1. Introduction

CAPACITY 2015 is a global partnership mechanism assisting countries to develop the capacity of their professionals, institutions, and systems to formulate and implement strategies for sustainable development to achieve local, national and international development goals. It will work with developing and transitional countries to build and develop their capacity for sustainable development based on proven successes 1.

Sustainable Development Challenges in Latin America
Latin America faces its most critical period in several decades . Per capita income is lower now than it was five years ago. Consumption has stagnated. Investment has slid to its lowest point in a decade. Argentina's economic crisis has weakened an already fragile region. Lagging in technological innovation, Latin American economies are less and less competitive. Foreign-debt pressure limits the capacity of states to promote policies for social development and technological change; falling raw material prices in the world markets have made the foreign debt burden even worse.

Besides its economic problems, Latin America faces tremendous social challenges. With half the population living in poverty, Latin America has more structural inequality than anywhere else in the world. Although absolute poverty has diminished somewhat in a few countries, relative inequality has increased. As wealth continues to concentrate in the highest strata, the gap between the rich and the poor widens.

The economic crisis has highlighted the structural limitations of Latin American political arrangements. Contemporary governments are facing strong internal tensions from traditional power groups, old political parties, large urban social groups, emerging civil social movements, and the recent strengthened claims of indigenous people in Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, and Mexico.

Capacity 21 experience in Latin America
Operating in 15 Latin American countries, Capacity 21 pioneered new governance approaches based on local participation and empowerment; improved national policy dialogue; and promoted integration across sectors of government and of society. Capacity 21 worked to build local-regional-national links, going from successful local experiences into the realm of sound national policy. It built credibility with governments, civil society and academia because it was a new way of doing business – flexible, demand-driven, with stakeholders in control. Capacity 21 produced a rich array of lessons learned in the field of local sustainable development.

2. The Strategic Framework for Capacity 2015 Latin America

Capacity 2015 in Latin America will partner with the Regional Bureau for Latin America and will be its operative arm and on-the-ground programme to work on achieving Millennium Development Goals, especially Goals 1 and 7 , at a local level. It will empower the local level as the driving force for sustainable development. Sustainability cannot be reached without local level leadership. It is at the local level where people live and work, where the culture and the resources to improve their livelihood are. It is also where the governmental institutions are closest to the people. Capacity 2015 in Latin America will emphasizes integration between the local and national levels, creating an environment to deal with the challenges of globalization. It will focus on developing capacities of key beneficiaries in strategic areas of sustainable development, such as sustainable forestry, food security, sustainable agriculture, and alternative energy.

The Programme Components
Local sustainable economies are at the core of Capacity 2015 Latin American. Capacity 2015 Latin America will encourage the development of local sustainable economies in an enabling environment in which local populations manage their own development. This includes participatory, bottom-up, ownership-oriented approaches for choosing local projects, linking projects with processes, selecting appropriate technologies, developing productive chains, strengthening internal local markets, and putting the right emphasis on the economic aspects of sustainable development.

Local sustainable economies will also be supported through three other areas of intervention:

National Policy for Local Development
Working with key policy and decision-makers, Capacity 2015 Latin America will strengthen policy support for local development. The dynamic will work in both directions -- from bottom to top, and from top to bottom. Based on successful local programmes, recommendations will be derived for new policy. Backed by existing good policy, new programmes at the local, regional and national levels will be implemented. A permanent learning process on the links between successful local projects and sound national policy will be put into place.

Local Governance for Development
Capacity 2015 Latin America will assist municipalities to improve governance by creating and improving platforms where local actors -- local government, private sector, civil society -- can jointly plan for development. A main feature will be to build and strengthen a Capacity 2015 Interactive Communications Technology platform and human network for the exchange of information, successful experiences, best practices, and lessons learned.

Leaders for Local Sustainable Development
Capacity 2015 Latin America will encourage the emergence of local leaders with the skills, understanding, and knowledge to manage development in an innovative and integrated manner. Concrete sustainable development problems derived from the field will be analyzed in formal and informal educational settings where new knowledge and innovative solutions will be generated and implemented.

3. Programme Implementation

Partnerships
To encourage local sustainable economies, Capacity 2015 Latin America will explore a partnership of mutual benefit with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Global Environmental Facility’s Small Grants Programme, and Public Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment.

To propel its leaders-for-local-sustainable-development strategy, Capacity 2015 Latin America is developing working partnerships with the LEAD programme, the Economic Commission for Latin America, and relevant international NGOs such as Management Science for Health.

To implement its strategy for local-governance-for-development, Capacity 2015 has started a partnership with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, and the Earth Council.

To develop capacity-development incubators that can create formal and informal educational models, Capacity 2015 Latin America has established contact with Latin America universities that have programmes on local sustainable development. Among them are the Politécnico Salesiano in Ecuador, the Earth College in Costa Rica, the Universidad del Noreste in Argentina, and the URACCAN indigenous university in Nicaragua. A network of informational flow is already underway, and will be nurtured and developed.

Programme Timeframe
Capacity 2015 will be implemented in three phases.

Phase 1 (2003 – 2004). This start-up phase will be devoted to intense preparations to ensure comprehensive national dialogues on priorities and fostering ownership, consolidating and rephrasing existing Capacity 21 programmes, and initiating programme implementation. This will ensure a right footing for the programme –substantive content, country ownership, institutional and management arrangements. This phase will also focus on partnership building, resource mobilization, and putting in place a participatory monitoring and evaluation system.

Phase 2 (2005-2010). Implementation.

Phase 3 (2011 – 2015). Executing successful exit strategy.

Monitoring and Evaluation
Capacity 2015 Latin America’s monitoring and evaluation system will ensure accountability, and will use a participatory strategy to empower communities. It will be keyed to monitoring sustainable development based on Millennium Development Goals and WSSD outcomes. Monitoring information will be used to improve management of the initiative. And Capacity 2015 Latin America will seek to develop the programme-monitoring capacities of partner countries.

4. Institutional Mechanisms

• A Regional Coordinating Committee, composed of sustainable development champions will offer credibility and effective resource mobilization strategies, as well as entry points to a wide array of contexts in Latin America. From an inside perspective, it will give guidance and function as the Approval Committee for projects.
• A National Programme Committee will be responsible for guaranteeing “ownership” by the country, the implementing agencies, and the beneficiaries. National institutions will also work in guaranteeing the “technical substance” of the projects.
• At an operative level, the Capacity 2015 Regional Coordination Office will coordinate efforts. This office will build partnerships, identify strategic needs, activate information flows, and operate the monitoring and evaluation systems.
• At a country level, the institutional structure will pivot around UNDP Country Offices, who will be partners with relevant stakeholders, identify national needs, offer technical backstopping for strategic projects, and filter relevant demands up into the Capacity 2015 Regional Coordination.

5. Resource Mobilization

Capacity 2015 Latin America’s resource mobilization strategy is established with the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean. Activities include:

• Core resources used as seed money to leverage non-core resources at the
  National level with the Government and the UNDP Country Office;
• Cost-Sharing with bilateral donors and IFIs for programme interventions;
• Partnership with foundations, International NGOs, CSOs and the private sector at a regional and national levels;
• Cost sharing with the UNDP Thematic trust funds.

Footnotes
1 Capacity 2015 builds on the lessons learned through UNDP's extensive capacity development experience including Capacity 21, Local Initiative Facility for the Urban Environment, Public Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment and the Global Environment Facility's Small Grants Programme. For further background on these programmes please consult www.undp.org