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Through a learning network of ongoing innovative development experiences,
the goal of this project is to contribute to eliminating poverty and improving
the well being of the rural indigenous population in Central America and
the Andes.
Coordinated by Rimisp - Latin American Center for Rural Development -
and sponsored by New Zealand's International Aid and Development Agency
(NZAID), the purpose of this four-year project (February 2005 to January
2009) is to strengthen the capacity of local stakeholders in rural indigenous
municipalities in Central America and the Andes, to (a) improve their
governance systems and their livelihood strategies and to (b) provide
inputs and influence the policies of national, regional and international
development agencies.
The
project has four objectives:
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To build a sustainable and effective network of innovative experiences
in good governance and sustainable rural livelihoods in rural indigenous
municipalities in Central America and the Andes.
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To develop the capacity of local stakeholders in rural indigenous
municipalities in Central America and the Andes by supporting a learning
process among innovative experiences in good governance and sustainable
rural livelihoods.
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To foster dialogue and support the emergence of new partnerships between
the stakeholders of the innovative experiences in good governance
and sustainable rural livelihoods in indigenous municipalities of
Central America and the Andes, and development agencies interested
in improving their policies and programs in support of indigenous
peoples.
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To disseminate the results and lessons learned to the broad Latin
American rural development community.
This
project will have four outcomes:
A functioning
and sustainable learning network among agents of innovative development
processes in indigenous municipalities of high poverty incidence in
Central America and the Andes. Local
stakeholders in indigenous municipalities have established new relations,
have improved their knowledge and have acquired new skills that they
are applying in governance and sustainable livelihood processes. Decision-makers
in public and private development agencies are extracting lessons from
municipal experiences, enabling them to improve their programs and policies. A broad
audience across the Latin American region is informed about the innovations
carried out in the municipal experiences and the lessons of the learning
network.
The
primary stakeholders of the project will be the local decision-makers
in approximately 14 innovative governance and sustainable rural livelihoods
processes in rural indigenous municipalities, and the decision-makers
in national, regional and international development agencies active in
the seven countries¹ directly covered by the network who are interested
in learning from the innovative municipal experiences.
The
project will carry out 13 activities and will operate four main instruments:
(a) the Learning Network, (b) a Learning Fund that will allow the network
members to plan and carry out Experiential Learning Activities, (c) Policy
Workshops that will allow the network members to interact with development
agencies and influence policy at national, regional, and international
levels, (d) an Internet-based information system for broad dissemination
of products and results.
The
project will be managed by the Network Members, a Project Steering Committee,
and a Project Coordination Unit, each with specific responsibilities over
different levels of decision-making.
A
participatory monitoring and evaluation system will be developed for the
project, providing periodic assessments at two different levels: (a) the
quality of the learning and policy dialogue processes and their usefulness
to participants, (b) the progress towards the intended outcomes as estimated
by means of specific indicators.
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