Building local government from the bottom up

The objective of the IDB-financed Atlantic Coast Local Development Program is to strengthen government institutions in this region. Taking up where the 1987 Autonomy Statutes left off, the $8 million IDB loan will finance activities to develop expertise in local government institutions as well as to break down existing barriers between government, local communities and nongovernmental organizations. The program will be carried out in close coordination with other international donor agencies, in particular Sida and DANIDA, the Swedish and Danish development assistance agencies.

The heart of the program will be a clear definition of the role of the regional governments along with the administrative and technical capacity to represent regional interests. Programs will be financed and carried out by two regional technical units, one for each of the regional governments. Plans are already underway to contract experts in planning, finance, administration, project development and other specialized areas who will advise their government counterparts and create the basis for an institutional framework that includes a career-based human relations system. The regional government units will then go on to work with selected municipalities to strengthen their own capacities and to manage their finances, plan and carry out development projects, and work with local leaders at the community level.

At first, IDB funds will cover the costs of the technical unit staff. But in the following years, the regional governments will gradually assume financial responsibility.

In the meantime, studies will be carried out on the best way to transfer revenues raised from concessions and licenses to local governments. Other studies will look at how local governments can have a greater say in managing natural resources within their jurisdictions.

The program is founded on a commitment to participatory planning. Municipal officials will go out into the communities to learn about local priorities, and will carry out public information campaigns to ensure the projects' success. Roundtable discussions will bring local leaders together with representatives from civil society organizations to help prevent duplication of efforts and ensure common goals.

But what happens if communities heed the call to participate, establish priorities, and the money never arrives to actually do the project? This demoralizing scenario occurs all too frequently in otherwise well-conceived development projects.

In the IDB program, $1.6 million are earmarked for local investments, such as repairing schools and health posts and buying equipment, potable water, day care centers, electricity, community centers, recreational areas and natural disaster prevention plans, among other things. Project beneficiaries and local governments will contribute at least 10 percent of the cost of each project, either in cash or donated land and labor.

Finally, the program has more than $3 million to spend on improving health and education projects. Among them are priority initiatives identified in a 1999 meeting in Stockholm of international donors that are helping to finance Nicaragua's reconstruction needs in the wake of Hurricane Mitch. One such project will be to introduce telemedicine technologies to improve the quality of health care for isolated communities. Another will be to train school administrators to help improve the quality of education through in-service teacher training. In addition to their intrinsic value, the projects will also advance the program's broader objective of establishing a process in which the central government routinely takes into account the needs of the Atlantic Coast.

A separate component of the program will address the growing problem of drugs along the Atlantic Coast. The region is located along the main transshipment route for cocaine from South to North America, and local people often find abandoned packages of drugs, which leads to their involvement in the narcotics trade. In addition, local consumption of marijuana and cocaine is increasing and has been the cause for growing health and social problems, including escalating levels of violence and crime.

A $330,000 IDB grant will be used to finance a drug prevention and awareness program at the community level. Included will be training for staff of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, local agencies and nongovernmental organizations, as well as activities to provide youths with alternatives to drug use, such as sports, music, and theater.