para el Desarrollo y la Cooperación - Fundación KABKUH para el Desarrollo Sostenible de la Gastronomía y Alimentación - Generalitat Valenciana - Gobierno de Murcia - Govern de les Illes Balears - Junta de Andalucía - Instituto de Empleo y Desarrollo Socioeconómico y Tecnológico (IEDT) - Instituto de Estudios sobre Desarrollo y Cooperación Internacional (HEGOA) - Municipio de Tarragona - ONG Global Humanitaria - ONG Paz y Desarrollo - Proyecto Local Barcelona - Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona - Universidad de Cádiz - Universidad de Córdoba - Universidad de Granada - Universidad de Málaga - Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla - Tecnalia.

Switzerland: Fondation Suisse Maroc pour le Développement Durable (FSMD) - University of Geneva. The Netherlands: Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) - Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV).

UK: Save the Children - Future in Our Hands (FIOH).

Decentralized Cooperation Partners


ART 2011 REPORT

Documents

Transcript of ART 2011 REPORT