Regional Centre LAC       As discussions on the Post 2015 framework intensify, how to strengthen democratic governance has become a key topic of the conversations. The framework of the Post 2015 Agenda provides a unique opportunity to think “outside the box” in terms of democratic governance. There are more elections at all level of government, human development has expanded and there is even evidence of growth in income. In spite of progress, all societies in the world without exception are confronting new and more complex challenges. Democratic governance is at the center of that challenge, both in terms of its inability to generate certainty for the future and capacity to promote inclusiveness in ever growing diversifying world. So far in the debate, the assessment and solutions to the challenge seem conventional given the potential enormous consequences of “business as usual.” Focusing on policy and institutions could be one way of articulating the post 2015 agenda. However, given the emerging complexity of the challenges that focus may not be sufficient anymore and the instead the reality (processes, interactions, arrangements) in the ground may demand a variety of out of the box thinking that turns democratic governance up-side down. Long lists of “things to do” in the post-2015 agenda, may have to be replace with a bottom-up strategy that focuses on a few but strategic issues to strengthen democratic governance. For example, the linkage between development and governance is not necessarily a given. The reality in a constantly changing governance context at global, national and subnational levels shows that not only is it more difficult to show such linkage, but also that such linkage is not automatic. Prescriptively, there might be some evidence that support a causal linkage between governance and development. The reality in the ground is far more complex and it involves looking closely at conditions (institutional, economic, sociopolitical, decision-making and public policy processes, levels of devolution, deconcetration or delegation of subnational governments, culture of integrity/accountability) and the role of governance in those particular conditions. Also, any post 2015 strategy cannot ignore the multifaceted and fastpaced context for governance today at all levels, global, national and subnational, and the challenges multilevel governance poses for development, citizen security, public policy, civic engagement among others. The strategy needs to be able to accommodate old and new, and formal and informal forms of governance, including new interactive mechanisms to promote and encourage citizen participation in a way that the democratic aspect of Continue on the next page governance comes from recognizing and incorporating individuals’ voice in the process of decision making, which goes beyond voting in electoral process. As such, it has to take into account on the one hand the new emerging governance sub-national spaces and the virtual multi-national (global) governance spaces. Overall then, the challenge is to target initiatives likely to encourage the development of both individual capacities and the virtuous circle between new forms of governance and technological, economic and social change. Before targeting dimensions, goals and areas of governance or the socalled building blocks of governance in the post 2015 agenda, it might be necessary to revise how the relation state and society is taking place today, more so as political communities are becoming more diverse and complex. In that changing reality, governance is no longer only about managing societies, or providing services to citizens, or paying taxes. Also development is not only about expanding opportunities and/or achieving predetermined goals. More profoundly than that, it is about a constant recomposition of political communities and the role of government and society to ensure constructive engagement to resolve public challenges that have global, national and sub-national dimensions (e.g., climate change, corrupt practices, organized crime, exclusion and discrimination to name but a few). Growing diversity in political communities produces two challenges to governance and any new development agenda: securing democratic governance and renewal under changing global, national and sub-national conditions, and rethinking the idea of state and society, particularly where it can count at the sub-national level. In spite of progress in human development and democratic governance in the world and in an important number of formerly known as developing and/or transition countries, progress is still fragile and has not translated into more certainty, stability, inclusiveness and/or equality. Conventional democratic institutions within countries have shown many signs of declining vitality. These institutions will be relevant if people find value in them. Lack of check and balances, autonomous and independent oversight institutions, party-list elections, citizens´ apathy, centralized decision-making processes, citizen insecurity and persistent perception of corruption are some of the symptoms. Moreover, national institutions may no longer be capable to understand and/or resolve development challenges at the subnational level. Thus any post 2015 strategy has to recognize that governance and development may ride on both governmental and nongovernmental organizations, less hierarchical decision making processes, more pluralistic authority, and on mutual (state-society) accountability and transparency. However, it cannot be assumed that sub-national governance is the panacea. Many conventional thinking about sub-national governance needs to be revised in light of diversification and complexity of contexts. The independent evaluation commissioned by UNDP in 2010 of its contributions to Local Governance, made a number of recommendations in this direction, aiming at a better integration of UNDP’s approaches and programmes related to its subnational level interventions and support. The evaluation report pointed to the often isolated interventions and support at the sub-national space, the variety of approaches, as well as the inability to scale-up these initiatives into broader reform policy frameworks in favor of enhancing sub-national governance. It is no longer a given that subnational actors may have an informational and locational advantage, simply because they are there. Also, no longer is relevant to propose participatory processes without understanding the institutional conditions to ensure impact and sustainability, as well as the needs to ensure functional articulation with national factors and actors. If sub-national governments cannot deliver services and/or be Continue on the next page responsive to their localized needs, will most likely alienates citizens and become a self-fulfilling prophecy that may serve vested interests in keeping a status quo. This is why decentralization and local governance processes need to be understood from a broader perspective. It is one thing what the international community may want and/or propose, it is a different what can realistically be done in the ground given the political room to maneuver delicate reforms that involve the devolution of resources and political power. Thus the focus should be on the domestic dynamics of sub-national governance to understand potential unintended consequences and the elements of the political deliberation at the national level. While this is underway, capacities could be built at the sub-national level with the eventuality that they will be getting more responsibilities and resources in the future, as well as creating at the sub-national level organizational capacity to undertake the tasks long-term (i.e., university, learning centers, networks). A key question here is how much money/resources should be invested in processes vis a vis in results? This may also pose a dilemma to the international community in a post 2015 agenda. While results are important, also are targeted approaches in favor of processes and policy dialogue and testing multidisciplinary approaches (gender, environment, economic development) to capture and learn from evolving realities. As was identified by the 2011 DELOG Busan Report, for the international community it might be important first to adequately understand the key political economy dynamics before venturing any assistance. Often there is evidence that while in the open there might be consensus on sub-national governance reform, inside political circles there might also be subtle opposition that can limit the efficacy of support. Also, subnational reforms are managed from different entities within the central/national government. This can reinforce fragmentation among entities and uncoordinated can even lead to neutralizing efforts, as some reforms may reinforce centralization and others advocate for decentralization. Another key issue is the time-length of reform processes in sub-national governance; results materialize slowly and often without key short-term indicators to measure success. Furthermore, traditional capacitybuilding approaches continue to be applied with limited focus on capacity of civil society to engage sub-national governments to develop the critical vertical accountability capacity. The outcome document of the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, the Rio+20 outcome document and now the post 2015 Agenda discussions are all highlighting the importance of the sub-national space for a new, more integrated and strategy for democratic governance. UNDP is finalizing a new integrated local governance and local development strategy, focusing on how to help sub-national groups to act collectively; rethinking participatory processes; understanding tradeoffs; working on governance and economic development in an integrated way; and enhancing sub-national actors´ limited capacities. These might just be a few key areas to revitalize democratic governance from its roots. To comment on this article, please click on the Teamworks Logo teamworks Shifting Power? Assessing the Impact of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives Rosie McGee and John Gaventa IDS Working Paper 383 Institute of Development Studies, 2011 Governance of Public Policies in Decentralized Contexts: The Multi-level Approach Charbit, Claire Regional Development Working Papers, OECD 2011 Accountability and transparency initiatives have taken democratization, governance, aid and development circles by storm since the turn of the century. Many actors involved with them – as donors, funders, programme managers, implementers and researchers – are now keen to know more about what these initiatives are achieving. This paper arises from a review of the impact and effectiveness of transparency and accountability initiatives, and it analyzes how the evaluation and impact could be enhanced. This paper takes the discussion further, by delving into what lies behind the methodological and evaluative debates currently surrounding governance and accountability work. It illustrates how choices about methods are made in the context of impact assessment designs driven by different objectives and different ideological and epistemological underpinnings. The authors argue that these differences are articulated as methodological debates, obscuring vital issues underlying accountability work, which are about power and politics, not necessarily methodological technicalities. [To download click here] Decentralization and Fiscal Sub-National Sustainability: The Case of Colombia Sánchez Fabio AND Zenteno Jannet Center of Economic Development Studies CEDE University of the Andes, 2011 This Working Paper offers a methodology to diagnose multi-level governance challenges and offers examples of tools used by OECD countries to bridge coordination and capacity “gaps.” This approach has been inspired by OECD regional development policy work, as regional development policy relies both on the diversity of territorial situations and the coherence of regional strategies at the national level. In practice, it has already been tested in a variety of public policies such as public investment, water, and innovation, which all contributed to enrich it with concrete sectoral evidence and experience. The Working Paper concludes that multi-level governance challenges occur in institutional frameworks which are very country specific. Making institutional background evolve and implementing decentralization reforms is often a complex and long process. Moreover, that decentralization is not a one-off policy change; it is an on-going process where the end point of accountable and efficient local governments may well take many decades to achieve. [To download click here] Beyond Access to Information: The Use of Information Technologies to foster Transparency, Participation and Partnership with the Public Sector Working Paper No 262 Ana Elena Fierro and J. Ramón Gil-García CIDE, 2012 This paper examines the determinants of fiscal performance of municipalities and departments in Colombia, as well as their fiscal sustainability both in the short and in long terms. This is done through a fiscal sustainability and financial risk mapping. As such, this approach constitutes a means to identify, not only the fiscal situation, but also the difficulties and the strengths of each territorial entity. Thus, the evidence indicates that variables such as population size, fiscal dependence, and compliance with spending limits set forth in Law 617 of the year 2000, and some political variables, do have impact on the ability to pay territorial debt and primary surplus. Regarding fiscal sustainability, in general terms there is evidence of overall improvement when comparing the 1997-2000 and 2001-2007 periods analyzed. For departments (intermediate governments), the most noticeable improvement was observed in short-term sustainability, while municipalities accounted for long-term sustainability. A number of strategies are suggested based on the results, which the pending agenda of decentralization should take into consideration. The use of information technologies in the Government’s work has recently increased around the world. Today e-government emerges as a strategy for public reform, especially as a way to guarantee transparency and access to public information. Based on the review of a sample of web pages of public entities that are subject to the law in the three political branches and in the three governmental levels, this working paper argues that it is necessary to understand, measure, and evaluate transparency not only as access to information. This working paper proposes the use of four main elements or pillars to achieve an authentic transparency: (1) access to information, (2) quality and usefulness of the information, (3) intensive use of information technology, (4) strategies and tools for participation and collaboration. The transparency web pages are analyzed through the lens of these four components. The result of the analysis shows that an overwhelming majority of Mexican public entities of the sample use their websites only as a way to comply with the laws, where the portals are simply receptors of information. Hence the result of limited or useless information for both the citizen and even the institution itself. [To download click here] [To download click here] The value of engaging civil society in the fight against corruption at the local government level was on display at the Fifth UNDP Anti-Corruption Community of Practice (COP), which took place from November 5 to 6, in Brasilia, Brazil. The winning knowledge product in the CoP’s concluding Knowledge Fair was a media training manual jointly authored by Claude Robinson, Consultant to the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Keith Miller, Special Advisor in the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development. It was one of a number of key outputs from an anti-corruption project, Building Civil Society Capacity to Support Good Governance by Local Authorities, which was funded by UNDP’s Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF) from 2010 to 2012. democratic environment characterized by uncertainty, unpredictability and declining moral values and disrespect for constitutional institutions and authority. Recognizing the value of increased transparency to improving public accountability by local authorities, the project set as one of its key objectives developing the capacity of professionals working in the electronic and print media to report on local authorities and their use of public funds. A content analysis, conducted by the Centre for Leadership and Governance (CLG) as part of the project activities, showed that there was a gap in public knowledge about Jamaica’s on-going efforts at local government reform. The content analysis demonstrated an urgent need for improved media coverage of budgeting and public expenditure at the local government level. With the findings of the content analysis in hand, the Assistant Resident Representative and Governance Advisor The project, which was supported by a of UNDP Jamaica, Sonia Gill (2nd right) holding the first prize project staged a series of award from the Knowledge Fair which took place at the 5th wide range of state and civil society training workshops for UNDP Global Anti-Corruption Community of Practice. partners, was implemented by the members of the media Centre for Leadership and Governance at UWI, in fraternity across Jamaica. In order to institutionalise the partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, the training for media professionals the project supported the National Association of Parish Development Committees development of the media training manual on covering (NAPDEC) the Social Development Commission, the Press local government in Jamaica, which was the winning Association of Jamaica and CARIMAC. knowledge product. While no form of corruption is truly victimless, the misuse of public funds, which citizens must pay over as various forms of tax both central and local level, has a particular undermining effect on development as a whole, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in particular. Misuse of public funds hinders economic development, reduces social services, and diverts investments from infrastructure, institutions and social services for personal gain. It also fosters an anti- CARIMAC, long recognised as the premier media training institution in the English-speaking Caribbean is using the manual with journalism degree students as well as developing short courses for working media professionals. * Assistant Resident Representative and Governance Advisor of UNDP Jamaica Fifth UNDP Global Anti-Corruption Community of Practice and the 15th International Anticorruption Conference of Transparency International. The Fifth UNDP Global Anti-Corruption Community of Practice and the 15th International Anticorruption Conference of Transparency International were held in November 2012 in Brasilia, Brazil. Both meetings reaffirmed the strategic against corruption, a scourge that governance in the countries, and corruption constitutes one of the development. commitment to fight affects democratic as a consequence main obstacles for The two global meetings - the first one was a corporative retrospection and evaluation to enhance strategies, and the second one as a public forum that seeks to increase public awareness on corruption and to foster dialogue – both aimed to translate strategies, successes, and failures into a global public good to fight against corruption. This global public good should be known and used by everyone in their own realities. The Fifth UNDP Global Anti-Corruption Community of Practice “Learning from the Past- Directions for the Future” was held on November 5th to 6th, two days before the International Conference of Anticorruption. This event gathered around 100 UNDP anticorruption experts from 45 Country Offices and Regional Centers, as well as donor representatives, government counterparts, leaders of global movements and civil society partners. Discussions allowed indepth and open reflections about the role played by the UNDP in the fight against corruption and at the same time evaluate the impact of these interventions. The Community of Practice revealed, not only by the growing number of participants, that progress can be reported in some initiatives to fight against corruption. Nevertheless, it also reaffirmed the existence of numerous challenges that need to be overcome jointly to enhance the efficiency of the interventions. During the meeting, the UNDP preventive approach to fight against corruption was ratified, which includes both the strengthening of public institutions as well as promoting national and international legal frameworks to strengthen public transparency and integrity. A key legal framework is the United Nations Convention against Corruption that plays a key role in enabling policy dialogue among public, private and academic actors to move forward with a coordinated effort in the fight against corruption. The sectorial approach to promote transparency and accountability were endorsed as a key means and challenge for UNDP in the prevention of the corruption. There was an agreement that for an effective implementation of the sectorial approach more risk evaluations, transparency and accountability integrated approaches and a more inter-agency cooperation, as well as within the UNDP programmatic areas are needed. The corporative challenges and recommendations that were identified were related to revising programming mechanisms to report and monitor progress. Prevention strategies are mainly processes that help to build trust between governmental and civil society actors. Last but not least, a fundamental element that was identified was the need to continue strengthening the UNDP reference framework and theoretical approach in the fight against corruption to enhance the transferability of lessons learned. Without a doubt these types of meetings promote networks and the exchange and nourishment of practices in the fighting against corruption. The interaction generated a menu of possible strategic activities that can be replicated at the global, regional and national levels. As such, the “Knowledge Product Fair” needs to be highlighted where different initiatives of the Country Offices and regional centres (studies, videos, guides, lessons learned, virtual courses, capacity building training packages, among others). A total of 12 Knowledge Products from all the regions participated in the Contest, and all of the COP participants had the opportunity to vote and elect the best knowledge product, on the basis of a brief presentation. The most voted was the “Jamaican Journalism Manual on Covering Local Government” aimed at strengthening journalists’ skills in oversight of the local public administration. Continue on the next page With a shared internal vision, many participants of de CoP reunited in the 15th International Anticorruption Conference (IACC) held on November 7th to 10th, 2012. sanctioning and/or public shaming could be important deterrent tools of corrupt practices, and therefore the role of civil society and the strengthening of them is key. The global meeting considered by many as the world´s most important meeting with regards to fighting corruption, had this time the theme of “Mobilizing People: Connecting Agents of Change.” This conference gave continuity to one of the main conclusions of the previous meeting in Bangkok in 2010: “Empowering people creates change. This is why we recognize that linking these people takes time, new and fresh ideas and a vibrant civil society. Our role should be to support people who want to change the rules of the game." With this objective, nearly 2,000 people from more than 140 countries, including heads of State, academic personalities, private sector, donor and NGOs representatives and women and men from the civil society interested in increasing transparency and fighting against corruption. In addition there were many more that followed the conference through the live broadcasts and social networks. The UNDP was also present in this extraordinary meeting through different participations, highlighted by the intervention of Magdy Martinez Soliman, Deputy Director of the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) during the initial plenary session. In his presentation, he summarized key points and lessons learned from the anti-corruption UNDP interventions, and pointed that although there is progress in the last twenty years to fight against this scourge, corruption continues “to steal resources from those who need the most.” During the four-day conference, a wide range of experts from different disciplines deliberated in more than 50 workshops and in plenary sessions the best way to focus and continue the fight against corruption. Another relevant area was the role of young people, who presented examples and fresh ideas that they are globally implementing in this effort. In the Conference, the five main areas that received attention were: ending with impunity; climate change and the path post Rio +20; illicit financial flows prevention; ensuring that political transitions lead to transparent and stable governments; and “clean” sports. At the end of the conference the Brasilia Declaration was adopted, which summarizes the results of the workshops and plenary sessions of the global conference. Without a doubt, one of the main conclusions was to emphasize the importance of stopping and limiting the impunity, which together with the lack of sanctions can reduce trust of citizens in public institutions. Consequently, the importance of strengthening coordination among control institutions was highlighted, and especially to strengthen the independence of the judicial branch so it can enforce laws without any type of interference. As a complement to legal sanctions, moral Regarding actions taken, the United Nations Convention against Corruption was highlighted as bringing together all anti-corruption standards that globally countries are committed to combat corruption. However, to move the agenda forward multi-actors from different sectors need to get involved, such as: the State, civil society, the private and the academic sectors. In addition, because corruption can be present in different areas of daily lives and resources are limited, it is important to prioritize key human development sectors, such as health and education, among others. Finally, the need for inter-institutional coordination was highlighted. Countries with successful lessons on anticorruption have applied both "top down" and "bottom up" strategies. Thus in order to successfully implement such a strategy citizen pressure and political will are both required. This why it is important to consider prevention and sanction as two sides of the same coin. Future actions should prioritize means to connect change agents so that public institutions can be strengthen against impunity. *Programme Officer- Democratic Governance Area, UNDP El Salvador The Latin America and the Caribbean Network of eGovernment (REDGEALC) The Latin America and the Caribbean Network of eGovernment REDGEALC) is a web site that brings together the authorities of e-government of OAS member states with the purpose of promoting horizontal cooperation, capacity building of public functionaries, knowledge about key aspects to build national electronic government strategies, and to facilitate the exchange of solutions and experts within the region. The webpage contains tools, like the eGobex that allows national and sub-national governments to exchange and transfer e-government applications; a database of experts in e government; information on virtual courses; and an extensive knowledge documentation on e-government issues. According to the study “Tax Statistics in Latin America” of 2012 and in relation to the attribution of tax revenues to sub-national governments in 2010, Colombia was the Latin American country with the largest share of tax revenue collection by their local governments (13.7%). By contrast, in other unitary and federal countries in the region, the tax revenue collection is lower. For example, Chile has collection rate of 6.2%, followed by Costa Rica with 3%, Guatemala 1.5% and Mexico 1.2%. In countries such as Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Uruguay the study does not report revenue collection of income by subnational governments. The participation in the amount of tax revenue collected by the Latin American local governments continues to be modest in most countries and it has not increased in recent years. This reflects the small amount of taxes in sub-national jurisdictions in comparison with the OECD countries, where the average income of local governments in 2010 amounted to 7.9% in federal countries, 9.5% in regional countries i.e. Spain, and an 11.8% in unitary countries. Democratic Governance Practice Area of UNDP Regional Service Centre for LAC whishes you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year Gerardo Berthin, Adriana Ballestín, Borja de Aramburu and María Angélica Vásquez Democratic Governance Team UNDP Regional Service Centre for LAC http://www.regionalcentrelac-undp.org/en/