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This document has been elaborated by the UNDP-ART Bolivia Programme, in concert with the

ART Programmes of Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

Katherine Grigsby

Resident Coordinator of the United Nations System in Bolivia

and Resident Representative of the UNDP Bolivia

Claudio Providas

Deputy Resident Representative

UNDP Bolivia

Giovanni Camilleri

International Coordinator

UNDP ART Initiative

Enrique Gallicchio

Chief Technical Adviser

UNDP ART Bolivia Programme

Author of the publication

Olivier Hidalgo Guillot

Strategic Planning Expert

UNDP ART Bolivia Programme

Translation

Zeina Mogharbel Vallès

Design and edition

Oihane Beñaran Muñoz

Communications Technician

UNDP ART Bolivia Programme

Acknowledgment

The active collaboration of the Global ART Initiative and the ART Programmes of Colombia,

Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican Republic and Uruguay is appreciated.

ISBN: 978-99954-819-8-8

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bolivia, 2014

The contents of this publication can be reproduced as long as the source is acknowledged.

The criteria expressed do not necessarily represent the views of the United Nations or UNDP.

La Paz, Bolivia - 2014

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Acronyms ADELCO National Network of Local Development Agencies (Colombia)

ADELDOM Network of Dominican LEDAs

ADELMOPLA LEDA of Monte Plata (Dominican Republic)

ADET Territorial Economic Development Agency

APROLECHE Association of Milk Producers in the Dominican Republic

ART Articulation of Territorial Networks for Sustainable Human Development

AWP Annual Work Plan

CAT Committee for Territorial Articulation in Carchi (Ecuador)

CENSA Center of Farming Health (Cuba)

CIADEL Inter-Institutional Committee for Local Development (El Salvador)

CONALECHE National Council for the Regulation and Development of the Milk Industry

(Dominican Republic)

DECADA Project of Capacity Development for an Efficient Planning and Territorial

Development Management in the Province of Dajabón (Dominican Republic)

DGODT Directorate for Territorial Management and Development (Ecuador)

DINAE National Directorate for Employment (Uruguay)

FAMSI Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity

FOGAR Regions United

GADOR Autonomous Departmental Government of Oruro (Bolivia)

HLF-4 Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness

ILO International Labor Organization

JMD Joint Migration and Development Initiative

LED Local Economic Development

LEDA Local Economic Development Agency

MDGs Millennium Development Goals

META Technical Committee of Territorial Articulation and Management (Ecuador)

MIC Ministry of Industry and Commerce (Dominican Republic)

MIEM Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mining (Uruguay)

MSMEs Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

NCC National Coordination Committee

NGOs Non-governmental Organizations

PDLT Programme of Local and Cross-border Development

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PET MAN Project of Territorial Productive Economic Planning in Oruro’s Department —

Commonwealth Of Municipalities

PROCAL Integral Programme to Improve Milk Production and Quality

PRODEM Programme for Municipal Modernization (Ecuador)

PWG Provincial Working Group

RADEL Network of Local Economic Agencies (Uruguay)

RED ORMET Network of Labour Market’s Regional Observatories (Colombia)

SDC Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

SEBRAE Brazilian Service in Support to Micro and Small Enterprises

SENPLADES National Secretariat for Planning and Development (Ecuador)

SETECI Technical Secretariat of International Cooperation (Ecuador)

SHD Sustainable Human Development

UCLG United Cities and Local Governments

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund

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Foreword

We are pleased to present this document, which compiles and synthesizes the main

achievements in Local Economic Development attained in the last years by several UNDP

ART Programmes in Latin America. By analyzing the successful experiences and good

practices in the region, the document aims at stimulating debate on the key mechanisms

and tools to promote a sustainable development that brings about real change to the

living conditions of people.

Development is a complex process that requires the active and coordinated participation

of all actors, from governmental and sub-national institutions to civil society, the private

sector and cooperation agencies. From this perspective, UNDP considers ART an

instrument that facilitates the coordination and articulation of actors through the

promotion of multilevel and multi-actor governance for inclusive economic development.

In this sense, the ART initiative complements the new UNDP Local Governance and Local

Development (LGLD) strategy, which focuses on the consolidation of decentralization

and local governance processes.

This document, which puts forward the methodological and strategic elements that

characterize ART, calls for reflecting on how to foster exchanges and innovations

between countries under the South-South cooperation modality. In this context, the

UNDP ART Programme puts its experience and extensive network of partners at the

disposal of the countries to disseminate successful experiences in local development,

under a new paradigm that sheds the traditional donor-beneficiary relationship in favor

of a more horizontal relation between “partner countries”.

As the focal point for the Local Economic Development component of the ART

Programmes in Latin America, UNDP ART Bolivia has spearheaded the elaboration

process of this document. This systematization is the product of an extensive

participative process that incorporates the contributions of countries such as Colombia,

Ecuador, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, in addition to Bolivia. The

publication of this document grants me the opportunity to sincerely thank these

countries and their respective ART Programmes for their unwavering collaboration and

for their quality contributions, which have made this document an indispensable

consultation tool.

The document does not aim at being exhaustive or at determining a “one fits all”

solution to the challenges posed by economic development in our countries. Rather, it

seeks to outline leads for reflection that are based on the concrete experiences of

several countries at the local level. We hope these provide a deeper insight into UNDP

ART Initiative, facilitate decision-making and further exchanges between these countries.

Katherine Grigsby

United Nations Resident Coordinator

and UNDP Resident Representative in Bolivia

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With their diverse natural resources, cultures and traditions, multiple social and

economic actors with varying interests and relations, and with different spatial and

administrative divisions, territories are local systems where people live in relation to their

surroundings. Geographically speaking, the territory where communities live corresponds

to a radius of roughly 500 kilometers. Within this space, the community grows, studies,

works, has a family, produces, consumes, spends its leisure time, and generates —and

in many cases resolves— conflicts. To a large extent, the opportunity to undertake vital

projects depends on the relationship between the territory and its inhabitants, and on

the capacity of public and private institutions to organize and offer accessible, high-

quality and sustainable services to respond to the populations’ needs. When this is not

the case, citizens feel compelled to compete for basic needs such as water, housing and

work, and abandon their territories due to the lack of opportunities, or discrimination,

persecution and insecurity.

The level of cohesion established between multiple territorial actors is directly linked to

good governance, accountability, transparency, and less corruption and illegality, and

therefore, to better democracy. The territorial approach to development has proven to

be one of the most realistic, pragmatic and effective strategies to stimulate and

consolidate governance and sustainable development on the medium and long term. It is

also a determining variable to “localize” results, that is, to make the objectives agreed

upon at the global level by the international community felt in the daily lives of citizens

and elected local administrations; such is the case with the future sustainable

development goals within the global post-2015 agenda.

The ART Initiative (Articulation of Territorial Networks for Sustainable Human

Development) aims at contributing to UNDP’s global strategy, by stimulating dialogue

between territories as a strategy to face the global development challenges. It also

seeks to increase the opportunities of the world’s citizens (from the North and the

South) to voice their “common interests” on issues such as health, human and food

security, work, rights, water and climate; that is, on all the inherent, necessary elements

to human development. The challenge lies in linking the result of this dialogue between

territories with the local, national and global strategies to generate higher impact and

concrete improvements in people’s lives.

To this end, the ART Initiative offers a programming and operational framework

endowed with specific instruments that generate concrete practices and are able to

translate technical, technological, management and organizational innovations in

proposals and references that the countries can adapt and exchange, to strengthen local

human development processes.

The World Forums of Local Economic Development (LED), promoted and co-organized

by UNDP in Seville (Spain, 2011) and Foz do Iguazú (Brazil, 2013), clearly showed how

local and regional authorities, in collaboration with the territories’ socioeconomic actors,

such as LED agencies, Universities, civil society organizations and the private sector, can

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share their respective experiences as a “resource”, while taking into account the

different social, political, economic, cultural and religious contexts.

This publication aims to facilitate harnessing and sharing the territories’ immense

economic and productive potential, to respond to local needs and to compete in the

national and global market. This work showcases practices and innovations in LED that

have been generated by multiple actors who operate within ART framework programmes

in Latin America.

With the concrete experiences of six countries and wide participation of public and

private actors, we hope that this document will offer new perspectives and facilitate

exchanges between countries for an inclusive economic development.

Giovanni Camilleri

UNDP ART Initiative

International Coordinator

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1. The ART Initiative:

Approach and methodology towards 2015

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UNDP and the Strategy of Local

Governance and Local

Development

The 2014 – 2017 Strategic Plan of the

United Nations Development

Programme (UNDP) focuses on

promoting Sustainable Human

Development (SHD), strengthening

democratic and inclusive governance,

and building resilience. The strategy for

Local Governance and Local

Development (LGLD) fits this

framework, since decentralization and

local governance are fundamental

aspects of LGLD that need to be

developed. Indeed, the strategy

underscores the importance of

supporting subnational governments to

achieve better, high-quality public

service delivery, of promoting the active

participation of civil society in

development processes and of

prioritizing local economic development

(LED). This strategy will start in 2014 in

a number of countries in Latin America;

it aims at harmonizing the interventions

of UNDP, UNCDF and UNV in the area

of local development and is understood

as a means to facilitate territorial

development processes that empower

local actors through active social

participation and inclusive economic

growth. In this regard, the ART Country

Programmes seek to put their

experience in multilevel and multi-actor

articulation at the disposal of UNDP,

through a territorial approach and the

participation of decentralized

cooperation networks in concertation

with other UNDP intervention areas.

The challenge is that of establishing

effective synergies under a rationale of

joint work that allows reaching concrete

objectives in democratic governance, to

improve the living conditions of people.

In this sense, the LED experience of

ART Programmes in the Latin American

region represents a valuable and

concrete conceptual contribution to

support UNDP’s new strategy.

How did ART start? What is it?

The ART Initiative (Articulation of

Territorial and Thematic Networks for

Human Development) started in 2004,

when UNDP and several other United

Nations agencies signed an agreement

to officially launch the Initiative. ART

aims at promoting a new

multilateralism that facilitates

articulation among actors and policies

in the territories. It supports national

and local governments in implementing

its decentralization and territorial

development policies, through the

establishment of an operational,

programming framework (ART

Framework Programmes) in the

countries that request it.

The initiative is currently active in 22

countries, nine of which are in Latin

America.

How does ART work? What is

its methodology?

The ART Initiative is characterized by a

specific methodology that combines the

creation of local, national and global

spaces and networks for articulation,

with the promotion of the strategic and

operational participation of multiple

international cooperation actors. The

Initiative fosters the implementation of

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the principles of development

effectiveness and improves the positive

impact of human development

processes.

Beyond these general considerations,

the ART methodology is flexible enough

to adapt to the territories’ political and

social particularities and their particular

economic contexts. Moreover, the

programme adapts to the strategic

orientations of the UNDP offices where

it operates. ART is able to mobilize and

articulate a large number of actors

representing the territories’ different

interests and sensitivities: regional and

local governments, the private sector,

academia, non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) and civil society.

The Programmes’ adaptability is the

result of practices developed in the field

over the years, in various countries and

continents, as the need grew to join

efforts with all actors to overcome the

structural challenges of development.

Modern international cooperation is

characterized by the high number of

development actors who intervene in

the countries. They often have common

objectives; however, these are

channeled through different

administrative mechanisms and

individual approaches. This generates

an important dispersion that might

jeopardize the interventions’

effectiveness. This is why one of the

priorities of the ART Initiative is to

facilitate a framework through which all

support is aligned to local and national

development strategies.

In a context of economic crisis,

what are the challenges of

development effectiveness?

The current economic and financial

crisis unfolds an uncertain scenario in

the field of cooperation and

development. A new architecture for

aid is being defined, with the

incorporation of new actors (such as

emerging countries) who assume a

greater leading role vis-à-vis “traditional

donors”.

The UNDP and particularly ART

programmes actively participated in the

Fourth High Level meeting (HLF-4) on

Aid Effectiveness in Busan in December

2011, advocating the significance of

local development to achieve aid

effectiveness. Various conferences were

organized in Latin America (Colombia),

Africa (Senegal) and Europe (Spain,

Italy) to dwell on the importance of

measuring aid effectiveness at the local

level. These meetings were crucial to

appraise the contributions of

decentralized cooperation and local

governments to improving development

indicators. The complementary role of

individual actors and the specific

contributions of subnational actors,

networks of local governments and

organizations such as UNDP ART were

seen as an opportunity for development

effectiveness. The experience of ART in

Ecuador, with the development of a

tool for measuring the effectiveness of

cooperation at the local level, is also

worth noting.

The UNDP is still very active in the

post-Busan reflection and in the various

consultative processes that take place

at different levels in relation to the

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future global post-2015 development

agenda, the year the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) should be

achieved. The objectives emerging from

these participatory consultations will

necessarily have to take into account

the need for better coordination

between actors and the importance of

the local and regional levels in fulfilling

people’s needs. The Initiative is

supporting the debates on development

effectiveness and following up on the

agreements made during the Rio+20

conference.

ART and the World Forum of

Local Economic Development

2013

The UNDP ART Initiative was one of the

organizers of the second World Forum

on Local Economic Development, with

FAMSI (Andalusian Fund of

Municipalities for International

Solidarity), Itaipu Bi-national, SEBRAE

(the Brazilian Service in Support to

Micro and Small Enterprises), PTI (the

technological park of Itaipu), FOGAR

(Regions United) and UCLG (United

Cities and Local Governments).

For this Forum, the UNDP ART

Programmes of Bolivia, Colombia,

Ecuador, El Salvador, Dominican

Republic and Uruguay elaborated a

document explaining the main results in

multilevel governance and local

economic development in Latin

America. It is hoped that this document

will showcase the Programmes’

achievements and successful

experiences in various Latin American

countries and will contribute to

stimulate reflection and learning.

4

2. The Programme’s Conceptual

Framework:

Local economic development and

multilevel governance for the promotion of

Sustainable Human Development

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The UNDP ART Initiative focuses its

efforts on promoting local economic

development and multilevel

governance, seen as prerequisites to

SHD. The human development

approach promoted by UNDP gives

people a central role in development

processes. It seeks to expand their

options and opportunities, improving

their capacities to lead decent lives and

have access to education, health,

housing, technology, social inclusion

and gender equality. This approach also

strives to ensure the necessary

conditions for the active and genuine

participation of communities in daily

matters, by giving them a say in the

decisions that affect their lives.

In relation to multilevel governance,

ART Programmes seek to foster

efficient articulation between the three

levels of action (local, national and

international), based on the territory’s

endogenous potentialities. These

Programmes also facilitate mechanisms

for dialogue and concertation among

the various actors and institutional

levels that operate in a given territory.

This allows aligning development

interventions to the priorities expressed

by the territories through local

development planning1. At the same

time, this promotes effective

articulation with national strategies of

development, facilitating dialogue

between various line ministries and

local governments, therefore avoiding

the potential fragmentation and overlap

1 Local Development Planning is a participatory process where local authorities and stakeholders discuss and prioritize their long-term vision of local development. The process results in a development plan with associated interventions, often at the municipal level.

of interventions and increasing their

impact.

Decentralization processes

As of late, there have been numerous

examples of Latin American countries

that have chosen to progressively adopt

de-concentration o decentralization

processes to give the territories a

greater role in defining public policies

and service provision modalities. It is

undoubtedly a challenge to shift from

policies that are defined at the central

level and implemented by local

institutions, to territorial policies where

the national and territorial policies

converge thanks to the articulation

generated by local actors themselves.

ART Programmes are directly involved

in consolidating the processes of

competency and resource transfer from

the central level to the territory, by

providing technical support to local

governments so they are able to better

fulfill their new responsibilities, and to

the central state, to help it avoid

disproportionate and unbalanced

territorial development.

In this sense, the articulation between

ART Programmes and the global

strategy of governance promoted by

UNDP is an ongoing process that

constitutes one of the key factors of the

Initiative’s success.

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Dialogue and participation of

actors

From multilevel governance

perspective, it is paramount to promote

adequate spaces for effective

concertation between public institutions

and the private sector, as these two are

not always accustomed to communicate

in order to coordinate actions and join

efforts. It is equally important to

reinforce the presence of academia in

the decision making process, taking

advantage of its theoretical knowledge

and innovation capacity, and of civil

society, to legitimize the process while

addressing the most pressing concerns

of the population as a whole.

Local democracy

The promotion of good local

governance improves people’s capacity

to participate in development processes

and significantly improves public service

provision by local institutions. Both

aspects have very positive

repercussions on human development.

Multilevel and multi-actor articulation

allows improving public policies and

bringing them closer to citizens. This, in

turn, reinforces the relationship

between decision makers and citizens,

as the latter become participants and

leading figures of the processes

undertaken in their territory. Indeed,

the process is about overcoming the

logic of “passive recipients of public

services” and replacing it with “active,

forthcoming players in public policy

making”.

Concertation platforms

The working groups established at the

local and regional levels with the

support of the ART Programmes

become concertation spaces where

members are able to decide on the

territory’s orientations from a strategic

and investment perspective, through,

for instance, the prioritization of

productive development. These are

multilevel and cross-sectorial structures

that seek to respond to the territory’s

needs and priorities. They are usually

led by officials from local or regional

administrations and have the objective

of boosting complementarity between

the interventions of National

Governments and those of international

cooperation actors. The articulation

between national development policies

and local development also allows

strengthening national strategic

planning and priorities at the local level.

Articulation between territorial

levels

The importance of articulation between

the local level (for instance,

municipalities) and the intermediate

level (regions, departments or unions of

municipalities) should not be

underestimated. Working on these two

fronts allows reaching more sustainable

development, for interventions then

take place through territorial and

national policies alike. In this sense, the

intermediate level appears to be the

ideal platform to foster articulation

between local and national

development dynamics, to influence

public policies and to ensure people’s

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democratic participation. Developing

this intermediate sphere requires

specific governance mechanisms that

involve all local actors and national

institutions, an element that UNDP has

consistently promoted. The challenge of

cooperation is to progressively abandon

the approach of backing specific

projects and bet instead on supporting

integrated development processes.

Working on defining and implementing

local economic development public

policies is a common objective of all

UNDP ART Programmes, to generate

dynamics of inclusive and sustainable

economic growth in the territories that

allow the gradual transformation of

people’s daily lives.

Local Economic Development (LED) is

one of ART’s main sectors of

intervention. The Initiative has adopted

an innovative approach to promote and

support a sustainable and inclusive

LED, based on years of learning in

many countries and territories. The ART

Initiative experiments with practical and

alternative solutions at the local level,

while their results in the field can feed

into the theoretical debate at the global

level.

LED approach

The ART Initiative does not view LED as

an objective or an end in itself but as a

means to achieve a SHD whose effects

are felt at the local level; however, this

SHD is constantly articulated with the

national and international levels. In the

eyes of UNDP, people’s opportunities

increase through local and community

development, which grows with the

individual progress achieved by the

community’s members.

LED strategies

UNDP ART Programmes support the

territories in the definition of economic

development strategies. These are

elaborated in a participatory way and

are based on the endogenous

potentialities and resources, taking into

account the territories’ political,

economic, social and cultural

particularities as well as national

policies. The aim is to endow the

territories with local capacities, and to

generate decent employment

opportunities and social equality, hence

securing the welfare of the population.

Gender approach

Despite the efforts made to date and

the significant progress achieved,

women still represent 60% of the

poorest groups at the global level.

UNDP considers that achieving gender

equality should be an absolute priority,

not only as a moral imperative but also

because it is convinced that this is the

best way to promote the prosperity and

welfare of everyone.

It is considered that inequalities related

to gender are an obstacle to local

human development. In this sense, the

Initiative adopts a transversal approach

to include gender in development

processes, ensuring that the

interventions it supports do not contain

any discriminatory gaps. Concrete

actions to empower and strengthen

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women’s capacities are simultaneously

carried out to allow them to re-

negotiate gender relationships in the

professional and personal spheres.

The active participation of women in

economic activities has been

emphasized, whether through actions in

support of local economic development

agencies or through the promotion of

specific public policies.

All the Working Groups supported by

ART’s Programmes place a special

emphasis on gender balance in terms of

representation. It is of outmost

importance, particularly at the local

level, to facilitate women’s true

participation in these discussion and

articulation spaces. This ensures that

their concerns are taken into account

and that projects and initiatives

promote a gender equality approach

that allows women to be empowered,

particularly in the economic sector.

Although gender issues are not always

considered a priority by local

authorities, UNDP ART seeks to position

this aspect by involving all population

groups in the territories.

The work carried out in the last years

by the MyDEL programme in El

Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and

Nicaragua is worth noting, for it has

laid the foundation for a strategy for

the economic empowerment of women

at the sub-regional level in Central

America, through an innovative

territorial and gender approach. The

joint initiative between UN Women and

the UNDP-ART Initiative had an

economic focus, by empowering

women economically so they be

acknowledged as “stimulators” of local

economies, and a political focus, by

strengthening the leadership of women

as the foundation for an active

citizenship and for participation in

political and economic governance.

Tools to strengthen a

sustainable LED

It is particularly important to set in

motion instruments and tools such as

Local Economic Development Agencies

(LEDAs). The Agencies’ objective is to

establish a public-private system of

technical and financial services to

promote the territory’s economic and

social development, addressing the

population’s needs but also those of

local businesses and institutions. In

short, LEDAs aim at ensuring that each

and every actor is able to play a role in

the territory’s economic development,

bolstering synergies and joining efforts

towards a common objective based on

the territory’s characteristics and

factors of opportunity.

ART reinforces local partnerships,

gathering the territory’s actors (from

the public and private sector, civil

society, etc.) so they define a joint

vision of the future and establish

common development objectives

through territorial marketing, among

others.

A successful example of such a

mechanism is the creation of chain

values, which gather micro and small

enterprises, cooperatives and other

social economy modalities.

The Initiative also endeavors to

empower local actors and develop

9

specific capacities, in order to form

agents of local development who foster

participatory processes that invigorate

the economic activity of a given

territory.

Exchanges and good practices

The UNDP also facilitates international

exchanges of experiences and good

practices, to take stock of those lessons

learned that are replicable to other

countries once they are contextualized.

This facet of ART’s work explains its

active participation in international

forums such as Foz do Iguacu on LED.

On the one hand, it allows raising the

awareness of local actors in relation to

these events; on the other, the

Initiative can generate a multiplier

effect, for local actors who are not able

to attend these events can, through

ART’s Programmes, have access to the

good practices presented in these

forums.

Nonetheless, the ART Initiative not only

seeks to promote exchanges at the

international level, but also at the

national and regional levels, between

territories, and within each territory. In

short, ART promotes innovation and the

dissemination of those lessons learned

in LED that have the potential of being

replicated to other territories.

Adaptability of the Initiative

One of the main characteristics of ART

is its adaptability to the territory’s

realities and particularities. In this

sense, there is no “magical recipe” that

can be uniformly applied to all

countries. Although the Initiative

started in Latin American countries, it is

nowadays active in Asia and Africa

(among others), where realities are

vastly different. UNDP-ART has been

able to adapt its methodology to the

specificities of each and every case.

This capacity for adaptation reveals the

pertinence of ART’s methodology to

development from a territorial

perspective.

To conclude, the specific added value

of ART is the articulation between the

local, regional and national levels

(vertical articulation), and among the

territories (horizontal articulation)

through decentralized, South-South and

triangular cooperation.

10

3. Results Achieved

By the UNDP ART Programmes in Latin America

11

What follows are the main results

achieved in various Latin American ART

Programmes of the UNDP in the last

years. To achieve a simpler and more

dynamic document, information is

organized along several main themes

where the Programmes have had a

significant impact.

A specific section is devoted to the

countries in the annexes, in synthetic

fast facts that highlight the good

practices of each country.

Impact on national public

policies

Bolivia

The Programme participated in the

design of the strategy of the Ministry of

Productive Development and Plural

Economy through the Council of

Sectorial Coordination in Productive

Development. This collaboration

involved six of the country’s

departments, facilitating better

articulation between the sectorial

policies promoted by the Ministry and

the territory’s priorities. The Council is

part of the technical team in charge of

the coordination of the Bicentenary

Patriotic Agenda 2025 organized by the

National Government, whose aim is to

design national policies in support of

the country’s development.

Moreover, in collaboration with the

Ministry of Planning, the Programme

has incorporated a territorial vision to

the State’s Integral Planning System,

through a database that improves

articulation between national and

territorial planning.

Colombia

Seventeen discussion platforms have

been supported, where civil society

proposals in relation to the Law of Land

and Rural Development are presented.

Concretely, in coordination with the

National Network of Local Development

Agencies (ADELCO) seven territorial

forums allowed 1,100 persons from 150

organizations to actively participate in

the discussion of the bill, which is

currently a regulation in the process of

implementation.

Likewise, in close collaboration with

ADELCO and with the National

Directorate for Planning, discussion

spaces were organized in ten cities;

these allowed 1,600 persons to debate

and present proposals to formulate the

National Policy on Local Development.

ADELCO continues working with

National Planning on positioning of the

policy, and has achieved recognition

from this body for local development

agency processes in the territory,

looking for joint projects such as the

Rural Mission, whose objective is to

improve the profitability of Colombian

agriculture. Through advocacy efforts

on public policy, ADELCO is positioning

itself nationally on the subject of local

development and has made significant

contributions to influence public

initiatives such as: Rural Associativity,

Transitional Justice and Income

Generation and the rural development

public policy, among others.

Ecuador

The ART Programme has supported the

decentralization process of

competencies in productive

12

development and development

planning. To do so, the Programme has

worked closely with the National

Secretariat for Planning and

Development (SENPLADES) to

elaborate the National Strategy for the

Territories, which allows articulating

public policies to the territory’s

conditions and particularities.

With SENPLADES as well, and in

concertation with the national

associations of the three subnational

governmental levels, good practices in

decentralized and national management

have been systemized; this constitutes

a valuable input for public policy

decision-making concerning LED in the

medium term.

El Salvador

With the Presidency’s Technical

Secretariat, the Ministry of Economy,

the National Commission for Micro,

Small and Medium Enterprises, the

Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of

Tourism and the Vice Ministry of

Salvadorians Abroad, the ART

Programme has promoted the creation

of the Inter-institutional Committee for

Local Economic Development (CIADEL).

This is a mechanism for the articulation

of national policies of economic and

productive development, with a special

focus on the territories and the

promotion of LEDAs as key

management tools.

In the framework of the National

Strategy for the Development of

Marina’s Coastal Strip and of the

National System for Productive

Development, the Programme has

become the Government’s reference

point to articulate the strategy of public

policies in the territories and to

strengthen and create LEDAs as

operational mechanisms that contribute

to economic governance.

The presidential programme “City for

Women”, aimed at promoting the

economic autonomy of women, has

been incorporated to ART’s territorial

methodology. Likewise, four national

policies (centers for entrepreneurial

development, touristic promotion of

“populations alive”, centers for the

promotion of investments and family

agriculture) are implemented through

the LEDAs.

Dominican Republic

In 2012, the ART Programme

supported the Government’s transition

process in three sectors: small and

medium enterprises, agriculture, and

tourism, taking into account the need

to invigorate the Government’s actions

at the local level.

After negotiations between the LEDAs

and the Vice Minister of Small and

Medium Enterprises, and through the

LEDAs network, it was agreed to

implement a programme of support to

medium and small enterprises with a

territorial development approach. The

creation of new LEDAs was also

encouraged throughout the country, to

offer entrepreneurial services at the

local level. Moreover, an ADELDOM

network was also promoted at the local

level, for the management and

localization of public policies on small

and medium enterprises. Thanks to

these alliances, more than fifteen

agreements with national entities have

13

been made for the implementation of

local economic development projects in

the territories.

Since 2008, the ART Programme has

been implementing a pilot project for

the integrated management of sectorial

policies on the dairy value chain. The

dairy chain has been organized in six

Dominican provinces through local

articulation groups active in this sector.

In October 2013, the LEDA network

organized, with all the sector’s

authorities, the International Congress

on Dairy Products, which will allow

gaining and sharing experience in the

management of the dairy chain. UNDP

chose this experience as a good

practice in South-South cooperation in

Latin America.

Processes for the territorial planning of

the bee value chain were also promoted

with the support of the “Milano

Polytechnic University”, using geo-

referencing methods in Monte Plata and

Dajabon. This exercise allowed the

LEDAs of these territories to manage

credit funds with the FEDA for a total

value of USD 700,000, which has

prompted a nationwide reviewing of

this sector’s laws.

Uruguay

In collaboration with the Ministry of

Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM),

the ART Initiative has designed and co-

implemented the Inter-institutional

Committee of Local Development.

The committee’s first objective is to

generate a space for coordination

between the institutions involved in

supporting Micro, Small and Medium

enterprises. There are currently three

ongoing such inter-ministerial projects.

Through the National Directorate for

Employment (DINAE), the first

territorial agenda for employment has

been designed with the subnational

level, companies, guilds, civil

associations and the International

Labor Organization (ILO). This agenda

allows designing policies on

employment training, in line with the

territorial value chains prioritized in the

country’s northern area, with a special

focus on the timber value chain. There

is an ongoing systematization of the

experience to evaluate its replicability in

other parts of the country.

For the first time, the gender

perspective has been included in the

marketing studies undertaken for the

design of employment policies aimed at

the Government’s third tier (i.e.

municipalities), together with the

Ministries of Industry, Work and Social

Development, and Academia.

Support to strategies on

territorial economic

development

Bolivia

In some of the territories, strategic

documents have been elaborated with a

high participation of the territory’s

actors and the ownership of the

process by local institutions. This is the

case of Tarija’s department, where

UNDP ART Bolivia has supported the

elaboration of a Departmental Plan for

14

Water and a productive-socioeconomic

diagnosis.

Throughout 2013, strategic plans such

as the Development and Peace Plan or

the Strategic Guidelines for Local

Development of El Alto Municipality

have been published, disseminated and

socialized.

The productive competencies of 1,158

indigenous families have been

reinforced through a stockbreeding

project in the province of Ingavi.

Colombia

LED issues have been included in

various National, Departmental and

Municipal Plans where ART is active and

even in other regions. There have also

been interesting initiatives to design a

public policy of rural economic

development from a territorial

perspective. An example of the

outreach of this process is the

elaboration of the Competitiveness

Regional Plan of Nariño.

In the past two years, ADELCO has

been working with the Ministry of

Agriculture and the Ministry of

Commerce, Industry and Tourism,

creating means for strengthening the

construction of public, private and

social consensus spaces that influence

regional local development, such as:

regional commissions on

competitiveness, sectorial agricultural

councils and municipal committees for

rural development. These spaces seek

to promote joint strategies where the

government and civil society plan and

execute actions for rural, local and

territorial development.

Ecuador

UNDP ART Ecuador is supporting the

implementation of the national

transformation policy for the productive

sector at the territorial level, through

the creation, with a zonal approach, of

an agro-industrial eco-park in the

province of El Oro.

The Programme is also coordinating the

platform for the implementation of the

joint project “Youth, Employment and

Migration”, which has contributed to

inclusive development through the

generation of 1,134 entrepreneurship

opportunities for youth (570 of which

led by women) and financial and non-

financial assistance to 1,479 youth (of

which 1,142 are young women).

Eighteen local financial entities and

three LEDAs were strengthened as part

of this process so they can offer their

services to local youth in the provinces

of Carchi, El Oro and Loja. Moreover, a

system to support entrepreneurship

and LED was developed. A key result of

this strategy is the change from the

National Programme of Popular

Finances to the National Corporation of

Popular and Solidary Finances.

El Salvador

The Programme has lent its technical

support to the Inter-institutional

Committee on LED to implement the

National Strategy for the development

of Marina’s Coastal Strip in the five

seashore departments. The Programme

has supported the elaboration of LED

departmental platforms, emphasizing

on the promotion of women’s financial

autonomy, on the insertion of youth at

risk (violence, maras –gangs-) to the

15

economic and technological fabric at

the territorial level, and on articulation

with the diaspora (migration and

development). In this case, the

Programme also articulates the

initiatives of the second phase of the

programme “Joint Migration and

Development Initiative” (JMDI) financed

in nine countries by the European

Union and the Swiss Agency for

Development and Cooperation (SDC).

Dominican Republic

The ART Programme has lent its

support to the provinces of Dajabon,

Monte Plata, Valverde, Bahoruco, El

Seibo and Sanchez Ramirez to design

and initiate Strategic Frameworks on

Local Economic Development. The

territories’ potentialities have been

identified, and value chains and

entrepreneurial development services

been identified and prioritized in a

participatory way. This action has set

the structural base for the localization

of more than 15 national projects and

programmes aimed at small and

medium production at the local level,

taking advantage of the platforms

initiated by UNDP.

Likewise, the individual and collective

capacities of the territorial institutions

to put in place territorial strategies have

been substantially improved with the

financial involvement of the area’s

actors, incorporating a gender

perspective in LED strategies. The

Ministry of Industry and Commerce has

incorporated territorial development

planning processes in LED and has

started to identify the country’s

potentialities based on local assets,

local value chains and the demand for

services in entrepreneurial

development, in line with regional

dynamics.

Uruguay

The Departmental Strategic Plan of

Artigas (2012 – 2025) has been

elaborated; it represents a novel

initiative in the country and has

counted with the active participation of

the political and private sectors and civil

society. In this framework, a Council for

Departmental Cooperation was created,

representing the interests of multiple

sectors and territories, to ensure an

even participation in decision-making

throughout the Plan’s elaboration.

More than ten sectorial public plans

oversee the implementation of the

various prioritized actions, from

infrastructure to the development of

the various departmental value chains.

The elaboration of the Climate Plan for

the metropolitan region represents a

pioneering experience in developing a

strategy at the subnational and regional

level on climate change, aimed at

reducing carbon emissions and

implementing adaptation measures

within national priorities. There has

been a high level of articulation

between the Department and the

Presidency’s Programme to mobilize

resources and support the initiatives

put forward in the plan. The latter has

been elaborated in coordination with

the national system against climate

change, and its strategic guidelines

contribute to the national policy in this

regard. Some of these measures were

incorporated in the national portfolio of

projects on climate mitigation.

16

Local Economic Development

Agencies

Bolivia

Together with the LEDA of La Paz, the

ART Initiative in Bolivia has supported

the elaboration of a strategy designed

to create a territorial trademark for the

metropolitan area of La Paz. Moreover,

the Programme lends its technical and

methodological support to position La

Paz as a point of reference in relation

to public-private articulation.

Colombia

The Programme has supported the

consolidation of the LEDAs and

ADELCO’s Network, as a useful tool to

generate employment and influence

local public policies on LED in ten

territories. Various LEDAs have been

strengthened technically throughout the

territory, and one of the major impacts

has been the successful involvement of

more than 9,000 families in

programmes for the improvement of

productive capacities and income

generation, through the LEDAs of

Boyaca, Adeproa, Nariño and Casa del

Agua.

The work on rural development policy

should also be highlighted, which is

being led by the Dinosaurios LEDA in

Boyacá, as well as the new Norte del

Valle LEDA which is championing a

regional local development policy and

four production chains for generating

employment and competitiveness in the

sub-region. The Zapatoza LEDA in the

department of Cesar has in turn been

very successful in its business

management model through a strategy

of social responsibility, and the GAL

Valletenzano Task Force in Boyacá is

specializing in issues of micro-financing,

community tourism, and rural

associativity, where it has achieved

important results. Finally, Casa del

Agua LEDA has stood out for its local

development work with a differential

approach emphasizing income

generation work with indigenous

populations and women.

Ecuador

Several agencies for local/territorial

development have been strengthened

in three provinces (Carchi, El Oro and

Esmeraldas) through specialized

technical assistance and their inclusion

within the Documents of Priorities, to

promote the public-private articulation

around territorial development priorities

and achieve sustainable, equal and

integral human development.

El Salvador

CIADEL has institutionalized LEDAs as a

mechanism for territorial economic

stimulation and for the implementation

of public national public policies; these

are currently covered in the five coastal

departments in the framework of the

National System for Productive

Development (Ministry of Economy).

The LEDAs’ headquarters are offered by

one of their members (whether local

governments or private actors),

showing the initiative’s involvement and

empowerment. Local resources and

members of the CIADEL cover the

17

yearly running costs for the manager

and equipment.

The Programme provides technical

assistance to CIADEL to create new

LEDAs in the coastal area. In 2012, the

LEDAs of La Union and La Libertad

were created; Sonsonate’s was

strengthened and those of La Paz and

Usulutan are currently being

constituted. The key strategies of these

LEDAs will be the articulation with the

national strategy for the development

of the coastal strip and for the

development of technological assets

(seaports of La Union, Acajutla,

international airport of Comalapa) and

with the strategy of inclusive economy,

as opposed to the big projects of

national and foreign investment.

Dominican Republic

There are six fully functioning LEDAs in

the Dominican Republic, supported by

the Ministry of Economy, Planning and

Development, and the Ministry of

Industry and Commerce. The LEDAs

are part of the Territorial Development

Councils, which are mechanisms

foreseen by the Law of Planning to

channel the territories’ demands into

the National System of Public

Investment. These councils manage an

average yearly portfolio of over USD

2,5 million and have channeled projects

to the territories with more than 15

national institutions. The LEDAs of

Monte Plata and Dajabon receive more

than USD 1,250.000 from the Special

Fund for livestock development. In

2013, the LEDA of Valverde received

the “Quality Award” by ILS-LEDA.

LEDAs have developed an evaluation

that has allowed to improve their

technical and managerial skills, push

forward micro-finance, saving and

investment mechanisms, and

incorporate them to LED strategies

through the creation of a Microfinance

Network.

The ART Programme technically

supports the network of Dominican

LEDAs (ADELDOM), to mange projects

and implement various initiatives such

as the OVOP Programme (one people,

one product) of the Japanese

Cooperation, the creation of a degree in

project formulation and management

and other specialized courses on

productive value chains in the

territories through the programme +

Small and Medium Enterprises financed

by the European Union.

Uruguay

There is a process of articulation

between ten LEDAs, the national and

departmental governments and the

international level to promote Local

Economic Development. LEDAs have

assumed a leading role in generating

dialogue with national programmes and

in promoting active participation in

implementing territorial policies.

Likewise, the Network of Local

Economic Agencies (RADEL) was

reinforced in relation to knowledge

management, local capacity

strengthening, network construction,

and articulation of the territory’s public

and private actors. Over 2,400 persons

have been trained in the framework of

the RADEL, and there are ten national

programmes and 75 programmes

directly implemented by the agencies.

18

Working Groups

Bolivia

The experience of Oruro’s Department

in Bolivia is worth noting, within the

project PET-MAN (territorial productive

economic planning in Oruro’s unions of

municipalities). Four multi-actor

working groups have been created;

they are operational in four unions of

municipalities in Oruro’s Department,

where strategies and actions of social

and economic development have been

articulated with the territory’s private

and public actors, the Directorate for

Municipal Strengthening and the

department’s secretariat of planning.

Colombia

Colombia developed the comprehensive

ART methodology in the region of

Nariño and in the town of Pasto,

facilitating the creation of multi-actor

and multi-level working groups that

allowed implementation of international

cooperation strategies where issues of

local development with a territorial

approach were prioritized as an

essential element for peacebuilding.

Support for the work on local

programming cycles - and the

revitalization of Nariño in this LEDA

framework - allowed coordination of

public institutions, the private sector,

civil society, academia and international

cooperation around a set of prioritized

and aligned Documents that permitted

effective management of territorial

development. This allowed coordination

of the different actors not only in

participatory planning processes but

also in processes of regional

participatory management, helping to

drive public policy and democratic

governance tools in the medium and

long term. The Nariño Experience was

rated as one of 10 best development

practices in Colombia, and the

Government is currently in a process of

appropriating the methodology to

deploy it in different areas where

working groups of articulators for

territorial dynamics are being created

around various Cooperation

Committees. Local Economic

Development Agencies will play a key

role in the revitalization of these areas.

Ecuador

Ten programming cycles (participatory,

community processes) in seven

provinces and two cantons have been

carried out to articulate among sectors

and public and private actors. Priorities

for the territory’s integral development

have been identified, as reflected in the

Documents of Priorities. These

documents are management tools for

territorial development and are aligned

with the National Development Plan.

Dominican Republic

As a result of the establishment of

territorial working groups in the

provinces of Dajabon and Monte Plata,

Territorial Development Councils have

been created as consultative tools.

These bodies are actually contemplated

by the Law to channel the main

demands of citizens and local

institutions within the National System

of Public Investment. The Councils of

the Dajabon province, with the support

of UNDP’s ART and PDLT (Programme

19

of Local and cross-border Development)

and JICA’s DECADA, have pushed

forward several thematic groups,

allowing the linking of national

institutions to local dynamics in relation

to the territory’s main projects.

Within the group on competitiveness

and productivity, the ADET of Dajabon

actively participates in the process and

supports the design and

implementation of projects at the

provincial level to achieve coordination

and articulation that benefits the local

population, with the participation of the

Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Monte Plata’s LEDA supports the

formulation of municipal Development

Plans, with the support of PRODEM

(Programme for Municipal

Modernization) and in coordination with

the DGODT (Directorate for Territorial

Management and Development).

Capacity strengthening

Bolivia

During 2012, the in-person class phase

of the master in International

Cooperation and Local Economic

Development was developed in

concertation with the University of

Pablo de Olavide. This allowed

gathering 40 participants who

represented ten public and private

institutions and four Bolivian

departments. The initiative was a

success in creating a space for

exchange between institutions that

would normally not engage with each

other, therefore overcoming traditional

political differences.

Colombia

The online teaching methodology "Course in Local Human Development with Emphasis on ART Practices and Methodologies" is available; it has been executed on two occasions and strengthened the capabilities of 50 members in regional cooperation committees. Currently, there is an ongoing strengthening process for the different LEDAs through an assistance and qualification strategy under the international EURADA- ILS LEDA, which seeks to improve the local LEDAs network as well as strengthening the capabilities of the ADELCO NETWORK as a guarantor for the international certification. The LEDAs are also at the forefront of trends in national development by strengthening capabilities in areas such as access to resources through royalty programs and projects supporting innovation systems for MSMEs.

Ecuador

National and territorial capacities in LED

were reinforced through multiple

exchanges of experiences and good

practices, in-country and with

international experts. These exchanges

led to the creation of an agro-industrial

eco-park in el Oro and a conceptual

framework to anchor decentralization of

productive development within the

productive model established in the

Constitution and the “Good Living”

National Plan.

20

El Salvador

The ART Programme has provided

advisory services to establish territorial

working groups in six departments: La

Union, Usulutan, La Libertad,

Sonsonate, La Paz and Morazan. There

are also three Platforms for Human

Development, whose projects have

been financed up to 65 percent with

local, national and international

resources.

As to economic development, the

working group of Morazan’s

Department has become the national

model for the implementation of the

“Management of Water Resources and

Sustainable Local Economic

Development” strategy, which has

allowed five national institutions to

coordinate their respective public

policies. This experience is being

implemented and systemized; the

Ministry of Environment and National

Resources will replicate it at the

national level. With the ART

methodology, an economic governance

model has also been applied to water

governance.

Dominican Republic

The ART Programme has promoted

governance mechanisms such as unions

of municipalities, development councils

and local economic development

agencies, which have created capacities

to mobilize funds and to articulate with

national institutions and international

cooperation organizations.

A total of 24 capacity building activities

on the methodologies of saving and

investment groups have been carried

out with the participation of 605

persons in five provinces. Likewise,

alliances have been established with

local and international universities, for

territorial strategic planning through

GIS (Geographical Information System)

methodologies and visual maps.

Through various international

cooperation exchanges, the ART

Initiative has boosted capacities at all

management levels. The selection and

presentation of good practices in South-

South cooperation between LEDA’s

network and Cuba’s CENSA in the 2012

Knowledge Forum of South Panama, on

the development of the dairy chain,

reflects the important results achieved

in this respect.

The alliances with the Milanese

Provincial Fund and the Polytechnic

University of Milan have generated

innovative experiences in territorial

planning with visual maps. These have

been replicated in the province of

Monte Plata and used by national and

local institutions to focus and improve

their interventions.

Aid effectiveness

Bolivia

Ownership

The working groups supported by the

PET-MAN project have been

institutionalized in the Oruro

Department as statutory organs of the

unions of municipalities. This allows

ensuring the actions’ sustainability,

given the level of leadership shown by

local authorities. It is an example that

21

will be taken into account for the

working groups supported by the

Programme in other departments. In

this sense, the creation of a Strategy

and Development Instruments Unit by

Tarija’s department shows real

ownership of the processes started by

ART.

Alignment

Actions have been undertaken with the

Ministry of Productive Development to

improve its guidelines’ complementarity

with territorial policies, through the

establishment of six departmental

agencies within the Sectorial

Coordination Council in Productive

Development, among others.

Harmonization

The presence of national actors (such

as ministries) in the territorial working

groups ensures that there is dialogue

between actors that traditionally would

not engage with each other. The

participation of various cooperation

agencies (Swiss cooperation, Dutch

cooperation, UNDP, etc.) in elaborating

the Water Plan for the Tarija

Department is a clear example of

harmonization among actors of

international cooperation, and of their

alignment with the regional

government’s priorities. This concrete

experience shows the importance of

ART’s endeavor in promoting meeting

spaces where the priorities of

cooperation actors converge with the

needs expressed by the territories.

Colombia

Ownership

The Presidential Agency for

International Cooperation in Colombia

is incorporating the ART methodology

approach into strengthening the

National System of International

Cooperation, seeking to decentralize

the management of cooperation

through Committees for Cooperation

and Harmonization of Aid. It provides a

baseline in 14 states on the

effectiveness of cooperation on

development, which is the basis for

annual monitoring of progress in

strengthening the National System of

International Cooperation. Several

regional Cooperation Committees are in

a strengthening process to incorporate

the ART methodology into their

prioritization processes, capacity

development and aid management.

It is also worth noting that the LEDA

strategy was recognized and

appropriated in the National

Development Plan for 2010-2014, a

great achievement for the sustainability

of LEDA work in Colombia. Local

Economic Development policies were in

turn incorporated into regional and

municipal development plans, with

emphasis on territories with the

presence of LEDAs.

Alignment

The transfer of ART methodology

appropriated by the Presidential Agency

on Cooperation (APC) to strengthen the

National System of Cooperation has

created an Annual Operational Plan

aligned with the priorities established in

the country’s International Cooperation

Strategy. APC and UNDP have jointly

prioritized a number of territories,

where they will implement a strategy to

strengthen Cooperation Committees,

through mainstreaming the ART

methodology at the regional level, to

22

facilitate preparation of Prioritization

Documents that meet the needs of the

region in the current context of peace

negotiations. Also in process is a

systematization of good local

development practices with the

ADELCO NETWORK and other

networks, to capitalize on economic

development experiences in conflict and

post-conflict contexts relevant to the

country’s new situation.

Harmonization

The work done regarding coordination

of actors in the context of the

Cooperation Committees, currently in

the process of defining priority

agendas, will allow cooperation to be

harmonized with the priorities

established for the regions, and

identification of the area’s needs in

order to arrive at a combination of

actions and multilevel cooperation.

It is noteworthy that in the context of

the work facilitated by the ADELCO

NETWORK, other working relationships

have been strengthened with strategic

partners such as UN Habitat, the EU,

and various embassies, to delve into

issues such as territorial marketing,

policy dialogue and strengthening rural

associativity and microenterprises.

Ecuador

Ownership

Local and national Ecuadorian actors,

whether public or private, have led the

Programme’s project actions and

activities; UNDP and the ART

Programme have assumed a supporting

role. In the territories, there has been

strong local leadership thanks to the

delegation, identification and

responsibility shown by local

institutions. There are ongoing

institutionalization and transfer

processes in relation to the

methodology proposed by ART, such as

in Loja (technical committee for

territorial articulation and management

–META-), Carchi (committee of

territorial articulation -CAT-, which is in

the final phases of institutionalization

through a decree), Playas

(Management, Dialogue and Cantonal

Council, institutionalized through a

decree in 2013), and El Oro (Provincial

Working Group –PWG- in the process of

institutionalization). Over time, these

processes will ensure the sustainability

of the work done and its

methodological transfer.

Alignment

The Programme’s Annual Work Plans,

approved by the National Coordination

Committee, are aligned and respond to

the country’s work guidelines. Likewise,

the ten Documents of Priorities (for

Azuay, Bolívar, Carchi (2), El Oro,

Esmeraldas, Loja, Los Ríos, Aguarico

and Playas) respond to the needs and

priorities established in the

Development Plans and Territorial

Management of the Subnational

Governments within the regions of

intervention. These documents are

tools for managing territorial

development, and allow for all

investments, whether national or

international, to be aligned to territorial

priorities.

Harmonization

Actions aimed at sharing information

among donors, promoting

complementarity among donors and

simplifying procedures have been

23

supported, such as in the FOCAD

projects in Carchi.

In addition, led by the Technical

Secretariat of International Cooperation

(SETECI), the Programme undertook a

study on the division of labor and

complementarity of cooperation, at the

request of the Council of Global

Dialogue of Cooperation. Good

practices in the province of Carchi were

identified, such as working groups and

the Document of Priorities, whose

implementation is recommended for the

whole country.

Moreover, the ART Programme in

Ecuador has elaborated an instrument

for the measuring of Development

Cooperation Effectiveness at the local

level, and has implemented it at the

national level. This experience has been

carried out in alliance with SETECI and

national associations of the subnational

governments (i.e. municipal, provincial,

rural parochial governments). The tool

was implemented in 24 provincial

governments, 216 municipal

governments, 24 provincial associations

of parochial governments, 32 civil

society actors and 32 cooperation

actors present in the territory. This

exercise allowed following up on the

current process of decentralization and

competency transfer of international

cooperation in the territories. It also

showed its capacity to strengthen the

capacities of subnational governments

in decision-making and management of

international cooperation. The final

report offers an insight on development

effectiveness at the local level in the

country and on the institutional

capacities of subnational governments

in relation to international cooperation

management in the territories,

providing valuable information for the

elaboration and implementation of

institutional strengthening plans in this

sector.

El Salvador

Ownership

ART’s methodology has been assumed

by CIADEL to implement the National

Strategy of Marina’s Coastal Strip and

the National System of Productive

Development. All the methodological

tools produced, such as the

methodological guide for the promotion

of LED, the methodological guide to

establish LEDAs and CIADEL’s

operational and political structure have

also been taken over by the

Commission.

The ART Programme has worked

closely with UNDP’s Regional Center in

Panama assist in the formulation of the

National Strategy for Decentralized

Cooperation. In light of this experience,

the Vice Ministry of Development

Cooperation (through the directorates

of non-official, decentralized, South-

South and Triangular cooperation) has

set the standard in public policy

making, and El Salvador has become a

pioneer in the formulation of public

policies with a territorial development

approach.

The advice and support ART has

provided, together with UNDP’s

Regional Center in Panama, to the Vice-

Ministry in response to the Aid

Effectiveness commitment, has

facilitated the systematization of the

“Integrated National System for

Development Cooperation”,

24

documenting the experience in El

Salvador to institutionalize the national

bodies that are in charge of this public

policy.

Alignment

Seven national policies (observatory of

water resources management,

promotion of development centers for

micro, small and medium enterprises,

rural tourism, women’s financial

autonomy, prevention of violence and

incorporation of youth at risk to the

productive network, migration and

development, national strategy of

productive development) are

incorporated to the territorial planning

promoted by the Programme, financing

local initiatives and transferring

institutional technical assistance.

Harmonization

Through the Vice Ministry of

Cooperation, the Programme’s tools are

presented to donors in order to improve

territorial articulation.

Dominican Republic

Ownership

The ART Programme has supported the

strategic planning of the Ministry of

Industry and Commerce (MIC),

particularly in relation to public policies

on small and medium enterprises

(which originated during the

governmental transition), incorporating

the territorial approach, localizing

projects on small and medium

enterprises and supporting the

technical and operational design and

startup of the new Ministry of Small and

Medium Enterprises.

The MIC has included ART’s territorial

approach in its planning and has

pushed forward the creation of LEDAs

as an instrument for local economic

development.

Alignment

ART’s promotion of LED is aligned with

national policies in relation to planning

and development and to the territorial

implementation of the National Strategy

for Development 2010 – 20130.

The Programme has promoted

articulation between the sectorial

policies of three ministries, (Ministry of

Economy, Planning and Development,

Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of

Industry and Commerce).

Harmonization

The ART programme has supported the

coordination and harmonization spaces

for national bodies and donors in three

different sectors. As a result, three

agencies now use the territorial

approach to development: FAO,

UNICEF and UNHCR. Furthermore,

there is an alliance with UN Women to

mainstream gender issues in LED

strategies. The Programme has 23

decentralized cooperation partners;

they are all participating in the

construction of strategic frameworks for

territorial action, by implementing

prioritized actions, exchanging

experiences and strengthening

capacities. The programme has also

facilitated ten agreements with

decentralized cooperation partners, in

line with territorial priorities.

Uruguay

Ownership

The Programme “Salto Emprende” is

fully funded by local and national

programmes, whereas programmes and

25

national ministries finance

socioeconomic studies. The local

agenda for employment in Maldonado

is a priority for the National Directorate

of Employment, who funds it.

Alignment

The working groups of Artigas, Bella

Unión, Tomás Gomensoro and Baltasar

Brum were the starting point of the first

calls to elaborate the plan and of the

creation of the Departmental Planning

Team 2012 – 2025.

Harmonization

The methodological implementation of

the Programme has yielded successes

such as Proyecto Franquia in Artigas.

Initially proposed by the working group,

the project was articulated at the local

level with civil society and with national

and local authorities, obtaining the

support of the Spanish municipality of

Huelva (decentralized cooperation).

The project “Strengthening

Environmental Protection in Franquia”

aims at designing a plan of integral

protection for the triple-border area

through decentralized cooperation

(Huelva municipality and Doñana

municipality). The project has managed

to include Rincon de Franquia in the

National System of Protected Areas

(within the National Advising

Commission), in line with the Manjeo

Plan guidelines, and with the approval

of national, departmental and local

authorities. Likewise, members of

Argentinian and Brazilian NGOs,

representatives of neighbors’

commissions and the general

population have been included in the

process.

26

4. Challenges and Pending Issues

27

This section offers a general reflection

on the challenges facing the ART

Initiative, by analyzing the lessons

learned throughout many years of

implementation. The ideas revolve

around the current international context

of cooperation, the need to establish a

new strategy of alliances, the work

carried out in the territories and the

adaptability of the methodology to the

territory’s particularities.

Resource mobilization strategy

and alliances with new partners

In response to the dwindling resources

of international cooperation, a fact that

could jeopardize the consolidation of

ongoing territorial processes and their

subsequent national ownership, it is

necessary to promote a strategy of

resource mobilization that seeks new

alliances with decentralized, bilateral

and multilateral cooperation actors.

Such a strategy should also promote a

wider role for national and local

institutions, encouraging a higher level

of ownership of the processes set in

motion.

In the framework of the Initiative’s

current and future financial

sustainability, South-South cooperation

constitutes one of the most interesting

paths towards financial and technical

resource mobilization. Several countries

that are not traditional donors have

shown interest in the accumulated

experience of the UNDP ART

Programme in the last years,

particularly in relation to its exhaustive

knowledge of articulation processes in

the territories.

In this sense, it is necessary to

systemize the experiences accumulated

by the ART Programmes, underscoring

the good practices that would allow a

better exposure of the achievements

and learning processes, to benefit the

local and national actors who work with

ART.

Work strategy in the territories

One of the major learning elements

stems from the adaptability of ART’s

methodology to the territories’

specificities and idiosyncrasies. This

means that ART is capable of adapting

itself to changing environments and

different institutional contexts. This

way, it has been able to achieve high

participation and the political leadership

of the territories’ actors. Another key to

its success has been its ability to

generate inclusive spaces of negotiation

that ensure the participation of the

territory’s actors in decision-making,

and its prioritization of interventions

based on demand (at the local and

national levels) rather than on the offer

of international cooperation actors.

It is essential to identify the optimal

territorial scales to develop the UNDP-

ART methodology, in order to ensure

results and impact at the local level. In

this sense, the work undertaken by

Oruro’s department in Bolivia has

demonstrated that working at the

territorial level was the right choice.

This has allowed working with several

municipalities that had scarce

resources in order to achieve a higher

28

impact on the population’s quality of

life.

All work proposals in relation to

development effectiveness and to

cooperation at the local level ought to

be designed around the territories’

assets and endogenous potential.

Acknowledging, appraising and building

on this potential do not exclude a

realistic approach to existing

challenges, but they facilitate

concertation and linking a wide range

of actors towards a positive

prospective.

The institutionalized processes and

articulation spaces promoted by the

Programme allow approving and

implementing projects in an effective

and articulated way. Moreover, these

processes and spaces promote a better

division of labor and the

complementariness of international

cooperation actors.

Working groups are a useful

mechanism to strengthen institutional

capacities in the framework of

competency decentralization such as

international cooperation management

and productive development, and to

promote their acknowledgement as

useful tools for cooperation

management. There are various

examples of the institutionalization of

these articulation mechanisms in

different countries. This is achieved

through a long dialogue process with all

relevant actors in a climate of trust and

mutual responsibility. The issue of

institutionalizing working groups needs

to be understood in terms of the

intervention’s sustainability.

The kickoff and design of

methodological tools that stimulate

these spaces/working groups in the

territory’s municipalities must generate

participatory, inclusive and local

planning processes on issues of human

development.

It is vital to reinforce the linkages

between the LEDAs and the working

groups, in order to generate more

synergies and to stimulate an inclusive

and sustainable LED. This also requires

more influence of the National

Government in the territories, to

promote the LEDAs’ political, social and

economic sustainability. These should

be brought closer to the Departments,

as tools for LED differentiated from

other financial institutions or consulting

firms. It is also important to systemize

the good practices and learning

accumulated by the LEDAs, disseminate

them and promote the exchange of

good practices between them.

One of the challenges facing ART

Programmes is the constant rotation of

civil servants, both at the territorial and

national levels. This has entailed the

renegotiation of agreements in the best

of cases and the temporary halt of

activities and in worst-case scenarios.

In this sense, it seems reasonable to try

and work with those technical officers

or civil servants who will remain longer

in their posts. To mitigate the effects of

these rotations, it is necessary to

devote enough time to contextualize

and explain the planned or initiated

activities to the new authorities. The

change in governmental positions

through regional and local elections

each four to five years, coupled with

the lack of continuity policies, pose a

29

real threat to the advancement of

regional processes.

It is also important to have strong

inter-institutional alliances, consolidated

political frameworks for ownership and

alignment, developed capacities, spaces

of participation and community

involvement, and strategic sectorial,

territorial or demographic projects. All

these elements facilitate the continuity

and sustainability of development

processes and social transformation,

which, as an example, aim at peace in

Nariño, Colombia. The latter is

characterized by its inclusiveness of

traditionally vulnerable groups and their

capacity development.

Alliances and inter-institutional

networks should be territory-based

(local actors and cooperation actors

who have a presence in the field), and

multilevel (the territory’s actors with

national and international actors). This

double dimension is fundamental to

ensure the effectiveness of

development cooperation at the local

level.

Implementation and adaptation

of the methodology

One of the major challenges for ART

Programmes is how to adequately

transfer methodologies and tools to

formulate and implement LED policies

that are linked to territorial and national

development priorities and that allow

achieving SHD.

Likewise, it is key to effectively

mainstream the gender approach within

the articulation processes and

mechanisms set in motion in the

country and within LED policies. To do

so, it is important to reinforce the

capacities of ART staff members and of

the territory’s interlocutors in this

specific area.

Developing local capacities to improve

local human development will require a

pedagogic approach and an ambitious

capacity building strategy. It is

necessary to develop capacities on

ART’s local programming cycle to foster

a higher degree of ownership of the

proposed methodology by local

institutions.

The National Coordination Committee

(NCC) is a coordination body that

gathers the different actors of the

National Government, territorial

authorities and community of donors

who participate in the implementation

or financing of ART Programmes. The

NCC, the working groups, Local

Development Planning and the

Documents of Priorities (or Territory’s

Guidelines) have shown that they are

valuable tools and spaces to facilitate

dialogue and articulation between

actors and governmental levels to plan

and manage the territory, reach

integral development and strengthen

national decentralized processes (such

as participatory planning, heritage

management, etc.)

An instrument to measure the added

value of the complementariness

between actors and of the articulation

of thematic and territorial networks that

operate in the framework of the

Initiative has been developed. The

implementation of this Instrument of

Added Value and its adaptation to

30

multilevel articulation and development

cooperation effectiveness at the local

level has become a strategic tool and a

baseline within this new process. This

will enable implementing the process

from a perspective of development

effectiveness in the future. These

starting points will facilitate undertaking

future evaluations and comparing the

progress between regions, in order to

have a better insight of development

cooperation effectiveness and multilevel

articulation.

31

5. Annex:

Good practices in Local Economic

Development per Countries.

32

ART Bolivia

PROGRAMME IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC POLICIES ON PRODUCTIVE

DEVELOPMENT TO STRENGTHEN AND PROMOTE MICRO AND SMALL

ENTERPRISES

November 2012 - June 2014

Region: Departments of La Paz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Pando, Beni and Tarija.

Objectives pursued: Strengthen articulation between the Autonomous Territorial Entities and Bolivia’s Central

Government in relation to policies, plans, programmes and projects in productive

development.

Achieved results:

Plans and productive development policies are harmonized and articulated through

inter-institutional spaces that facilitate planning and prioritization in the territories.

Planning and implementation productive investments have increased.

Real distribution of competencies among the autonomous entities in relation to

productive development and effective implementation of the Framework Law on

Autonomies.

Four productive projects in Pando’s Department, for an approximate investment of

61.116.827 bolivianos, have been elaborated.

Marketing studies (TESA level, i.e. Integral technical, economic and environmental

33

studies) of five productive projects have been carried out. It is estimated that the

investment will be around 100 million bolivianos.

In the Department of Potosi, pledges for 13 projects from the 2013 Annual Work

Plan (AWP) and draft 2014 AWP have been coordinated. The estimated investment

will be of 142.354.969,47 bolivianos.

Success factors and good practices:

Methodology implemented with strong national leadership.

Coordination, dialogue and agreements with the actors involved.

Approach oriented to solving local issues.

The methodology is adapted to the advice of the territories’ actors, taking into

account the socioeconomic reality of each department.

Clear distribution of the actors’ roles in the process.

Local empowerment.

Replicability:

The Initiative, based on the implementation of Sectorial Coordination Committees in

Productive Development, has been successful. This had led other actors to request the

initiative’s methodological support for other sectorial committees and productive

platforms, for various thematic areas and geographical regions.

Challenges / Sustainability:

The commitments of all parts need to be closely followed up to achieve results.

Likewise, to avoid duplications it is important to work on coordination strategies

between the various sectorial councils. Finally, sustainability will be achieved by

shifting departmental technical officers to internal positions within the Ministry of

Productive Development and Plural Economy, and by generating setting new

objectives for the future Council.

34

PROJECT OF TERRITORIAL PRODUCTIVE ECONOMIC PLANNING IN ORURO’S

DEPARTMENT —COMMONWEALTH OF MUNICIPALITIES (PET MAN)

December 2011 - February 2014

Region: Department of Oruro, Bolivia (six unions of municipalities that tally 86 percent of

the department’s municipalities).

Objectives Pursued:

The project seeks to consolidate and strengthen LED processes in Oruro’s Commonwealth of Municipalities of and their partner municipalities, strengthening them as strategic territorial spaces to plan the development of the Departmental Autonomous Government.

Specifically, the project seeks the following results:

Support the economic development processes of the Commonwealth of

Municipalities of Aymaras Without Borders, Azanake, Litoral and Minera, strengthening their regional working groups, offering support, facilitating technical exchanges and implementing projects in the framework of the strategic guidelines prioritized by the working groups.

Replicate the learning elements of the first phase of the Project “Territorial Productive Economic Planning Project in the Commonwealth of Municipalities” in the commonwealths of Frontera con Chile and Rio Desaguadero, by structuring the regional working groups, formulating the Territorial Economic Development Plan and elaborating profiles for the prioritized projects.

35

Systemize the experience of PET MAN in Oruro to consolidate a territorial local economic development that stems in the Commonwealth of Municipalities.

Achieved results:

An institutional strategic plan has been designed and implemented in each Commonwealth of Municipalities.

An articulation space of territorial actors for productive development has been created and is operational in each Commonwealth of Municipalities.

A private-public Plan of Territorial Economic Development has been designed and is operational in each Commonwealth of Municipalities.

Two projects have been implemented. Six projects have been included in the 2014 AWP of the Department and of the

Municipalities within the Commonwealths, with the participation of external actors (national and/or international). Others are being negotiated.

Gradual ownership of the regional planning methodology, facilitating a higher execution of productive public expenditure. UNDP contributed with 80 percent of the funds in the first phase of the project, whereas it now finances 15 percent of the ongoing second phase.

Success factors and good practices:

The project lies within the Department’s political priorities to regionalize its planning / intervention and meets the needs of the small municipalities to partner with each other in order to generate higher impact projects.

The Territorial Strategic Development Plan is a tool that guides: The organization of the Commonwealth of Municipalities, producers’ groups and

support organizations. Public expenditure, based to the strategic guidelines of productive development

agreed to in each territory. The gradual elaboration of strategies and processes (the project is in its second

phase) facilitates higher ownership and leadership by the Autonomous Departmental Government of Oruro (GADOR) and the other actors.

Replicability:

The initial intervention was planned in four of the Department’s Commonwealth of

Municipalities. Thanks to the success of the first phase, the Department and the

Commonwealth of Municipalities requested UNDP to implement a second phase, to

strengthen the ongoing processes and replicate the experience to other Commonwealths

of Municipalities.

The objective of the Department is to cover all its municipalities, to facilitate local-

departmental-national planning and create a departmental working group.

Challenges / Sustainability:

Continue supporting GADOR’s efforts to cover the whole territory.

Transfer the methodology and financial responsibilities to GADOR and the Commonwealth

of Municipalities.

36

ART Colombia

INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NARIÑO AS A PEACEBUILDING

PROPOSAL –EVEN AMIDST CONFLICT

2008 - 2013

Photo: Borja Paladini Adell ©

Region: Department of Nariño.

Objectives pursued and results achieved:

In partnership with UNDP, Nariño’s Government, the municipalities of Pasto and

Tumaco, Nariño’s LEDA and a wide range of actors are pushing forward innovative

local and territorial development dynamics in the region, incorporating elements of

good governance and democratic governance. These efforts have become an

innovative modality for peacebuilding and sustainable development that stems from

the local sphere, even amidst a tough armed conflict.

Nariño’s actors are spearheading development processes through cooperation

between various territorial, local, regional, national and international actors in a

multilevel rationale. They count on the coordinated support of the Territorial Office of

various UNDP programmes (ART REDES, DEI, RED ORMET, Growing up together,

Window of Peace of the Spanish Fund for the MDGs, among others) as well as other

initiatives by several United Nations agencies.

In the economic sector, several concrete actions for inclusive economic development

are carried out through innovative instruments for employment generation,

37

entrepreneurship, rural development, economic development of the territory, analysis

of economic opportunities in the region and sustainable development

Success factors and good practices:

UNDP’s support has extended to a wide range of pilot initiatives that offer possibilities and

ways to generate income and inclusiveness for the most vulnerable and excluded

population; through various policies, local actors are taking ownership of these activities.

A total of 6,933 families (i.e. 36.050 persons) participate and directly benefit from the

various economic initiatives. Their participation is consistent (it is not one-off) and is

carried out through various strategies:

They are owners or providers of inclusive businesses.

These persons are involved in livelihood projects ˆof living that have a technical

support of at least two years.

They have accessed seed capital (or credit) to finance their business and

entrepreneurship plans.

They are involved in training and capacity building processes (for instance with

SENA –Pasto) on the design, implementation and financing of business plans.

They own farms where diversified productive systems have been developed (such as

the Shagra or peasant farms) that not only generate alternatives for a licit life but

also protect and develop biodiversity, fight against climate change and protect

cultures and traditional practices that stimulate biodiversity.

Of these persons, 65 percent are women; 75 per cent of the families adopt an

environmental approach in their economic entrepreneurship. All of them are excluded,

highly vulnerable families (victims, rural youth, women, peasants, indigenous persons,

afro-Colombians, among others).

In addition to the economic aspect, the project tackles elements of governance and

democratic governance, which enrich the overall experience:

Transformative citizen participation has been consolidated, particularly in local and

territorial development processes.

Territorial, sectorial and demographic policies have been pushed forward on the

short, medium and long term, incorporating the visions and guidelines for

development elaborated by local institutions and actors.

A strong locally-based ownership and leadership feeling has developed, which

harnesses and convinces national and international actors to support the local

proposals expressed in the above mentioned agendas.

The territory has several political guidelines that gather and develop the territory’s

planning, with an emphasis on economic planning:

The last two departmental and municipal development plans of Pasto incorporate

inclusive economic development as a priority.

38

Sectorial and demographic policies that were formulated between 2008 and 2013

incorporate inclusive economic development as a main focus (gender equality and

youth policies as well, among others).

Territorial guidelines such as the “Plans for Living” of the indigenous, afro-

Colombian or peasant communities enrich the inclusive development approach with

rationales of “good living” and decent life.

The Pacific side of Nariño has developed its Territorial Rural Development Plans,

where its main economic choices and focus areas for economic development are

well defined.

This process has allowed strengthening various local institutions (Nariño’s LEDA,

Economic Development Secretariat of Pasto, Management Unit of Tumaco’s

municipality), which are leading local economic processes. It is worth nothing the

consolidation of Nariño’s LEDA as:

A leader and coordinator of various processes for the formulation of strategic plans

in Nariño: policies, competitiveness plans, integral rural development plans, and

productive chain plans.

A leader in processes that link lawful economic dynamics with territorial governance

ones.

A partner and main ally of various strategic plans on economic and territorial

development in Nariño:

Support to agreements on competitiveness and business plans for value

chains (coffee, fique -a vegetable fiber-, dairy products, vegetables, cacao,

tourism).

Regional leader for the stimulation of inclusive businesses: Al Sur

(marketing business of vegetables), support to the bi-national inclusive

business Colenap SAS, direct support to the project Nariño’s Food,

customs-free zone, among others).

Regional leader in processes of economic and political analyses: elaborating

studies on the active labor market, productive profiles for Tumaco’s

municipality with an emphasis on the vulnerable and victim groups,

productive profiles in five other municipalities, studies on the bi-national

economic dynamics, studies on the strategies and good practices of rural

development, diagnoses to stimulate development and peace programmes

and strategies, design of a development and peace geo-referenced

information system for Nariño, among others.

Leader and promoter of knowledge and good practices exchanges: for

instance, through the “DIRENA Programme: development with a regional

identity between Spain and Nariño”.

Support to regional dynamics that contribute to achieve development and

peace conditions for Nariño; member of the Development and Peace

Programmes Network of Colombia.

Leader in advocacy for the formulation of public policies for regional

development with an economic emphasis.

39

Replicability:

The process is being systemized and is at the disposal of interested actors.

Challenges / sustainability:

The recent mobilizations of the farmer sector in Colombia have put the issues of

rural development and peasant economy at the forefront of the Colombian political

agenda for 2014. This situation has generated a major challenge: to consolidate the

process described, developing it more intensely at the programming level, in order

to access new resources that have been put at the disposal of rural development in

Colombia for the year 2014.

It implies, among others, to continue pushing forward the current process to guide

the design of programmes and rural development interventions, and to avoid

fragmenting available resources in multiple little projects of scarce impact.

In 2014, a policy for the rural development of Nariño (CONPES) will be formulated,

and it will incorporate many of the learning processes of this experience.

40

ART Ecuador

SUPPORTING DECENT EMPLOYMENT AND YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PROGRAMMES

June 2009 - February 2013

Region: The provinces of Azuay, el Oro and Loja

Objectives Pursued:

Benefit the micro and small entrepreneurs who have been traditionally excluded

from the formal finance system and need economic resources to acquire fixed assets

or finance their working capital.

Generate specific processes to improve the work and economic conditions of youth,

through sustainable processes and public policies for youth.

Achieved results:

The Institutional Management Model for Entrepreneurship has been created,

offering specific services for youth; it is based on a public policy that supports young

41

entrepreneurs through two financing lines for businesses and access to Guarantee

Fund services (depending on territorial demand, production characteristics, gender

considerations, payment capacity, and other externalities or market flaws).

These new financial services have generated 1,134 new youth businesses and

provided financial assistance to 1,479 businesses led by youth. Within this result,

women’s economic empowerment and strengthening ought to be highlighted; their

opportunities have improved, as reflected in the 570 businesses led by women.

Eighteen organizations from the Popular and Solidary Financing Sector now offer

credit for youth in the three target provinces.

The National Programme of Popular Finances, Entrepreneurship and Solidary

Economy has had its capacity strengthened and has been endowed with technical

tools, contributing to its transformation into “The National Corporation of Popular

and Solidary Finances”

As an institutional policy, the National Corporation of Popular and Solidary Finances

has allowed leveraging the Entrepreneurship Fund generated by this project (initially

worth USD 424,710.00), with a funding of its own of USD 2,553,340.17 and a total

funding of USD 2,977,050.17, generating 2,115 credit transactions for youth

between 15 and 19 years of age.

Success factors and good practices:

Directly working with local financial entities.

A methodology for the qualification of local financial entities and their strengthening.

The creation of new financial products for youth.

The joint work and coordination between the National Corporation of Popular and

Solidary Finances, local financial entities and the implementing agendas of local

development strategies (LEDAs, local governments, etc.).

Replicability:

The intervention was originally foreseen in three provinces, but owing to the project’s

success, the intervention’s area has been expanded to all the provinces in the country.

The National Corporation of Popular and Solidary Finances has been invited to several

international forums to present its experience as a good practice.

Challenges / Sustainability:

A permanent challenge is that of increasing the relationship between local financial entities

and local governments, and motivating a higher number of young entrepreneurs to use the

new financial services.

42

“ZONAL AGRO-INDUSTRIAL ECO-PARK, FROM A PERSPECTIVE OF

TRANSFORMING THE PRODUCTIVE MATRIX IN EL ORO PROVINCE” PROJECT

June 2012 - December 2013

*DRAFT

Region: El Oro province

Objectives pursued:

Undertake feasibility studies and the final design of the zonal agro-industrial eco-

park of el Oro with a 100-year horizon.

Diversify production, focusing on adding value to agriculture, fishery, aquaculture,

biotechnological and research products, generating employment opportunities.

Achieved results:

Articulation between local and national authorities on the territory’s proposal for the

transformation of the productive matrix has been achieved. The project is an

emblematic strategy pushed forward by the National Government.

Studies that can be directly implemented to transform the territorial productive

matrix in the country’s south have been undertaken.

Local capacities to assume the decentralized competency of productive

development have been strengthened.

The project has been positioned at the national and international levels, attracting

international talent to support the project’s implementation.

43

Success factors and good practices:

Articulation between local governments and the National Government for the

territorial implementation of a national strategy based on a territorial proposal.

A solid positioning of the project thanks to a strategic partnership with UNDP.

Replicability:

Many regions are interested in replicating the project. UNDP is at their disposal to

facilitate implementing similar projects, promoting local-territorial-national articulation

and strengthening territorial capacities for the management of the decentralized

competency on productive development.

Challenges / Sustainability:

The implementation of the project itself is the main challenge on the short-term, for

it requires a higher positioning at the national and international levels in order to

harness the necessary investments.

For a better sustainability of the project and similar initiatives, the National

Government should assume a strategy of national-territorial articulation for the

implementation, execution and follow up of this kind of projects, adopting the

project’s good practices.

44

ART El Salvador

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL POLICY OF THE MINISTRY OF

ECONOMY/CONAMYPE TO DEVELOP BUSINESS CENTERS FOR MICRO, SMALL

AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES BY THE LEDAS OF LA UNION

January 2013 - December 2014

Region: Department of La Unión.

Objectives pursued:

Strengthen the linkages between national policies and territorial focus.

Acknowledge LEDAs as implementing agents of national public policies.

Channel public investments towards territorial needs.

Promote the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the

territory, ensuring capacities, technical assistance and financing through public

resources.

Motivate the development and competitiveness of fishing associations in La Union,

generating employment and increasing performance.

45

Results achieved:

A cooperation agreement between two national public entities and the LEDA for the

implementation of the national policy on the promotion of micro and small

enterprises as well as a desk service for the promotion of investments.

The LEDA’s capacity to serve national entities has been established as a sustainable

model. LEDAs are territorial reference points for a more efficient and effective

policy implementation, thanks to their knowledge and diagnosis capacity in relation

to territorial productive units (specifically, fishery) and project design.

Six technical officers from the National Government are now based in La Union to

provide technical assistance to enterprises.

Fourteen projects to support MSMEs in fishery have been financed from February

to June 2013, benefiting 11 fishing associations, five of which are run by women.

Almost 200 jobs have been supported; an increase of 10 percent in new jobs is

foreseen.

LEDAs have been able to recover costs (service provision, space renting and

equipment for institutional technical officers).

The experience has been replicated to other LEDAs (Morazan, Sonsonate) and

expanded to other national entities (Ministry of Tourism for the implementation of

the policy “populations alive”).

Success factors and good practices:

Articulation with national public policies thanks to the establishment of CIADEL at the

national level and its linkages with the territorial level through the LEDAs, based on

local needs.

LEDA: Mechanism to stimulate public-private and national-local partnerships.

Replicability:

The experience is replicable to other LEDAs.

The LEDA’s experience is an attractive option to operate other public policies,

such as on Tourism, Agriculture and environment.

Challenges / Sustainability:

The LEDA mechanism, which integrates the national/local level in the

implementation of public policies in the territories, can be consolidated; this

would influence the elaboration and implementation of public policies that are

based on the territories’ realities.

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ART Dominican Republic

PROMOTION OF THE DAIRY CHAIN IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

WITH THE SUPPORT OF CUBA’S NATIONAL CENTER OF FARMING HEALTH

2008 - 2013

Region: Provinces of Dajabón, Monte Plata, El Seibo, Sanchez Ramírez, Bahoruco

and Valverde.

Objectives pursued:

With the overall objective of supporting a territorial development public policy, the

ART Programme has facilitated an agreement between Cuba’s Center of Farming

Health (CENSA) and the Dominican LEDA networks to promote the dairy chain in the

Dominican Republic through ADELMOPLA (Monte Plata’s LEDA).

To strengthen the LEDA’s work in the dairy sector, an integral programme of

technical support to the dairy chain was established with CENSA, including national

and local actors in the technical, organizational and structural aspects of the project.

The national level worked with public health organizations (on the practical

implementation of regulations on quality and innocuousness, good manufacturing

practices, good practices in milk production, risk evaluation), with the General

Directorate of Regulations and Quality Standards (to support those aspects of the

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norms and regulations related to milk and dairy products, quality specifications,

testing methods), with the Animal Health Organism (on programs to control

transmittable diseases to human beings such as brucellosis, tuberculosis, mastitis,

etc.). CONALECHE (National Council for the Regulation and Development of the Milk

Industry) and APROLECHE (Association of Milk Producers in the Dominican Republic)

played a decisive role at this level, and so did other organisms concerned with the

chain’s technical and normative aspects. At the local level, the programme

implemented concrete actions integrated in the chain, aimed at strengthening the

economic process of LEDAs. These interventions were aimed at direct actors (milk

producers, farmers, processors, distributors and eventually, consumers).

Success factors and good practices:

Strategies that encourage growth and integration in the milk chains have been

designed, and the foundations have been set to articulate national and local

instances.

Local produce has been brought closer to the country’s regulatory bodies; the

latter has, for the first time, an exchange platform with representatives of a

productive sector.

The mentality in relation to organizational approaches has changed, which was

a necessary step to integrate between producers at the chain level and

producers at the economic level, within a fragmented sector crippled with a

history of failed actions that led to mistrust between actors.

National integration between the various LEDAs, with the constitution of an

advising technical team composed of members of the Agencies in various

provinces. It was recommended to establish organizational frameworks for the

agencies, in the provinces and within the Network itself.

The capacities of local actors have been improved in technical, organizational

and normative aspects, contributing to initiate a process of empowerment that

should continue to evolve favorably. Furthermore, the capacities of national

technical officers, i.e. the producers’ permanent advisors such as those of

Megaleche (improvement of dairy farms in the Dominican Republic), have been

strengthened.

Experts from other countries have been identified, to channel the contributions

of international cooperation.

A contract between ADELMOPLA, as the representative of the country’s LEDAs,

and CENSA has been signed to market the Stabilak (a chemical to keep milk

fresh as it awaits pasteurizing).

The dairy chain has been fully integrated in three of the six LEDAs (Dajabon,

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Bahoruco, Monte Plata), and articulated with national bodies; significant

progress in the three other LEDAs has been made (El Seibo, Valverde and

Sanchez Ramirez). A business with all the chain’s partners will be created and

could become a model for the country.

The rapprochement and participative exchange between producers and national

institutions has endowed the dairy chain organizations with legal instruments to

improve their actions and the quality of their products. The dairy issue has been

inserted in local and national programmes, institutionalizing the process and

empowering local and national partners.

A number of good practices for primary producers were adopted within PROCAL

(Integral Programme to Improve Milk Production and Quality) as well as a

programme of good practices in manufacturing.

A technology transfer took place as a first step for future endogenous

production in the Dominican Republic.

The complementarity between the various cooperation modalities managed by

the LEDAs led to a common effort to improve the dairy chain.

Collaboration with the Haitian partners of the dairy chain took place in

Dajabon’s LEDA.

Replicability:

The process initiated in the six provinces where LEDAs are present is used as a

nationwide model to replicate and implement public policies on the dairy sector.

Challenges / Sustainability:

Thanks to the integration of the dairy chain, more than 15 businesses and

cooperatives have been created in the last year alone. This has contributed to

increase employment and the income of small and medium producers. The National

Association of Dairy Transformers was created In August 2013.

In 2013 as well, USD 500,000 from the Presidency’s Special Fund for farming

development were assigned to Dajabon’s LEDA, to support the dairy chain.

In October 2013, the International Dairy Congress the was held in Punta Cana in the

Dominican Republic, organized by the LEDA’s Network and the relevant national

entities, with the participation of the Dominican Republic’s Presidency.

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ART Uruguay

SALTO EMPRENDE (SALTO UNDERTAKES)

PROGRAMME TO SUPPORT THE COMPETITIVENESS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM

ENTERPRISES

2009-2013

Region: El Salto Department

Objectives pursued:

Promote the competitiveness and development of MSMEs in El Salto by strengthening

local services for entrepreneurial development.

The strategy contemplates strengthening local services of entrepreneurial development

aimed at improving the competitiveness of those MSMEs associated to three prioritized

value chains (fruit farming, tourism and timber), to contribute to generate more a

competitive environment through a public-private strategies and strong local-national

articulation.

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Achieved results:

Initial funds have been multiplied by ten; ten national programmes participate in

executing them.

Over 250 visits for promotion and advice have been organized, out of the 144

planned ones.

The first advising center on 5 S technology has been created.

Two microcredit funds have been implemented; this has allowed granting credits

for USD 700,000.

Over 2,500 persons have been capacitated thanks to the training programmes.

Sixty business incubators were created in 2012.

Creation and invigoration of associations in the fruit farming chain, with pledges

of over USD 950,000.

Success factors and good practices:

Design of institutional incentives to allow local-national and local-local articulation

to implement national programmes in the territory, ensuring high levels of quality

and execution.

A strong association with the private sector, who is involved in decision-making

and co-executes the initiative. The private sector has consolidated its position as

a strategic actor in the prioritization of the associated MSMEs.

Ongoing training of human resources and consolidation of a technical team within

the programme to achieve a higher impact.

Raising awareness and advocacy with the department’s socioeconomic and

political actors to highlight the initiative’s relevance and stimulate strategies that

promote MSMEs.

Replicability:

The initiative has a high degree of replicability. It is possible to identify areas of

replicability in the following areas: design of institutional incentives to allow national

programmes achieving high levels of execution; agreements that guarantee mutual

responsibility in the implementation of activities; methodological replicability in relation

to the model of business services, the format of trainings and inter-institutional

articulation; and the balance between strategic and operational planning.

Challenges / Sustainability:

Expand the network of partners who are able to influence the strategic decisions

of the programme from a flexible, institutional public-private structure.

Diversify the budgetary structure, incorporating new partners and programmes.

Strengthen the technical team and encourage a more active role of academia in

the programme.

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