ART Initiative

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ART is an International Cooperation Initiative (Articulating Territorial and Thematic Networks of Cooperation for Human Development)that supports national and local governments in the implementation of their national decentralization policies. To this end, it supports and promotes the implementation of a legal, operational, administrative and planning framework, the Framework-Programme, which facilitates the articulation between the different International Cooperation actors interested in supporting the countries' human development processes. Among them: the national governments, the regional and local communities, the civil society, the universities, the non-governmental organizations and the private sector.

These networks are designated as Framework-Programmes because they create an organized institutional context that allows the various local, national and international actors to contribute to the countries' human development in a co-ordinated and complementary way, in the identified territories. Donor countries, United Nations agencies, regional and local governments, associations, universities, private sector and non-governmental organizations participate in the formulation of the Framework-Programmes.

By using the Framework-Programme, each one of the actors can increase the sustainability and impact of their actions, without having to sacrifice their identity or visibility. The Framework-Programmes offer the opportunity to translate the will of coordination between the cooperation actors into a concrete operational strategy, through which the development projects can be implemented, including those of the decentralized cooperation that can thus find co-financing.

The ART Initiative promotes and supports the establishment of Decentralized Cooperation partnerships between regional and local communities from the North and South and South-South Cooperation partnerships for the development of specific initiatives. As a result of these efforts, more than 400 partnerships of this kind have been established within the ART Programmes and involve actors from countries such as Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Guatemala, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela, among others.Currently ART is active in the following countries: Albania, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Indonesia, Lebanon, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, Serbia, Sri Lanka. and Uruguay.

ART involves regional and local communities in development processes, and promotes a new type of multilateralism in which the UN system works with governments to secure the active participation of regional and local authorities, local communities and social stakeholders in the South and the North. The initiative was created in November 2004 through a partnership involving UNDP, ILO, UNESCO, UNIFEM, WHO and UNOPS, in collaboration with other UN Agencies.

ART brings together programmes and activities of several United Nations Agencies and promotes the establishment of concrete partnerships of decentralized cooperation between regions, communities, local and regional authorities and social actors from the private and associative sectors, from the South and North. It also administrates the funds mobilized by donors through the Trust Fund for "Innovative Partnerships with National Governments, Local Authorities, Private Sector, NGOs, Academic Institutions and Foundations", to promote human development and the achievement of the MDGs.

Structures of Coordination at national and local levels

1. At national level, the Framework-Programmes, which have an initial duration of three years, are managed by a National Co-ordination Committee(NCC), integrated by concerned representatives from the government, representatives of the United Nations agencies involved in the Programme, the Presidents of the Regional and/or Local Working Groups and the decentralized cooperation partners. The NCC leads the different projects and contributions towards a same unitary framework, considerably improving in this way the results and impact of international cooperation.

   The NCC identifies which regions in the country are to be involved in the Framework-Programme according to national priorities and the interest expressed by the donors involved. New regions which manifest their interest can be integrated according to the Programme's schedule.

2. At regional/local level, the Regional Working Groups (RWG) and the Local Working Groups (LWG) are integrated by public, associative and private actors of the territory, as well as representatives from the central structures of the State. The RWG/LWG, with the technical support of UNDP, organize Local Planning Cycles for the formulation of the Annual Action Plans, which describe the actions to be undertaken en favour of development, their coordination, implementation and monitoring, and define the use of the funds coming from the different donors. The Annual Action Plans converge into the Framework-Programmes' periodic National Operational Plan.

ART International

ART Scientific Committee of cooperation for human development, coordinated by UNESCO, promotes the Framework-Programmes in the countries and disseminates lessons and experiences at the international level in the area of human development and innovation. The Scientific Committee includes an international network of high public figures from the fields of science, culture and international cooperation.

ART International develops, through its specialized services, the following activities:

• Support to governments that wish to establish a Framework-Programme, by providing the necessary technical and organizational support; promotes South-South exchanges between countries involved in the Programmes; organizes international events and ensures the dissemination of information and documents; makes available technical assistance on the different areas of action, through its own personnel and by mobilizing centers of excellence.

• Technical, organizational and administrative support to local communities that wish to establish decentralized cooperation partnerships; dissemination of territorial marketing documents to local communities from the North and organization field visits.

• Specialized technical assistance to implement Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDA) and to link them in a network; that promotes partnerships between local economies that result in mutually beneficial productive projects, mixed enterprises, commercial and technological exchanges, and training activities for operators and entrepreneurs. This initiative is through ILS LEDA (International Liaison Services for Local Economic Development Agencies).

• Through IDEASS (Innovation for Development and South-South Cooperation)identification of important innovations for human development which are then disseminated in countries where the programmes are operating, in collaboration with national scientific institutions. In addition, the technical assistance of innovators is mobilized to actors transfer their innovations to interested countries through mechanisms of South-South and North-South cooperation.

• Specialized technical assistance in the area of basic health and welfare policies and practices, with a special focus on territorial services.

• Through UNIVERSITAS the promotion of exchanges between universities from the North and South. Art International supports their involvement in innovative practices of international cooperation for human development; it designs and offers university-level and training courses for people involved in the programmes; and it undertakes research to gather and disseminate knowledge about high-quality experiences.