The Lempa River's lower valley, a fertile flood plain on El Salvador's Pacific coast, has seen more than its fair share of trouble.
Not only is the valley prone to severe flooding, such as the deluge triggered by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It is also exposed to tidal surges, landslides and earthquakes. Its population has grown rapidly to more than 35,000 since the civil war ended a decade ago. Every time the Lempa bursts its banks, residents risk losing their crops, their possessions and their lives.
Furthermore, many of its settlers are veterans who fought on opposing sides in the war. Communities on the right bank were founded by former army soldiers; those on the left bank were former guerrillas and dissidents. Over time, groups splintered and pursued divergent development strategies. And while external aid flowed in generously, traditionally there was little coordination among the myriad projects underway.
In this alluvial Babel, the IDB is carrying out an innovative risk-reduction and sustainable development program based on intensive community participation. A key aspect of the program is its emphasis on local risk management. However, in order to succeed, this strategy depends on collaboration among the various organizations that represent the groups living in the Lempa lowlands, as well as on the coordination with local governments and national agencies.
Using a $100,000 grant from the Fund for Capacity Building for Local Institutions in Central America (CABILICA), established in 1999 by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), the IDB helped finance training courses and technical assistance to hone the skills of members of community-based groups, productive organizations and municipalities in the long-term management of risks associated with floods and other natural threats. Part of the grant was used to bolster community networks for emergency response and improve the lower Lempa's early warning systems. Another portion was used to strengthen a local committee formed by delegates from the various groups to act as a representative body for the valley's dealings with national agencies on risk management, disaster prevention and emergency response issues. And there was still some money left over to hold a series of public meetings where residents were invited to discuss a range of risk-management measures.
"One of the major achievements of the project was that we got everyone to sit at the same table," said Hernan Romero, a natural resources specialist at the IDB's Country Office in San Salvador. "The local development committee succeeded in attracting the participation of the Environment Ministry, four municipalities and the departmental government, making the group even more representative."
The project also helped the lower Lempa communities prepare joint emergency plans, providing them equipment to improve their early warning systems against floods. The settlers agreed on a strategic development plan for the valley that allowed them to lobby other donors to finance farming and housing projects. "A little CABILICA money went a long way," said Romero.
Leverage. The purpose of the $3.2 million CABILICA fund is to help local governments and civil society groups in poor and marginal areas of Central America play a more effective and significant role in development programs funded by multilateral agencies
to combat poverty.
The British government established the fund at a time when Central American countries were stepping up their efforts to decentralize government functions, such as providing basic education and health services. While this reform was a welcome consequence of the region's democratization, donor agencies were also concerned about how state and
municipal authorities would manage these new responsibilities.
DFID was looking to leverage its grant resources by partnering with institutions with large project portfolios in Central America. It singled out capacity building as a priority. By strengthening local governments and community-based organizations, it would increase the development impact of social investment programs aimed at improving the lives of the poor.
For its part, the IDB was venturing into new areas, such as social auditing, which involves local beneficiaries directly in the evaluation of development programs. These experiences were bringing the Bank in contact with a new range of actors and organizations, said IDB senior social development specialist Peter Sollis, who with DFID colleagues was responsible for the design and conceptualization of the fund.
The DFID-IDB partnership has flourished over the past four years. CABILICA has approved 24 grants - every one under $150,000 - to help beneficiaries in poor and marginal communities in Central America and the Dominican Republic. Most of the grants were deployed in connection with large IDB-financed social programs, such as a $50 million health program in Panama or a $58 million education program in the Dominican Republic.
Other grants were used to back pilot projects that will become the building blocks for wider campaigns, such as the efforts to combat AIDS among the Garifuna people in Honduras. In other cases the British resources financed the dissemination of vital information, such as the successful experiences of Central American municipalities that have taken steps to improve their chances of surviving natural disasters.
"CABILICA has been an important part of our work in Central America in increasing the voice of poor people and local organizations," said DFID Latin American Department official Stephen Kidd.
From the IDB's point of view, the British resources have had a measurable multiplier effect, said Sollis. The lessons learned from its pilot projects are now being folded into other programs in Central America. "CABILICA resources allowed us to take some risks that otherwise might not have been taken," he said. "And there have been clear and demonstrable advances in how the IDB works local actors."