Swedish bilateral development cooperation with Guatemala

Transcription

1 Embassy of Sweden Guatemala October Swedish bilateral development cooperation with Guatemala The Swedish strategy for development cooperation with Guatemala for the years , governs bilateral cooperation provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The overall objective of Swedish development cooperation with Guatemala is to create conditions conducive to continued peace and poverty reduction, based on a rights perspective and the perspective of the poor on development. The Swedish cooperation strategy for Guatemala establishes three sectors of cooperation: 1) Democratic Governance and Human Rights 2) Sustainable Pro-Poor Growth in Poor Regions 3) Health Programs and projects funded by Sweden aim to strengthen respect for basic human rights in Guatemala, combat impunity and strengthen key institutions. Moreover it aims to provide access to as well as improvement of basic services, such as healthcare and microcredits, in order to improve living conditions. During the period , Sweden has disbursed an annual average of SEK 170 million, or approximately USD 26 million (October 2011 exchange rate), funding programs and projects under bilateral development cooperation agreements with counterparts in Guatemala. Swedish supported programs and projects are implemented by a wide range of Guatemalan government agencies, civil society organisations and multilateral organisations present in Guatemala, primarily the UN system. Overall, the democratic governance/human rights sector is the largest area of Swedish cooperation for development in Guatemala. Below follows an introduction to ongoing programs financed by Swedish cooperation in Guatemala (as of October 2011). Many programs are multi-sector and can thus be said to belong to more than one strategy area of cooperation as outlined above. Below, 1

2 contributions are presented according to their OECD/DAC cooperation sector classification. Programs that mainly use civil society as implementation channel are marked below with (*). I. Democratic Governance and Human Rights including Gender Equality Program Objective Agreement Period Commission Against The support intends to make viable the functioning of the UN-based Impunity in International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), Guatemala whose mandate is centred on combating impunity through: (CICIG) (i) investigation of illicit security forces and clandestine security core support organizations that commit crimes that affect fundamental human rights, of links between State officials and organized crime and of illegal group structures activities, modes of operation and sources of financing; (ii) supporting Guatemalan institutions in their work to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in illegal groups, and make recommendations to Government for adoption of laws, public policies, mechanisms and procedures directed at eradication of these groups; and (iii) providing technical assistance to Justice Sector institutions. Agreement counterpart Total Swedish contribution CICIG SEK Transitional Justice program* - PAJUST The support aims at creating conditions for an improved fulfilment, and exercise, of human rights for the victims of atrocities perpetrated during the armed conflict ( ). Main objective is to provide the victims' families access to truth, justice, reparation and measures of no-repetition. The program is a joint effort with key Governmental counterparts, together with civil society organisations, and is jointly financed by Sweden, the Netherlands and USA UNDP SEK

3 Strengthening participation of young women and men in political parties and civil society, especial in indigenes areas* Child rights protection program Support to the Guatemalan National Elections Board Electoral Observation 2011 Monitoring and strengthening of Human Rights The programme proposal is a joint effort with key Guatemalan civil society counterparts, which all have profound experience of working with empowering youth in participative manner, promoting conflict prevention as well as political education. INGEP is the main institutions leading the programme, but the programme has been developed together with two key partners: Propaz and Demos. The program aims to contribute to the institutionalization of a national Child Protection System in 8 departments, increasing the regional and national institutions technical capacity to uphold children s rights. It further aims to encourage children s/adolescents participation in political decision-making; to reduce violence against children and adolescents, and diminish violation of their rights through the promotion of prevention, direct services and sanction programs. The project aims to increase the number of voters in the up coming elections September A specific expected result, is to increase the total number of young and women that participate in the elections at national, regional and local level. Importantly the project also aims at support the civil societies independent electoral observations of high quality. Support will be provided for updating of the voter register, institutional strengthening of the electoral authority as well as the implementation of the electoral reforms. The main objective of the project is to verify whether the observed electoral process complied with the international norms and standards of legitimacy and transparency established in the Interamerican Democratic Charter and national legislation that guarantee a free and just electoral process. Support to the promotion and protection of human rights in Guatemala Universidad Rafael Landivar /INGEP SEK UNICEF SEK UNDP SEK OEA SEK OHCHR SEK

4 Women s Fund program* Office of the Ombudsman for Indigenous Women (DEMI) program support Presidential Secretariat for Women (SEPREM) program support Indigenous Fund program Oxlajuj Tz ikin, phase II* The fund mechanism, administered by the UN Population Fund, aims to improve the capacity of civil society organizations to promote gender equality, the enjoyment of rights of women and struggle to end gender based discrimination and violence. The principal characteristic of the program is the creation of networks and alliances of organizations working with female political participation SRHR, prevention and elimination of gender based on violence and empowerment of adolescents. The support aims to strengthen internal capacity of DEMI an institution set up as part of the implementation of the Peace Accords in Guatemala in order to fulfil its mandate of promotion and defence of women s human rights. The program supports the implementation of DEMI s overall program, providing legal, technical and psychosocial assistance to indigenous women whose human rights have been violated. The program will be implemented in 12 regions of the country. The program aims to effectively position SEPREM and promote the implementation of the National Policy to Promote and Develop Guatemalan Women vis-à-vis different state and government, civil society and at the international level. The support also aims to strengthen SEPREM's internal efficiency. The Oxlajuj Tz ikin mechanism finances indigenous civil society organisation projects aiming to contribute to promoting indigenous people s rights to participation in and impact on different legal, social, economic, political and cultural processes as established to Accord on Identity and Rights of Indigenous People (Peace Accords), leading to a reduction of inequalities suffered by the indigenous people UNFPA SEK DEMI SEK SEPREM SEK CATIE SEK

5 Diakonia Guatemala program* Diakonia/Civil Society Program National Human Development Report program Modernization of Statistics program Central-American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) core support* Fase I Diakonia, a Swedish coalition of five Swedish churches, who receives Sida funds to strengthen civil society organizations in the areas of local democracy, gender, human rights and economic justice, mainly in the north and west of the country where the vast majority of inhabitants are of indigenous origin. The main objective of the programme is to contribute to the consolidation of Guatemalan democracy, ensuring the fulfilment of rights of indigenous people, women and youth as a strategy for overcoming poverty, inequality and exclusion in compliance with the international Convention on Human rights. The program produces strategic, high-quality, pro-positive thematic reports, most notably the National Human Development Reports, complemented by research and ambitious outreach/communication/incidence activities to positively affect public policies central to human development as well as to raise public awareness. It is jointly financed by a number of bilateral donor present in Guatemala. Sida finances a program for institutional strengthening of the National Statistics Authority INE, with a view to generating more appropriate and reliable information on living conditions of the population and the promotion of the use of such in public sector policy-making and in social audit. Technical assistance is provided through experts from Statistics Sweden. Sida is currently reviewing a proposal for a second phase of the program. The activities of the regional think-tank ICEFI aim to provide independent high-quality analysis of public finances, notably the issue of taxation, and incidence work in these areas based on a rights perspective in Guatemala. Fiscal reforms are of utter importance to Guatemala s future development Diakonia SEK Diakonia SEK UNDP INE, Statistics Sweden SEK SEK ICEFI SEK

6 Central-American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) core support* Fase II Municipal Development program PROMUDEL, phase II The activities of the regional think-tank ICEFI aim to provide independent high-quality analysis of public finances, notably the issue of taxation, and incidence work in these areas based on a rights perspective in Guatemala. Fiscal reforms are of utter importance to Guatemala s future development. This program, co-financed by Sweden and Germany and implemented by German technical cooperation agency GTZ, aims to contribute to poverty reduction and ethnic inclusion through improved local governance and citizens' participation, generating tangible improvements in the provision of municipal public services ICEFI SEK GTZ SEK II. Market Development; Agriculture and Forestry; Sustainable Infrastructure and Services Micro-credit program Joint programme FAO UNDP OPS Swedish Cooperative Centre (Kooperation Utan Gränser) Guatemala program* The main objective of the programme is to improve access for poor population groups to financial services for improvement of housing and infrastructure as well as small credits for income generation, mainly for indigenous women. The program, currently in its second phase, is implemented by FDLG, a trust-fund established by Sweden and Guatemala, providing funding and technical assistance to micro-credit institutions. The main goal is to reduce the population's vulnerability in terms of health, housing and productive capacities - this will be done from a rights perspective with focus on gender and cultural aspects. The program of SCC, a Swedish NGO, aims to improve overall rural development through the strengthening of people and organizations in rural areas, increasing their knowledge-sharing and efforts to design and implement community development FDLG, Ministry of Planning FAO UNDP OPS SEK SEK CCS SEK

7 III. Health Integrated health model, phase III Demographic Health Survey The program aims for reduced maternal and infant mortality through its support for improved access to primary health care services, with special emphasis on children and women. The integrated health model is implemented in three provinces, with focus on regulation, social participation and local administration within a framework of decentralization. External evaluations reports positive results and the model is currently being replicated across the country. The support to the Demographic Health Survey (Encuesta de Salud Materno-Infantil) and subsequent in-depth studies is done in cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Health, National Institute for Statistics, and Universidad del Valle de Guatemala and with financial assistance mainly from USAID and Sweden. Technical assistance from the UN system and the US Centre for Disease Control guarantees the quality of the data. The information gathered is essential to improve public planning and spending in social sectors PAHO Ministry of Health Universidad del Valle SEK SEK Decentralised programme-based health support Health Technical support group PAHO Swedish programme-based support with the overall aim to improve sexual and reproductive health, reduce maternal and child mortality in three of the poorest regions in Guatemala. The support is aligned with Guatemalas planning and Public Financial Management system. A Technical Support Group (PAHO, UNFPA) is strengthening the implementation. Swedish support to establish a Technical Support Group consisting of Ministry of Health, PAHO and UNFPA. The group shall support and strenthening the implementation of the Swedish programme-based support to The ministry of Health in three of the poorest regions in Guatemala. PAHO shall give capacity building support based on its mandate and expertise MSPAS SEK PAHO SEK

8 Health technical support UNFPA Swedish support to establish a Technical Support Group consisting of Ministry of Health, PAHO and UNFPA. The group shall support and strenthening the implementation of the Swedish programme-based support to the ministry of Health in three of the poorest regions in Guatemala. UNFPA shall give capacity building support based on its mandate and expertise UNFPA SEK