Usaid Regional Trilateral Cooperation (Rtc) Activity Aid-596-To-16-00006

USAID REGIONAL TRILATERAL COOPERATION (RTC) ACTIVITY AID-596-TO-16-00006

Final Report August 1, 2016 – July 31, 2019

Submitted October 30, 2019

Home Office: International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. 8618 Westwood Center Drive, #400 Vienna, VA 22182

Project Office: Edificio FUSADES, Bulevar y Urbanización Santa Elena, Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador

DISCLAIMER This Final Performance Report was prepared by International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. (IBTCI) for review by the United States Agency for International Development. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS ...... 3 ACTIVITY OVERVIEW ...... 5 BACKGROUND ...... 5 RTC KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS ...... 6 SUSTAINABILITY OF RTC PROGRAMMING...... 12 DESCRIPTION OF TRILATERAL ACTIVITIES ...... 16 SELECT HIGH LEVEL RESEARCH ...... 44 PUBLICATIONS, EVALUATION, AND MEDIA ...... 44 Publications with DEC links ...... 44 Evaluation ...... 45 PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ...... 47 Performance Indicators: Targets versus Actuals: ...... 47 Life of Project Targets and Actual Results...... 48 Gender Considerations ...... 48 PROJECT INTERVENTIONS ...... 50 1. Trilateral Activities Completed ...... 50 2. Public Sector, Private Sector and Academic Partner Institutions in Recipient Countries ...... 57

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

ACRONYMS

AEO Authorized Economic Operator AFIP Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos de Chile AMEXCID Mexican Agency of Cooperation and Development APCI Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation ARSA Health Regulatory Agency from Honduras CAM Central America and Mexico CAPTAC-DR Technical Regional Assistance Center -Dominican Republic CASATIC Salvadoran Chamber of Information and Communication Technologies CEN Strategy U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America CITECCAL Centro de Innovación Tecnológica del Cuero Peru COMEX Ministerio de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica CONAIPD Consejo Nacional para la Atención Integral de Personas con Discapacidad CONAMYPE Comisión Nacional de la Micro y Pequeña Empresa (El Sal.) CONNA Consejo Nacional para la Niñez y la Adolescencia COR Contracting Officer’s Representative CSO Civil Society Organization DARA Dirección Adjunta de Rentas Aduaneras (Honduras) DEC Development Experience Clearinghouse DGA Dirección General de Aduanas (Costa Rica) DGA Dirección General de Aduanas (El Salvador.) DGII Dirección General de Impuestos Internos de El Salvador DIAN Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales de Colombia DMR Domestic Revenue Mobilization EC-LEDS Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies ETESA Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica, S.A. FPEMP Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management Program FUNDEMAS Fundación Empresarial para la Acción Social FUSADES Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social GOES Government of El Salvador IBTCI International Business & Technical Consultants, Inc. IDB Inter-American Development Bank IMF International Monetary Fund INSAFORP Instituto Salvadoreño de Formación Profesional IOM International Organization for Migration ISNA Institute for the Protection of Children ISRI Instituto Salvadoreño de Rehabilitación Integral JSSA Justice Sector Strengthening Activity LAC Latin America and the Caribbean LOP Life of Project

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

MEL Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning MINEC Ministerio de Economía MINED Ministerio de Educación MIREX Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (Dominican Republic) MOF Ministry of Finance MOU Memorandum of Understanding MTPS Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social NGO Non-Governmental Organization NT Northern Triangle OGP Open Government Partnership PDDH Procuraduría para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos PFM Public Financial Management PROCOMER Promotora de Comercio Exterior de Costa Rica RDCS Regional Development Cooperation Strategy RTC Regional Trilateral Cooperation SAG Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero SAT Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (Guatemala) SAT Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (México) SENA Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje SENASA National Health and Safety Service SETEPLAN Secretaría Técnica y Planificación SIECA Central America’s Economic Integration Secretariat SSC South-South Cooperation TEG Government Ethics Tribunal TLA Trilateral Activity UCA Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas UDB Universidad Don Bosco UFG Universidad Francisco Gavidia UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNHCR UN Refugee Agency UNICAES Universidad Católica de El Salvador USAID United States Agency for International Development USDA United States Department of Agriculture USG United States Government WEF World Economic Forum

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

ACTIVITY OVERVIEW

Task Order Number AID-596-TO-16-00006 Title USAID Regional Trilateral Cooperation (RTC) Activity Description: Based in San Salvador, the Regional Trilateral Cooperation (RTC) activity promotes South-South Cooperation (SSC) among Central American policy- makers and implementers engaged in activities of priority to USAID/Central America & Mexico (CAM), bilateral missions in Central America, and counterparts working in comparable areas in other LAC countries. RTC achieves this through designing and facilitating Trilateral Activities (TLAs) for Central American specialists to engage with other country counterparts in the LAC region.

Mission/Bureau Contracting USAID/El Salvador – Central América Mission Task Order: Period of Performance: August 1, 2016 – July 31, 2019 plus an Option Year

USAID Contracting Officer: Sonja Stroud-Gooden USAID Contracting Officer Annie de Valencia Representative: Ceiling Price: $5,620,555.46 Total Obligated $2,932,315.39

BACKGROUND

The USAID Regional Trilateral Cooperation (RTC) Activity provided support to build trilateral cooperation between the United States Government (USG), represented by USAID, provider countries (Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, and Uruguay -- the South-South Cooperation [SSC] countries in Latin America), and receiving countries (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, and Dominican Republic). Together, these entities supported technical expertise and knowledge transfer, while building and strengthening collaborative and sustainable intra-regional relationships.

The U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America (“the CEN Strategy”) targeted two high priority objectives: enhancing citizen security and development of prosperity in each of the four Central American countries, combined with regional integration. RTC proactively supported this over the three year life of contract, developing numerous trilateral activities (TLAs) that are all well integrated into the USAID Mission’s portfolio and contribute to the objectives of USAID’s regional and bilateral strategies in the LAC region.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

The accepted definitions guiding RTC programming included:

● Trilateral Cooperation: Involves partnerships between two or more developing countries – in this case from Latin America -- supported by a developed country (or countries) or multilateral organization(s) to implement development cooperation programs and interventions. ● South-South Cooperation (SSC): Involved establishment of meaningful and sustainable relationships between Latin American governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders, in order to enable the long-term exchange of resources, technology, and knowledge between developing countries, also known as countries of the Global South. SSC could take place on a bilateral, regional, sub-regional or inter-regional basis.

RTC strengthened USAID program results by leveraging technical contributions from SSC provider countries in Latin America to promote increased and more systemic trilateral cooperation so all actors would benefit from the relationships. The activity/project focused on facilitating government-to-government assistance where governmental sources can contribute technical assistance and useful development models. TLAs included the following types of exchanges: observational or study tours, facilitated workshops, conferences, and delegations of experts.

RTC underwent an external mid-term performance evaluation in late 2018. RTC’s third-party evaluator found that “the trilateral exchanges facilitated by RTC have produced several important benefits including knowledge gained and applied, and cooperative relationships strengthened or formed with counterparts in the recipient and provider countries. These relationships have mostly endured and providers and recipients expect them to continue to endure—at least as contingent assets, if not as ongoing, active relationships. As a mechanism for facilitating, incentivizing, and demonstrating the value of trilateral exchanges, RTC has been highly effective.” Results of that evaluation are described in more detail in this final report.

RTC KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS RTC worked closely with USAID to develop and carried out 47 TLAs in response to critical mission priorities. Two additional TLAs were planned but cancelled by USAID. TLAs fostered sustainable, cooperative relationships between country counterparts in a variety of public, private and non-profit sectors, including government agencies, manufacturing, public policy, civil society and academia.

This section below offers a snapshot of some of the key programmatic successes RTC facilitated to support USAID objectives related to regional trade, fiscal policy reform, justice sector strengthening and governance strengthening. Many of these trilateral efforts comprised several or more TLAs. Additionally, the RTC project worked with and/or impacted over 100 counterpart organizations in all eight Central American countries and Mexico through capacity building exercises and SSC relationship generation and leveraging, as seen in Annex 2: Public Sector, Private Sector and Academic Partner Institutions in Recipient Countries at the end of this report.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

During the design of the RTC activity, no one could have predicted the depth and breadth of the reach of USAID-backed SSC efforts that would be carried out over the three-year activity, described in detail below.

1. Central America Regional Border Management and Trade Facilitation

USAID supports full regional economic integration across the countries of Central America as a component of supporting the prosperity pillar in the CEN Strategy. This includes development of an efficient trading system to strengthen economies in the region and increase regional trade competitiveness.

There are many variables influencing a country’s ability to have an effective trading system, including infrastructure, modern information technology systems, transparent and predictable processes, solid border management, and harmonized regulations and standards for delivering products and services, including transport.

USAID assistance supports the prosperity pillar of the CEN Strategy by strengthening regional economic integration and trade under the following lines of action: Strengthening Central American Institutions, Promoting Trade Facilitation under Existing Free Trade Agreements, Linking Central America to an Integrated North America, and Promoting Transport and Customs/Border Integration.

Because the number of USG agencies and activities in the Northern Triangle (NT) is extensive, USAID determined that it is critical to work regionally around common trade facilitation and customs themes, including coordinated border management, risk management and border security, to ensure all related stakeholders understand the scope and expected results of USAID trade-focused interventions. To support this, RTC held the following 14 TLAs to support the Central America Regional Trade Facilitation and Expansion effort: 1. Border Management Academy Part I 2. Border Management Academy Part II 3. Regional Trade Facilitation: Public-Private Inspection Certification Part I 4. Regional Trade Facilitation: One Stop Shop Customs Border Crossings Part II 5. Regional Trade Facilitation: Authorized Economic Operators Part III 6. Regional Trade Facilitation: Customs Union Integration Part IV 7. Regional Trade Facilitation: Customs Risk Management Part V 8. Regional Trade Facilitation: Risk Management SIECA Part VI 9. Regional Trade Facilitation: U.S. Agricultural Product Export Law Equivalence Part VII 10. Regional Trade Facilitation: Risk Management Strategy Finalization Part VIII 11. Regional Trade Facilitation: US-Mexico Customs and Border Facility Part IX 12. Regional Trade Facilitation: Applying Information Technology Part X 13. Northern Triangle USG Technical Assistance Coordination Meeting on Trade Facilitation Border Management 14. Regional Trade Facilitation: Sanitary Product Registration

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

A key TLA was focused on supporting the new Northern Triangle Customs Union, which each country needs to implement to make NT customs offices function effectively. The TLA was designed to help participants understand in greater detail the extent of interventions happening across the region, at common ports of entry, and with and among common stakeholders (customs, internal revenue, migration, policy, agriculture) in order for the U.S. Government (USG) to foster greater programmatic and strategic coordination among the international cooperation agencies and partners at the national and regional levels.

There was also significant focus on border management, including the technical assistance coordination meeting between USG stakeholders and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

2. Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management

USAID supports Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management because efficient domestic revenue mobilization, equitable tax policy, public financial management and rigorous expenditure management are essential to ensuring fiscal discipline and encouraging operational effectiveness with a nation’s national budget creation and management processes.

Public Financial Management (PFM) is one of the most important functions of government and a pillar of efficient, transparent, and accountable service delivery and good governance. Efficient domestic revenue mobilization (DRM); fair, equitable and predictable tax policy and administration; and sound expenditure management, must be in place to promote fiscal discipline, policy-based resource allocation, and operational effectiveness.

The activities supported by USAID under its Public and Financial Management Program were part of the Improving Business Enabling Environment Project No. 519-0469 to advance the Mission’s Development Objective 2 (DO2): Economic Growth and Trade Expanded, including Intermediate Result (IR) 2.1 Business Enabling Environment Improved. Mission programming aimed at advancing the CEN Strategy by providing technical and policy assistance to the GOES to increase domestic revenue mobilization and contribute to the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle (A4P).

RTC held the following 10 TLAs to support Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management programming:

1. Fiscal Policy: Diagnosis of the Salvador Customs/Port System Part I 2. Fiscal Policy: Reverse Auctions and Public Procurement Part II 3. Fiscal Policy: Transfer Pricing Control System Part III 4. Fiscal Policy: Tax Collection and Anti-Corruption Part IV 5. Fiscal Policy: Simplified Tax System Part V 6. Fiscal Policy: International Public Sector Accounting Standards Part VI 7. Fiscal Policy: Single Taxpayer System Part VII 8. Fiscal Policy: Implementation of a modern Public Procurement System Part VIII 9. Fiscal Policy: Results Oriented Budget Part IX

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

10. Fiscal Policy: Cash Flow Models Part X

RTC implemented a series of TLAs to support Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management programming, including exchanges focused on simplifying national tax policies in El Salvador. RTC also facilitated a series of exchanges between the Ministry of Finance (MOF) of Argentina and the MOF of El Salvador. Argentina has historically had the most successful tax system in the region and its simplified method of taxing small businesses provided an illustrative example to the MOF of El Salvador.

3. Justice Sector Strengthening Activities The purpose of the Justice Sector Strengthening Activity (JSSA) was to support existing efforts and initiatives by the Government of El Salvador to satisfy the needs of its citizens through an efficient, coherent, and transparent justice system.

RTC planned to hold one TLA to support the Justice Sector Strengthening Activities, though it was cancelled by USAID: 1. High Risk Court Models

4. Reintegration of Retuning Migrants: Migration and reintegration are an ongoing concern for the countries of Central America as both their economic stability and security are threatened by a large influx of returnees coming from Mexico and the US. This topic is a critical priority focus for the USG in the region as immigration to the US is so impacted by Central American regional instability

RTC held the following TLA to support the reintegration of returning migrants: 1. IOM Regional Conference for Reintegration of Returning Migrants

RTC hosted this large, joint USAID/IOM regional conference for over 250 attendees, titled the Regional Encounter on the Reintegration of Immigrants. The conference included presentations and roundtable discussions involving various social actors from the countries that make up the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras).

5. Governance Strengthening

The USAID Mission and Embassy used RTC as a strategic tool to address governance strengthening, focused on issues related to ethics, civil service reform, citizen security and the reinsertion of youth.

RTC held or planned to hold the following TLAs to support Governance Strengthening Activities:

1. Open Government Partnership 2. Civil Service Reform/Merit-Based Models, Part 1 3. Civil Service Reform, Part II

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

4. Child Protection Strategy 5. Ethic Tribunal 6. Ethics Week 7. Tertiary Prevention 8. Integrity Evaluation and Control Center (with National Civilian Police)

A large focus of the Mission’s work in governance has been focused on reinsertion of youth who had left El Salvador back into Salvadoran society. Although politically challenging to address, USAID has continued to see reinsertion as a critical activity. USAID continued to reinvigorate collaboration among the countries to help El Salvador identify solutions for reducing recidivism in youth who are seeking to leave gangs or are in conflict with the law. USAID viewed the demobilization experience in Colombia as an opportunity for GOES decision and policy makers to learn and help develop a tertiary prevention policy for El Salvador.

To support the reinsertion objective, RTC worked directly with the Colombian Cooperation Agency and the Colombian Embassy in El Salvador to plan a Citizen Security TLA: Tertiary Prevention. In this TLA RTC established new relationships to bring together a cohort of over 20 Salvadorian thinkers, influencers, private sector and civil society leaders and public sector senior officials to ignite the contentious dialogue of re-insertion in hopes of ultimately bringing the law back on the table of discussion inside the Salvadoran Congress. To support this process, RTC facilitated several interactions amongst the cohort in order to establish and strengthen relationships among its members for Salvadorans to travel to Colombia and see firsthand the work, successes, and challenges of Agencia para la Reincorporación y la Normalización (ARN, Spanish acronym), the government agency responsible for the reintegration of guerillas fighters into Colombian society. This tertiary prevention cohort created by RTC was focused on working with USAID and effecting policy change in El Salvador to create a vision, policies, and activities for reinsertion of former gang members. Ultimately this Trilateral Activity was cancelled due to shifting US foreign policy.

RTC also played a key role in supporting the El Salvador Ethics Tribunal (TEG) and strengthening its steering role in Public Ethics. One of the main activities conducted was the establishment of the Modelo de Integridad Institucional (Institutional Integrity Model – under Governance Strengthening below), which the TEG proceeded to implement to establish values and integrity practices throughout its organization. The Institutional Integrity Model is a self-evaluation which implies a review of the institutional bylaws, its organization, organizational culture and the processes used in the different departments in areas such as transparency, ethics, accountability, citizen involvement, prevention, the fight against corruption and public efficiency.

6. Economic Competitiveness Economic competitiveness activities focused on enhancing the competitiveness of the Salvadoran economy

RTC held the following TLAs to support Economic Competitiveness Strengthening Activities:

1. E-Commerce

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

2. Innovation Ecosystem Ruta N Part I, Colombia 3. Innovation Ruta N Part II 4. Innovation Roadmap Part III 5. Innovation and Entrepreneur Ecosystem in Chile 6. C-Labs (Research only) 7. Footwear Technology I 8. Footwear Technology II 9. Footwear Technology III 10. Puentes I Youth Workforce 11. Puentes II People with Disabilities 12. Puentes III Workforce Development

RTC implemented numerous TLAs that focus on strengthening the public and private sectors, as well as the academia . For example, RTC was asked to put together several interactions between the Salvadorian Legislative Assembly’s Economic Commission, relevant stakeholders from the innovation and e-commerce spaces and three e-commerce experts from Argentina and Colombia. This dialogue proved to be essential and spoke directly to the US Government’s current foreign policy directives in the region. The funds focused on igniting the Salvadorian economy as a way of reducing illegal immigration.

RTC was also asked to conduct research in the area of Competitiveness Labs in order to assess whether or not their establishment would assist the government and private sector in a combined effort to breathe life into the currently sunken Salvadorian economy. RTC found that, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the results of the Global Competitiveness Index 2017- 2018 show that El Salvador was ranked 109 out of 137 nations assessed and it occupied the last place in Central America. Problems included a lack of investment in the structural factors of competitiveness, such as investment in human capital, infrastructure, innovation, and the movement towards more formal institutions. These factors, combined with the deterioration of the investment climate, affected confidence in the predictability of public policies and the increase in crime and corruption. Other Latin American countries promoted agendas to improve productivity and competitiveness, which led to greater economic growth, increased job availability, and poverty reduction which all in turn lead to increased migration, a critical current foreign policy priority of the United States.

The USAID Projects of Higher Education for Economic Growth, Economic Competitiveness and Youth Entrepreneurship in Industry worked in concert to contribute to the creation of an Eco- system of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in El Salvador as an approach to promote economic growth and competitiveness of the private sector. In order to increase the capacity of this ecosystem a SSC TLA was facilitated allowing for a delegation of 25 members of the Salvadorian private, public, civil society and academic sectors to gain exposure to the same ecosystem in Chile with the intention of facilitating a transfer of knowledge and best practices.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

7. Environmental Strengthening USAID is supporting efforts to improve the environment in Central America because with access to affordable and reliable energy, comes economic development and reduced migration pressures. Additionally, stable electricity costs will increase economic competitiveness.

RTC supported and organized regional activities to support the Environment and provided technical assistance and training to Central American countries and Dominican Republic (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Dominican Republic) in the following subjects: 1. Low Emission Cattle Farming 2. Electricity Market System Strengthening 3. Natural Gas

The USAID-funded project, Low Emission Cattle Farming, implemented in Costa Rica, was part of the Enhancing Capacity for Low-Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) program under the President (Obama) Global Climate Change Initiative. This support produced excellent achievements that are useful and applicable to Central America, and in particular to the Northern Triangle countries.

The objective of Electricity Market System Strengthening and Natural Gas TLAs were intended to increase access to low-cost, reliable energy in Central America. These TLAs supported the CEN Strategy, the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity and supported the development of national natural gas markets and deployment of commercial natural gas projects in Central America, by sharing U.S. and Mexican best practices and expertise. This collaboration between AMEXCID and the USG supported Central American economic prosperity by facilitating efforts to increase reliance on natural gas and Electricity Markets, lowering electricity costs and dependency on imported oil.

In Central America, countries have largely secured domestic energy supplies, but also high electricity prices continue to hurt competitiveness. Some Central American countries also face oil import dependency, a high dependence on hydropower that is susceptible to climate variations and droughts, low credit ratings, small markets, and limited access to finance – all leading to difficulty in attracting private investment.

SUSTAINABILITY OF RTC PROGRAMMING RTC integrated sustainability planning into the design of its SSC activities, largely through its focus on building relationships across institutions, organizations, countries and Central American professionals; and through the transfer of knowledge, skills and critical tools that Central American professionals can apply on the job and in their professions.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Prospects for Sustainability are Highlighted in the Mid-Term Evaluation as described below:

The Mid-Term external evaluation of RTC carried out by Mendez England and Associates in late 2018 focused on measuring prospects for the sustainability of RTC’s interventions. Results were overwhelmingly positive, particularly related to the relationships and partnerships established and application of new knowledge to affect change. Related findings and conclusions from the evaluation include:

● “Relationships strengthened or formed during trilateral exchanges would not likely have occurred otherwise.”

● “Trilateral exchange participants have leveraged Summary of RTC Mid-Term their relationships formed during trilateral Evaluation exchanges to further establish relationships and commitments, update laws and regulations, share “The evaluation concludes that the information, strengthen their institution’s and trilateral exchanges facilitated by RTC partners’ capacity, and implement innovations.” have produced several important benefits including knowledge gained and ● “Trilateral exchange participants have maintained applied, and cooperative relationships the new relationships they formed during the strengthened or formed with trilateral exchanges for at least six months, and counterparts in the recipient and they are confident that they will maintain them provider countries. These relationships over time….The evidence does not allow a have mostly endured and providers and conclusion that these relationships will be recipients expect them to continue to maintained over the long term; however, trilateral endure—at least as contingent assets, if exchange participants are confident that they will not as ongoing, active relationships.” be.” ● “About three-fourths of respondents said that they would not have or “probably” would not have strengthened or formed the same or similar relationships without RTC.”

Evaluation respondents were asked about their confidence that new relationships would be sustained. Responses were overwhelmingly positive. “87.5 percent said that it was either “likely” (27.1 percent), “very likely” (37.5 percent), or “certain” (22.9 percent) that they would maintain those relationships over the long term (Table 1).

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Table 1: Likelihood of Sustaining Cooperative Relationships Strengthened or Formed as a Result of USAID-Facilitated Trilateral Exchanges (N=48)

Source: Mid-Term Evaluation Survey In the Mid-Term evaluation survey, the majority of respondents stated that they were applying their new knowledge, training and relationships to affect change. As illustrated in Table 2 below, “the majority of trilateral exchange beneficiaries shared the knowledge they acquired during the exchanges with others both inside (86 percent) and outside (60 percent) their organization; implemented the new knowledge in their job (78 percent); or promoted changes within their organization (56 percent). Notably, almost no beneficiaries indicated being unwilling or unable to apply the new knowledge in any way. Those who have yet to apply their new knowledge noted that they either plan to apply it or may apply it in the future. Finally, 56.0 percent and 38.0 percent of beneficiaries, respectively, have solicited help from, or provided help to, people they met during the trilateral exchanges.” Table 2: Table How Trilateral Exchange Beneficiaries Have Applied New Knowledge (N=50)

No No No Don’t Hindrance/Barrier And But But Yes N/A Know Won’t Might Will Shared knowledge in my organization 0.0% 0.0% 4.0% 86.0% 10.0% 0.0% Implemented knowledge in my job 0.0% 2.0% 10.0% 78.0% 8.0% 2.0% Maintained contact with people I met 0.0% 16.0% 12.0% 66.0% 6.0% 0.0% Shared knowledge outside my organization 0.0% 20.0% 10.0% 60.0% 8.0% 2.0% Promoted changes in my organization 2.0% 8.0% 16.0% 56.0% 10.0% 8.0% Solicited help from people I met 2.0% 18.0% 10.0% 56.0% 10.0% 4.0% Promoted political changes 2.0% 24.0% 16.0% 34.0% 4.0% 20.0% Provided help to people I met 0.0% 28.0% 14.0% 38.0% 8.0% 12.0% Source: Mid-Term Evaluation Survey

Examples of RTC Relationships Already Being Sustained: The Mid-Term Evaluation identified a number of RTC collaborative relationships that are already providing to be sustainable. These include: ● “Participation in the Civil Service Reform trilateral exchanges … has led to ongoing, formalized forms of cooperation building on what was achieved during the trilateral exchange.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

● “The series of Ruta N/Roadmap trilateral exchanges (part of the Higher Education for Economic Growth and Economic Competitiveness trilateral effort) is another example of participants appearing to have established long-term collaborative relationships or making efforts to do so.”

● “The Ministry of Finance (MOF) leveraged the knowledge it acquired from participating in the Tax Collection and Anti-Corruption trilateral exchange, part of the Fiscal Policy trilateral effort implemented with the Fiscal Policy and Expenditure Management Program, to execute a number of administrative and legal reforms. Its Investigative Intelligence Unit and Transparency and Anti-Corruption Unit refined the investigations/research and verification processes with better procedural guarantees for investigating growth of capital/assets by public servants. The ministry further improved its risk management process by establishing more assertive penalties for public officials’ criminal/corruptive behavior, redefined and reclassified actions subjected to penalization, developed more efficient tax collection processes (based on a platform shared by Colombia during the exchange) and is working with its Communications Unit to establish an electronic mechanism for submitting complaints through a system that protects complainants’ integrity. Finally, the MOF revised a proposal for the new National Tax Strategy, currently awaiting congressional approval.”

● “Another example of emerging cooperation is in the area of open government where participants in the Open Government Partnership Trilateral Exchange Activity …. have drawn on relationships established during the Open Government Conference in Argentina to improve the GOES’ open government web platform.

● “The Sanitary Registration Trilateral Exchange Activity, part of the Regional Trade Facilitation trilateral effort, is another example of the exchange leading to more structured, ongoing collaboration efforts. “

● “ARSA contacted its counterpart at the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA), which also participated in the Sanitary Registration trilateral exchange activity, and the two have entered into conversations about doing a joint cooperation project in 2019. The cooperation agreement entered into by the Salvadoran and Guatemalans customs agencies described in Section 4.4.1 is another of how participation in a trilateral exchange has contributed to formalized, ongoing cooperation between participant counterpart organizations.”

● “In two cases, trilateral exchange participation contributed to forming productive cooperative relationships between beneficiary country counterparts. For example, the U.S.- Mexico Customs and Border Facility trilateral exchange activity—part of the Regional Trade Facilitation trilateral effort—helped forge closer ties between the Customs Directorates in El Salvador and Guatemala, including drafting an agreement on a detailed cooperation plan between the two agencies.”

Sustainability over the Long-Term: The greatest potential challenge to long-term sustainability of RTC activities, as identified by the evaluation team, relates to continued support from host country leadership. As stated in the report, “Lack of financing, advanced technologies, and capacities and political support from

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

higher-level government officials are important hindrances/barriers to applying newly transferred knowledge.” Additionally, long-term sustainability of foreign assistance interventions can only be fully captured over many years, which won’t be possible in the case of RTC which ended on July, 31, 2019. Nonetheless, there is little double that given many new relationships were created, knowledge has been gained and applied, and institutional changes have already occurred, that many RTC benefits will be sustained over the long term.

DESCRIPTION OF TRILATERAL ACTIVITIES (Listed in chronological order)

1. Regional Trade Facilitation: Public-Private Inspection Certification Part I; November 27 – December 3, 2016

A Chilean delegation visited Honduras for the week of November 27 – December 3, 2016 through the USDA PAPA program to instruct National Health and Safety Service (SENASA) technicians on public-private certification for export crops – 19 technicians participated.

2. Regional Trade Facilitation: One-Stop Shop Customs Border Crossings Part II March 14 – 16, 2017

The AMEXCID/SIECA-sponsored workshop for customs border crossings was held in Guatemala City at the Central America’s Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA) training center, from March 14 – 16, 2017. Four Mexican government officials conducted a three-day session attended by over 25 persons. Attendees represented their custom office or one-stop window service and came from Central America, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. This event was under the auspices of the El Salvador Economic Growth office regional program. The Mexican instructors all worked for Mexican Customs in their one-stop window unit and were very knowledgeable and presented real life examples and hands-on experiences which created open discussions on setting up and operating one-stop Customs windows (ventanilla única). This proved to be an excellent first workshop in a series of five.

3. Fiscal Policy: Diagnosis of the Salvador Customs/Port System Part I; March 14-22, 2017

A Colombian customs expert carried out a two-week diagnostic of the Salvador customs/port system from March 13-22, 2017. He carried out field diagnostics and held training sessions at the Central Office, airport and the major land borders/crossings. Over 20 persons from different sectors and areas participated in the diagnostic and subsequent hands-on training.

4. Fiscal Policy: Transfer Pricing Control System Part III; May 7 -12, 2017 Three representatives from the Salvadorian Ministry of Finance’s Tax Authority participated in a TLA to Argentina to engage in a capacity exchange activity with the Argentine Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) by gleaning experiences in transfer pricing control systems implementation. The meetings and training sessions focused on information systems and the methodology used and developed for the analysis of transfer pricing studies, the evaluation

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

techniques used in the transfer pricing studies, the practical analysis of application of transfer pricing methods in the tax assessment process.

5. Integrity Evaluation and Control Center PNC; May 8-11, 2017

Nine participants affiliated with the National Civilian Police (PNC, Spanish acronym) took part in briefings and visited three evaluation centers in Mexico (two in Mexico City and one in Queretaro) to study best practices and determine how best to develop a functioning evaluation center in El Salvador. The group was able to see firsthand how an evaluation center functions including types of examinations, daily capacity of the center, center budgets, and troubleshooting exams. The group was briefed on the creation of each center, legal authority, and disposition of those who do not pass one or more tests. The intent of the tour was to ensure that PNC (National Civil Police) can establish this type of center in El Salvador.

6. Fiscal Policy: Tax Collection and Anti-Corruption Part IV; May 16 -19, 2017

In order to systematically decrease tax arrears, El Salvador needs to implement a tax arrears enforcement collection system. Additionally, to decrease corruption in tax and treasury authorities, the transparency and anticorruption office of the MOF of El Salvador needs to be strengthened by learning from experiences of others. The Ministry of Finance tax authorities were hosted by the Tax and Customs National Administration of Colombia (DIAN in Spanish). The tax arrears participants learned about legal powers in regard to administrative tax collection, persuasive and coercive collection methods and information systems for tax arrears management.

7. Fiscal Policy: Simplified Tax System Part V; May 18 -20, 2017

Three Salvadorian Ministry of Finance tax officers, a representative from the Salvadorian Commission of Micro and Small Enterprises (CONAMYPE) and a businesswomen from Voces Vitales (private sector) met with representatives from Colombia’s Tax and Customs National Administration in a technical capacity building activity where the Salvadorian delegation gained first-hand insights into the Colombian international experience in the implementation of a Simplified Tax System (STS).

8. Fiscal Policy: Reverse Auctions and Public Procurement Part II; May 23 – 29, 2017

Three experts from the Peruvian Public Procurement Ombudsman (OSCE) and Peruvian Public Procurement Central (PERUCOMPRAS) offices met with authorities from the Salvadorian Regulatory Unit for Procurement and Contracting. The experts carried out a diagnosis of the areas in which the unit should be strengthened in order to secure a proper implementation of reverse auction and framework agreements in public procurement. A reverse auction is a type of auction in which the traditional roles of buyer and seller are reversed. Thus, there is one buyer, in this case the Government of El Salvador, and many potential sellers. The importance of this is in an ordinary auction, buyers compete to obtain goods or services by offering increasingly higher prices whereas in a reverse auction, governments are able to flip the roles allowing goods and service providers to compete, therefore reducing the cost to the government. Training and discussions attended by over 25 staff focused on the diagnosis and the revision of the legal

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

proposals and the identification of possible software development strategies for reverse auction and framework agreements implementation.

9. Regional Trade Facilitation: Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) Part III; May 29 – June 1, 2017

Over 35 participants from the Mesoamerican region were present for all three days of this activity. Each country’s representative gave presentations on the current status of their countries’ AEOs. The workshop used the examples of Mexico, Colombia and Dominican Republic, which are most advanced in AEOs. The US representative from the Customs Border Authority provided comments throughout the workshop. Of particular interest was the panel on the last day (attended by an additional 20 participants at the workshop and over 110 through a webinar) with private sectors represented by Avon of Guatemala, Abbott Laboratories of Costa Rica, Dulces Amilcardi from Colombia, Delphi automotive of Mexico and Almotrans Marítimo Dominicano from the Dominican Republic.

10. Regional Trade Facilitation: Customs Union Integration Part IV; July 24-28, 2017

The purpose of the meeting between the high-level delegations of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala was to integrate El Salvador into the Customs Union previously signed and launched by Guatemala and Honduras. Salvadoran authorities learned of the customs union process and the benefits it would bring to the country - to reduce time and costs across borders, increasing trade among the three countries, generating jobs and boosting the economy. Over 75 people attended this conference, 40 of them funded by RTC.

11. Regional Trade Facilitation: Customs Risk Management Part V; July 29-August 3, 2017

A Mexican customs expert gave a presentation at the IMF risk management workshop in Costa Rica.

12. Fiscal Policy: International Public Sector Accounting Standards Part VI; August 15-19, 2017

Two members of MOF attended a conference/workshop in Panama to learn how to implement the International Public Sector Accounting Standards.

13. Innovation Ecosystem: RUTA N Part I; September 4-9, 2017

The objective of this TLA was to learn best practices that have been successfully implemented by “Medellin’s Route N” focusing on how they effectively work and connect government and universities with companies to solve their challenges, through this innovation center model that offers different platforms to link academic, public and productive sectors. 27 participants from the El Salvador private and public sectors, academia, plus USAID and USAID project staff, went on the tour and 17 participants were funded by RTC. In addition, representatives from the Ministry of Economy (MINEC), Vice Minister for Science and Technology and representatives

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report from the private sector traveled to Colombia to learn about best practices that have been successfully utilized by institutions within the Innovation Ecosystem in Medellin, Colombia, particularly the experience of Ruta N, Roadmap and other similar group.

14. Fiscal Policy: Single Taxpayer System (Monotributo) Part VII; October 22-26 2017

This TLA was designed to contribute to improving the business-enabling environment of El Salvador. RTC took executives from the MoF of El Salvador to visit Argentina in coordination with AFIP for these authorities to learn and leverage the Argentinian experience in the implementation and administration of a Small Taxpayer System that follows international best practices. A proposed new Salvadorian tax system was created based on relationships and lessons learned during this TLA which simplifies tax compliance for micro and small businesses, helping them to enter into the formal economy and increase GOES revenues, among other social and economic benefits. As of writing this report that new Tax Law was being debated by El Salvador Ministry of Finance representatives and their CONAMYPE and the MoF and is expected to be counterparts in Argentina during the workshop presented to Congress for consideration.

15. Fiscal Policy and Expenditure management: Implementation of a modern Public Procurement System Part VIII November 6 – 11, 2017

The USAID Domestic Resource Mobilization Project, in coordination with the State Procurement and Contracting Agency (ACCE, in Spanish) from Uruguay, organized a study tour for three authorities of the Salvadoran MOF where they learned about the Uruguayan experience in the implementation of a modern Public Procurement System that follows international best practices. This study tour’s objective was for the authorities of the MOF to learn from the Uruguayan experience about the implementation of a modern procurement system, based on a capable vendor’s registration, electronic reverse auction, effective public procurement policies and transactional electronic system.

16. Regional Trade Facilitation: US Department of Agriculture Product Export Law Equivalence Part VII; November 13-18, 2017

As part of a cooperation agreement between the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and USAID, RTC put forth equivalency training in Colombia from November 6-11, 2017. The Equivalence Process focuses on determining whether a country’s food safety inspection system achieves food safety and inspection services and appropriate level of public health protection that is applied within the US. This is a critical to ensure that the Latin American countries have food safety standards and processes to allow their agricultural products to be exported to the US.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

This is particularly important given that according to El “This training provided Central Salvador’s Central Reserve Bank, in 2016 29.9% - 42.4% American and Caribbean agricultural of Central American countries’ combined agricultural regulators from Honduras, El exports were destined for the United States market, Salvador, Guatemala, the Dominican making the US the region’s main commercial partner. Republic, and Panama with required training in the USDA management This training provided Central American and Caribbean system in which food safety is agricultural regulators from Honduras, El Salvador, addressed through the analysis and Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Panama with control of biological, chemical and physical hazards from raw material required training in the USDA management system in production, procurement and which food safety is addressed. Training focused on the handling, to manufacturing, analysis and control of biological, chemical and physical distribution and consumption of the hazards from raw material production, procurement finished product.” and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product. Two of the USDA trainers were the same USDA officials responsible for reviewing the equivalence process for all five countries, ensuring vital relationships were created amongst all stakeholders involved in the exportation process while the Central America and Caribbean regulators could exchange lessons learned. The Latin American government officials also had the opportunity to meet the actual USDA inspectors tasked with reviewing, inspecting and approving food safety inspection for their respective countries.

17. Regional Trade Facilitation: Risk Management SIECA Part VI; November 13-18, 2017 From November 13-18, RTC organized a Regional Trade Facilitation Trilateral Effort collaborating with AMEXCID, Central America’s Economic Integration Secretariat (SIECA), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and USAID. The TLA workshop was designed to support Central American customs officials and Customs Directors in the development and implementation of a Risk Management System to promote a more effective, predictable and transparent inspection system at the border. The main results will be a measurable reduction of Opening Ceremony with SIECA, AMEXICD and SAT physical inspections and therefore a reduction in representatives time spent and costs crossing borders.

18. Risk Management Strategy Finalization Part VIII December 4-6, 2017

Twelve people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panamá Belize and the Dominican Republic attended this study tour. The risk management workshop took place in Queretaro, and Mexico City, and was the third of a series of five regional trade facilitation workshops that USAID, in partnership with SIECA, AMEXCID and Plan Mesoamerica implemented in FY 2017 and 2018.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

In preparation for Mexico`s Risk Management workshop there was a prior workshop supported and financed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The goal for this prior workshop was to define a Regional Integrated Risk Management Strategy, with the participation of Customs Directors and risk management experts in the region.

19. Puentes 1: Workforce Development; November 13-19, 2017

The security situation in El Salvador deeply affects the nation’s economic development. Salvadorian youth living in municipalities with high crime rates have twice the chance of being unemployed than the rest of the population. With 16-29 year old’s comprising more than half of the population, according to USAID, the trajectory of El Salvador’s development greatly depends on the labor market’s ability to absorb the growing working-age population and the ability of youth to choose viable options for employment. As a result, RTC developed a TLA that took Salvadoran participants that assist youth in workforce development to Bogota, Colombia. The SSC was designed to learn about successful Opening ceremony of the conference strategies for Workforce Development and employment by visiting Colombia’s National Training Service (SENA) as well as Fundación Corona, a Colombian civil society organization aimed at increasing opportunities for youth in the workforce. Critical relationships were established between INSAFORP, El Salvador’s public training entity, and SENA.

Salvadorian participants came from organizations that included INSAFORP, CasaTIC, Asociación Fe y Alegría, Servicio Social Pasionista, FUNDEMAS, CONAMYPE and Fundación Rafael Meza Ayau along with staff from the Bridges project and USAID.

20. Open Government Partnership; November 18 - 23, 2017

From November 18 to 23, 2017, five GOES representatives attended the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The purpose of this intervention was to support the advancement of open government standards and practices across a selection of government institutions and create relationships amongst the Argentina Institute of Access to Public Information, TEG, and senior leaders of the Ministry of Public Works.

OGP organizes biennial regional meetings where government, civil society, and private sector representatives come together to exchange ideas on how to advance OGP objectives in the region on multiple levels, and, more importantly, on how to continue opening their governments for a transformative impact on citizens’ lives. The November meeting was the foremost event for regional exchange on open government success stories, new standards, and best practices.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

El Salvador joined OGP in 2011 and since then has launched four action plans with commitments ranging from transparency reforms, accountability in the health and education sectors and better institutional coordination in the fight against corruption. While the commitments have been moderately ambitious, effective implementation continues to be a challenge. A number of commitments in each of the submitted action plans have remained unfinished or have lagged significantly from expected results. Moreover, the multi-stakeholder collaborative dialogue has stalled in recent implementation cycles, due mainly to limited participation from government actors beyond the executive branch, and modest leadership from civil society organizations.

21. Low-Emission Cattle Farming; November 27–December 2, 2017

The USAID-funded project in Costa Rica, Low- Emission Cattle Farming has produced excellent results that are useful and applicable to Central America and in particular to the Northern Triangle countries. The project identified Climate Smart Cattle Practices, which in addition to increasing productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, RTC developed a TLA to share successes from the Low Emission Cattle Farming project as well as advancements in cattle Participants from Low-Emission Cattle Farming practices in Costa Rica with livestock during the field trip stakeholders from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. These stakeholders included government officers from the Ministries of Agriculture and Livestock, plus technicians and researchers from academic and extension organizations and cattle farmers.

22. Regional Trade Facilitation: US-Mexico Customs and Border Facility Part IX; January 29 – February 2, 2018

RTC partnered with the Mexican Agency of Cooperation and Development (AMEXCID) in the design and implementation of a TLA to address another vital piece of US Government strategy in Latin America, which is the facilitation of trade. As trade increases, jobs are generated, employment levels increase, security issues decrease and migration decreases in turn. This activity was the fifth in a series creating this Trilateral Effort building towards the creation of meaningful SSC related specifically to border management procedures and trade facilitation best practices. Despite increased trade with the U.S. resulting from the implementation of CAFTA-DR, obstacles remain to full regional economic integration that would boost the economies of the region and increase regional trade competitiveness.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

The purpose of this visit was to train Central American customs officials on the importance of integrated border management between their nations and how to coordinate inspections among border control agencies to reduce costs and time to cross borders, therefore facilitating trade. The participants were able to build critical, sustainable relationships among regional trade partners and study first-hand lessons learned in the previous trade facilitation workshops developed under this Trilateral Effort in partnership with SIECA, AMEXCID and Plan Mesoamerica.

RTC focused on the establishment of practitioner relationships to discuss specific topics of interest and challenges related to day- to-day operations of core border work streams that included risk management and intelligence, border operations, and senior leadership/border management. Recipient countries included: Participants observing the evaluation Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, process of food at the border Nicaragua 1 , Costa Rica, Panamá, Dominican Republic, Belize, and Colombia. Co-funded by the New Zealand Cooperation, participants included the Central America and Belize Customs Directors, New Zealand customs experts, SIECA Director and Central American customs officials. In one instance, RTC coordinators created an informal sit-down between the Salvadorian, Guatemalan and Mexican Directors of Customs in order to ignite a dialogue regarding the significant issues that plague the very challenged Guatemalan/Salvadorian border crossing with the intention that the Mexican Customs Director could assist them in working through their issues and provide practical solutions to help ease the trade stoppages at that border. The meeting, intended Participants observing the end to be a 30-minute kick-off conversation just to create the to end cargo shipments at the relationships, ended up lasting several hours behind closed doors. US-Mexico border 23. Electricity Market Systems Strengthening; March 15–16, 2018

1Nicaraguans’ participation was funded by New Zealand 23

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

AMEXCID, RTC, and the Mexican Secretariat of Energy (SENER) held the workshop titled, “Operation of the Wholesale Electricity Market.” The purpose of the workshop was for Electricity Ministers and their teams to attend a technical forum focused on connecting electricity markets within the Commission of Electrical Inter-Connection’s

(CIEMS) partner nations of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama. This workshop resulted in a regional understanding of similarities and differences between the various electricity SENER Secretariat Director, USAID Mexico markets and strengthened technical relationships between Representative and Minister of International the ETESA Director of Panama, the Representative of El Affairs from Mexico during the opening Salvador’s Hydroelectric Executive Commission of the Lempa River, the Minister of Energy of Guatemala, the Vice Minister of Environment and representatives of the electricity markets throughout Central America.

24. Child Protection Strategy Meeting; March 20, 2018

The care and repatriation of migrant children between Mexico and Northern Triangle countries is a high-profile and complex issue. While international protocols exist, applications of those standards are inconsistent to the detriment of the children involved. Additionally, the care of children in protective custody in all four NT countries does not meet the requirements of international law or the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Given the thousands of children who circulate within the countries of Central America alone each year within and between child protective entities, improvements in child protection are vital to ensuring that these children are safe, healthy, and their basic rights are ensured. In light of this critical priority area of the USG, RTC was asked to create a cohort of child protection stakeholders to address these important gaps in the existing system. The first activity of this TLA was held on March 20th, 2018 and was designed to ignite a national-level discussion on how El Salvador can protect returnee immigrant children with a particular focus on unaccompanied minors.

TLA objectives:

1. Identify best practices and increased knowledge about repatriating children 2. Strengthen South-South Cooperation relationships between migration authorities in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico 3. Identify obstacles to implementing existing care and repatriation protocols 4. Form intra- and inter- Country Coordination Mechanisms for all involved actors 5. Formulate/identify training needs and available programs for those involved in child protection in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Participants included the wife of the Vice President and Director of El Salvador’s Institute for the Protection of Children (ISNA), the Director of El Salvador’s National Counsel for Childhood and Adolescents (CONNA), various youth court judges, IOM, and representatives of civil society that included senior church leaders who often play a critical role in the protection of children.

25. Citizen Security: Tertiary Prevention

a. Strategy Meeting; April 4, 2018 RTC organized an informative strategy breakfast for the Tertiary Prevention Cohort in order to strengthen the relationships between these society influencers and legislative leaders towards the continued end-of-discussion around the Re-Insertion law. Using RTC as a strategic tool to address Citizen Security, one of the most critical interests of the USG in El Salvador, the USAID Mission Director and US Ambassador initiated a TLA to address the national issue of Tertiary Prevention. Participants included the USAID Mission Director, USAID Deputy Mission Participants during the breakfast Director, USAID Senior Citizen Security Advisor and their senior leadership staff, the President of El Diario de Hoy (one of El Salvador’s national newspapers), head of the Stock Exchange, prominent private sector businessmen and women, National Assembly Advisors, the Vice minister of Social Prevention, Congressmen of the National Assembly from each major political party, the Deputy Secretary of Governance and senior leadership from the Presidential Secretariat.

b. Speakers Meeting; May 22, 2018

As the second activity in the Tertiary Prevention TLA series, RTC organized another meeting of the cohort for the Tertiary Prevention initiative on May 22nd in San Salvador. Speakers at this event included world-renowned gang expert Guillermo Céspedes from Creative Associates International, who talked about prevention and intervention models based on family systems. The Office of Juvenile Development and Gang Violence Reduction in Los Angeles also presented a model project. In addition, the GOES SETEPLAN during his speech to the audience attendees from the Speakers Meeting were also joined by the Vice minister of Social Prevention and the Deputy Secretary of Governance and Communication.

Ultimately, the larger Tertiary Prevention TLA planned by RTC was cancelled by USAID after these two one-day meetings.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

26. Fiscal Policy: Cash Flow Models Part X; April 10–13, 2018

From April 10th - 13th 2018, RTC coordinated with the Argentine Ministry of Finance to organize a TLA to take three high-ranking authorities of the Salvadoran MOF to Buenos Aires. They learned about the Argentinian General Treasury experience in the development of cash flows projection models required to design an effective national budget. This public financial management TLA addressed one of USAID’s key priorities of establishing efficient, transparent, and accountable service delivery and good governance in target countries. This TLA also strengthened relationships between the Director of the Treasury General Directorate, the Treasury General Directorate Programming and Statistics Chief and the statistics technicians of El Salvador’s Ministry of Finance with their El Salvador Ministry of Finance representatives and the COP of DAI during Argentine equivalents. the workshop

27. IOM Regional Conference for Reintegration of Returning Migrants; May 8–9, 2018

Migration and reintegration are an ongoing concern for the countries of Central America as both their economic stability and security are threatened by a large influx of returnees coming from Mexico and the US. This topic is a critical priority focus for the USG in the region as immigration to the US is so impacted by Central American regional instability.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

In response to requests from the USAID Mission Director and US Ambassador to address this critical issue, RTC was asked to coordinate with IOM to host the “Regional Encounter on Reintegration of Migrants.”

The purpose of the IOM Conference was to ignite a regional dialogue around the following

critical issues: 1. Build critical relationships needed to design effective strategies for From left to right: Ms. Jean E. Manes (United States managing migration Ambassador), Mr. Mauricio R. Landaverde (Minister of 2. Identify where weaknesses, gaps Justice and Public Security of ESA), Mrs. Barbara Feinstein (USAID Assistant Deputy Administrator for and challenges exist in the Latin America and the Caribbean) and Mr. Jorge present system Peraza (Chief of Mission IOM NTCA) 3. Plan seeds for the development of national and regional level policies to address migration 4. Assist Northern Triangle Countries in effectively coping with increasing numbers of returnees and deportees 5. Analyze current migratory trends between countries 6. Provide guidance to inform appropriate response strategies

Facilitated panel discussions included the following: 1. Reflections on the Reintegration of Retuned Immigrants 2. Human Mobility, Security and Communities 3. Impact of Remittances 4. Profiles of Returning Immigrants 5. UNHCR: Durable Solutions, Guiding Principles and Returnees 6. UNDP: Sustainable Development Goals in Reintegration Programs 7. Perspective of Returnees: Real Life Experiences, Expectations and Concerns 8. Reintegration: “A Global Perspective, IOM Experience” 9. Initiatives of the Governments of the Northern Triangle in Reintegration: Lessons Learned, Good Practice and Alliances 10. Lessons Learned and Institutional Efforts for Reintegration in other countries 11. Perspectives of the Academic Community

The Regional Encounter also included the following facilitated thematic panels: 1. Migration and Health (Psycho-Social Attention) 2. Certification and Studies Validation 3. Stigmatization of Returnees and Social Cohesion

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

4. Migration and Work

Delegation at IOM Regional Conference on Reintegration

This conference included the Salvadorian Minister of Justice, the Ambassador of the United States to El Salvador, the Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America from USAID, the Ambassador of Guatemala to El Salvador, representatives from USAID Honduras and USAID Guatemala, and many others, totaling 253 relevant migration actors from throughout Latin America. Participants came from immigration stakeholder agencies across the private sector, civil society, academia and the public sector to include the Salvadorian Directorate General of Migration and Foreign Affairs, El Salvador’s Public Defender’s Office, Salvadorian Industrial Association, the Salvadoran National Institute for the Protections of Children and Adolescents, CONMIGRANTES, El Salvador’s Small to Medium Enterprise Association, El Salvador’s National Counsel for Childhood and Adolescents, the World Bank, the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, World Vision, Creative Associates International, Glasswing International, Doctors Without Borders, FLACSO, the German Cooperation Agency for Development, UNDP, Embassy of Ecuador, Executive Technical Unit of El Salvador, the Salvadorian Ministry of Health, FOSALUD, Honduras’ Directorate for Childhood Adolescents and Family, and various private banks who assist in managing remittances like Davivienda, Agrícola Bank and Fomento Agropecuario Bank.

28. Natural Gas; May 16-17, 2018

This TLA was a result of the joint US and Mexico foreign policy partnership that was laid out at the 2017 Miami Conference on Prosperity and Security in Central America. In this TLA, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs collaborated with the US Department of State and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) brought subject matter experts from the United States to Mexico to host a natural gas-focused workshop with the following objectives: ● Support the development of nationwide natural gas markets and commercial natural gas projects in Central America by sharing U.S. and Mexican best practices and expertise; ● Support Central American economic prosperity by facilitating efforts to increase reliance on natural gas, in order to reduce dependence on imported oil and lower electricity costs; and

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

● Discuss the benefits of a potential regional approach to natural gas market development and infrastructure. For this trilateral intervention RTC only funded 17 participants who included representatives from the public and private sectors from Central American countries.

SSC relationships were developed to foster regional coordination and sharing of knowledge and experience amongst the Guatemalan Minister of Energy, the Salvadorian President of the National Commission of Electricity Energy, Representatives of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, the Director of El Salvador’s Central American and Belizean representatives during the meeting Commission of National Energy, and representatives of the national energy companies of Panama, Belize, Nicaragua, and Honduras.

29. Regional Trade Facilitation: Applying Information Technology Part X; June 4-8, 2018

A seminar titled Applying Information Technology took place in Lima, Peru. In this TLA customs officials from the Latin American region and around the world presented tools, systems, and technological equipment that support the exchange of information between border control agencies, with the goal of developing and implementing an integrated risk management system. The seminar included a visit to Peru’s customs facilities to learn about Peruvian best practices. Additionally, the participants had the opportunity to attend the World Customs Organization Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition at the end of week. Participants included representatives of the Central America Customs Directorates, representatives of SAT, Mexico’s customs entity, and Guatemalan and Peruvian Customs officials.

30. Civil Service Reform/Merit-Based Models: Part I; June 24-29, 2018

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

On June 24 - 29, 2018, RTC arranged for Ernesto Zuniga and Aurora Cubías from the GOES Technical Secretariat of the Executive Branch to travel to Chile to meet with representatives of the National Directorate of the Civil Service with the objectives identified below. This was part of the larger trilateral effort on civil service reform. The TLA objectives were: ● Create new South-South Cooperation relationships between the Salvadorian Executive Technical Secretariats and representatives of the National Directorate of the Representatives of the National Directorate of the Civil Service in Chile Chilean Civil Service; during the meeting with the SETEFE/GOES representatives. ● Design the initial elements of the South-South Cooperation project between these two governments. It began with an identification of El Salvador’s technical assistance needs, followed by an examination of the Chilean model and what is offers as leverage points to the Salvadorian Civil Service; and ● Review the scope, content, and feasibility of a trilateral cooperation project and relationship between the national governments of El Salvador and Chile.

Following the TLA, the subsequent El Salvador national governmental management policies were revised:

1. Updated Work Organization System 2. Reformed Teacher Certification Process 3. Salary Policy for the Executive Branch 4. Reformed Career Development Management System 5. Reformed Executive Development Program 6. Reformed Performance Management System

31. Innovation Ecoystem Ruta N Part II; July 23 – 27 2018

The Regional Trilateral Cooperation project arranged for representatives from Ruta N, Medellin’s prestigious innovation public-private entity, and the Chamber of Commerce from Medellin to visit El Salvador from July 23-27, 2018. The objective of the mission was to take counterparts from two USAID projects focused on Economic Competitiveness and Higher Education to learn best practices that have been successfully implemented by Ruta N and examine how they effectively connect public institutions and universities with companies to solve their youth employment challenges through this innovation center model which offers different platforms to link academic and the public and private sectors.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

This TLA focused on promoting prosperity and economic growth in El Salvador for which it is necessary to improve private sector productivity by:

1. Improving the Business Enabling Environment 2. Promoting Small and Medium Businesses and 3. Encouraging Entrepreneurship 4. Improving Innovation and Technical Development 5. Enhancing Access to Financial - Services 6. Expanding Access to Markets 7. Strengthening Participation of Businesses in Value Chains 8. Improving the Quality of Education David Sierra, an expert from RUTA N, speaking during one of the workshops

32. Regional Trade Facilitation: Sanitary Product Registration; August 14-15, 2018

On August 14 and 15, 2018, the Regional Trilateral Cooperation project co-facilitated a workshop, along with the World Bank and AMEXCID, focused on Sanitary Product Registration in Honduras. RTC financed eight participants from El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama plus 11 speakers from Guatemala, El Salvador, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The workshop included a total of 65 participants, including representatives from the public and private sector in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia and Belize. Participants also included senior-level representatives from the Ministries of Health of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, along with Latina American regional pharmaceutical companies.

The purpose of the two-day workshop was to provide capacity building for officials and technical staff in charge of the Sanitary Registries inside health institutions and other stakeholder agencies within the Central American countries and to build South-South Cooperative relationships. The idea was to enhance the participants’ understanding in Representatives of the World Bank, USAID Honduras, and trade regulations having a bearing on the Honduran Government during the opening ceremony Sanitary Registry and to exchange best practices, experiences, and lessons learned in other Latin American countries.

33. Innovation Ecosystem Roadmap Part III; September 21 – 27, 2018

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

As a follow on of the Innovation Ecosystem TLA, RTC facilitated a new TLA bringing an Innovation Subject Matter Expert from Roadmap in Medellin, Colombia to El Salvador from September 21 to 27, 2018. The expert, Julián Taborda, from RoadMap, conducted a one-day workshop for the management staff of four locally renowned Salvadorian universities to quantify the gap between what they are preparing students for versus what the private sector needs on a dynamic and timely basis. This workshop also helped to define what innovation means for each university, and how Julián Taborda, an expert from Roadmap, presenting during the conference for the universities this definition serves to underpin the development environment.

34. Good Governance: Strengthening/Civil Service Reform II; October 1-5, 2018 USAID works in partnership with the Government of El Salvador (GOES) and civil society organizations (CSOs) to advance the effective implementation of regulations and initiatives that increase transparency and accountability in government.

A professional civil service is critical to allow a more transparent and efficient administration of public resources. For this reason, a reform of the civil service that includes systems of recruitment and evaluation based on merit, specialized and continuous learning platforms for public servants, and adequate systems of compensation and classification of positions, are essential to modernize the civil service, thus reducing patronage and corruption.

The Technical and Planning Secretariat of the GOES has begun applying key aspects of the reform by launching initiatives such as electronic public employee recruitment systems and the creation of the National School of Public Employees (ENAFOP). USAID and the GOES have identified the need to learn from other countries’ successful experiences in the professionalization of public employees as a means to inform future decisions in this field. Marcela Montero during the VI forum of This TLA was the second part of a three-part Trilateral Public Function: Importance of the Effort that enabled a Chilean Civil Service expert to share evaluation of work performance for the her expertise and advise the Salvadorians on their existing professionalization of Public Service model. In addition, the TLA formally raised awareness beyond the government, informing citizens of El Salvador about the importance of civil service reform while creating a space for learning public service models, merits and challenges.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

The Chilean Human Resources Management and Personnel Development expert, Marcela Montero, worked in close partnership with her counterpart, the Salvadorian Deputy Director of SETEPLAN, part of the GOES executive branch, to provide her analysis of the GOES Performance Management National Strategy Document. The Salvadorian/Chilean partnership then designed a training workshop based on learnings from the Chilean model for the Salvadorian government’s executive branch human resources institutions. Ms. Montero subsequently led a workshop in conjunction with all Directors of Talent Management from the Salvadorian government, training them on the new Performance Management National Strategy and incorporating their comments and suggestions for further tailoring to the Salvadorian model. Lastly, she and a representative from SETEPLAN participated in a televised interview as part of a Public Forum on the importance of evaluating work performance for the professionalization of the Salvadorian public service. This is also an approach to Marcela Montero during her participation in the Forum. empower citizens to better hold their governments accountable for transparency.

35. Fiscal Policy: Result Oriented Budget part IX; November 12-17, 2018 Public Financial Management (PFM) is one of the most important functions of government and a pillar of efficient, transparent, and accountable service delivery and good governance. Efficient domestic revenue mobilization, fair, equitable and predictable tax policy and administration, and sound expenditure management must be in place to promote fiscal discipline, policy-based resource allocation, and operational effectiveness. USAID is aiding the Salvadorian MOF to implement a Result Oriented Budget, working with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources and Court of Accounts. The goal is to make public expenditure more efficient and transparent by strengthening GOES ministries and Court of Accounts in formulation, execution and monitoring/evaluation of Result Oriented Budgets.

In coordination with the USAID Domestic Resource Mobilization Project and the Chilean General Budget Directorate (DIPRES), RTC organized a TLA for a formal training that took place in Chile called Results Oriented Budget Experiences Training (CROBET). Four Salvadorian officials, one from each target ministry, and an audit specialist, went to Chile to meet their equivalents and to take part in the capacity exchange. Throughout the training the Salvadorian officials learned from the Chilean experience about the use of methodologies and tools for budget formulation, execution, monitoring and budgetary evaluation that follow the best international practices in monitoring and evaluation of public programs.

The established cohort agreed to continue collaborating in order for the GOES to achieve the following:

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

• Incorporate the culture of evaluation in the institutional budget process • Improve budgetary discipline in institutions • Computerize the budgetary process at the level that facilitates the execution and control of institutional programs and projects

36. Good Governance (Citizen Security Sector Ethics Week; November 26-30, 2018 The US Government has supported the Salvadorian Government Ethics Tribunal (TEG) in various activities aimed at strengthening its leading role in Public Ethics. One of the main activities carried out has been the establishment of the Institutional Integrity Model (MII) which the TEG adopted towards the establishment of values and integrity practices in the organization. The MII is a self- evaluation that involves reviewing regulations, organizational culture, and processes in different model areas, to include transparency, ethics, accountability, citizen participation, anti-corruption and a lack of public efficiency. Chilean Open Government expert speaking at the public televised event to a group of Salvadorian civil service leaders about transparency, ethics, accountability and citizen

Since its creation, the TEG has been hosting an annual Ethics Week, which includes events throughout all regions of El Salvador with an average attendance of 1,500 participants from most central and municipal government institutions. This year’s theme was “Open Government,” based on the Chilean model. It was chosen in order to highlight the importance of principles meant to promote transparency, increase citizen involvement in the debate and Part of the audience during the Ethics Week decision of public affairs, fight corruption and take advantage of new technologies – all aimed at strengthening democratic governance as well as the quality of public services throughout the judicial, legislative and executive branches.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC assisted the TEG in developing a public integrity and open government policy for its own organization. Five Chilean Open Government experts partnered with the Salvadorians to create a plan to consolidate as a governing body for public ethics. During the Ethics Week, 50% of the relevant committees were trained and sensitized to the newly developed plan based on the capacity exchange that came from this South-South Cooperative partnership.

A major achievement resulting from this TLA was the start of discussions on the creation of a formal South-

South Cooperation partnership between the nations of Chile and El Salvador, specifically regarding the concept of Civil Service Reform, which speak to open government and USAID Democracy and Governance senior leadership working in transparency. partnership with the Salvadoran TEG and Chilean experts in the publicly televised and nationally recognized SSC dialogue

37. Good Governance Sector Strengthening: Ethics Tribunal; December 17-18, 2018

With continued support to the Salvadoran Government Ethics Tribunal (TEG), RTC implemented a subsequent TLA by once more bringing two Open Government experts from Chile’s National Counsel of Transparency to provide technical assistance to Salvadorian magistrates and officials, chiefs and technicians of the TEG. In this two-day South-South Cooperation discourse the following discussions occurred:

• Follow-up capacity building dialogue regarding the 5 main challenges identified during the above Ethics Weeks. TLA transmitting international best practices of open government to be further taught to public servants through the country. • Chilean support to the TEG in the implementation of two critical national strategies: 1) generation of draft Institutional Integrity Improvement Plan and the 2) Institutional Policy for Integrity and Open Government. The Institutional Policy provides guidance to the TEG, leveraging international standards of transparency, citizen involvement, corruption prevention, ethics and public efficiency.

38 Footwear Technology Part I; February 3 - 9, 2019

The purpose of this TLA was to develop a technological center focused on design, development, and competitiveness of the footwear industry in El Salvador. This center will include laboratory testing, design and prototyping, as well as training units.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

The first capacity exchange was held February 4-8, 2019 at CITECCAL in Lima, Peru. The main objective was to train two Salvadoran technicians from the Catholic University, from UNICAES’ (Universidad Católica de El Salvador) Footwear Laboratory on the test methods of "color fastness to rubbing" and "hardness in heel or heel." The training primarily focused on increasing the understanding of technical standards related to the development of both test methods.

The UNICAES representatives then

participated in three further phases of the knowledge transfer activity during this TLA. During the first phase, the CITECCAL laboratory technician carried out the procedures corresponding to the tests. In

the second phase of application, the Alba Góchez from UNICAES during the training preparing the representatives of UNICAES carried out test the test methods under the supervision of the CITECCAL laboratory technician. Finally, in the third phase, the UNICAES representatives developed test methods with the objective of verifying application of lessons learned during the week of the internship. UNICAES representatives visited the different divisions of CITECCAL, such as Research and Development, Certification of Labor Competences, Tanning Pilot Plant, Design, Documentation Center and others. Salvadoran UNICAES representatives interviewed CITECCAL employees responsible for each area and gained an understanding of the processes CITECCAL employs while learning of the critical stakeholder relationships necessary for success following the model they have with the clients of footwear and related industries in Peru.

This first capacity exchange focused on learning the test methods of "color fastness to rubbing" and "hardness in the cap or heel," while strengthening links between CITECCAL and UNICAES. UNICAES employees learned about the difficulties and successes CITECCAL has had throughout its 20-year history, and gained knowledge that will improve quality control for footwear and other products in El Salvador.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

The exchange ended in a culminating meeting at the headquarters of the Peruvian Agency for International Cooperation (APCI). It was titled: "Training of laboratory staff quality control of the Center for Innovation and Technological Development of the footwear sector in El Salvador by ITP-CITECAL." The Executive

Director of APCI, José Antonio González Norris, greeted the delegation from El Salvador, which was headed by the Salvadoran Ambassador in Peru, Mr. Greco Pineda. Mr. González Norris praised the Salvadoran delegation, Jasmín Retana Alba Gochez and Jasmin Retana observing the leather and Alba Góchez, who are engineers from preparation process UNICAES, for participating in this project.

He stated that "this is an important, emblematic project for Peru since it is the first time that USAID participates under this triangular modality” and he hopes that “it will be the beginning of a new stage of continued South-South Cooperation."

USAID Mission Director in Peru, Lawrence Rubey, also attended the meeting and expressed his satisfaction with the TLA and was pleased that it had begun its implementation phase. The representatives of UNICAES expressed their gratification for having worked with CITECCAL and learning about its quality control processes. The Salvadoran delegation intend to immediately leverage these experiences and learnings in the Salvadoran context. The General Secretary of ITP-CITECCAL, Nelly Salas, emphasized that her organization is a center of excellence with qualified personnel, equipment, norms and quality standards recognized by the region and that her institution is committed to provide the technical assistance required by its Salvadoran counterparts through continued SSC.

The meeting served as a learning experience about the progress of the Trilateral Cooperation (United States of America, Peru, and El Salvador) in the area of leather and footwear and also strengthen the ties of continued national level cooperation.

39. Northern Triangle USG Technical Assistance Coordination Meeting on Trade Facilitation and Border Management; March 6, 2019

As a part of the US Strategy for Engagement in Central America, the US government has committed to continued investment in regional trade facilitation to expand economic integration across the Northern Triangle to help mitigate irregular migration to the US. The number of USG agencies and activities in the NT is extensive. Working regionally around common trade facilitation and customs themes, including coordinated border management, risk management and border security, requires close internal coordination to ensure all understand the scope and expected results of USG interventions. Moreover, underpinning USG current and future investments are the protocols of the new NT Customs Union, which each country will need to implement to make that institution function effectively. To help the interagency union better

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

understand the new procedures of the Customs Union, SIECA was invited to present the latest updates, and priority areas for support in each sub-topic to ensure the Customs Union becomes fully operational.

USAID’s Central America Regional Platform in El Salvador proposed a one-day coordination meeting for USG agencies that provide technical assistance funding in the areas of trade facilitation, border management and customs reforms. The purpose was to understand in greater detail the extent of interventions happening across the region, at common ports of entry, and among common stakeholders (customs, internal revenue, migration, policy, agriculture) in order for the USG to foster greater programmatic and strategic coordination among the interagency and among our partners at the national and regional levels. Moreover, this meeting allowed for partnership building to support common goals, avoid duplication, and ensure a unified approach to technical assistance.

40/41. Border Management Academy Parts I and II: March 10 to 14; and March 16 to 23, 2019

The Border Management Academy, a key intervention developed under USAID’s new Trade Facilitation and Border Management project, developed a one-month training program for all Central American border officers, including Customs, Agriculture, Migration and Police. The purpose of developing and implementing a Border Management Academy was to professionalize border agencies to increase Central America’s export-led growth through better border procedures, coordination among border control agencies, and enhanced compliance with international standards and trade Bernardita Palacios, Chilean expert during her presentation at the Border Management Academy TLA agreements.

The project works with the public sector to reduce barriers to trade by improving the capacity of border officials; and developing a sustainable, high-quality and international best practice training and certification program, to be institutionalized by SIECA, Central America’s regional trade facilitation organization, and NT governments. The Academy includes the participation of experts from various institutions and regional governments who led a SSC capacity building activity by sharing best practices related to coordinated border management and implementation of Free Trade Agreements. Chile agreed to support the TLA by sending experts to develop curricula around critical topics and transfer knowledge to the Central American attendees of the USAID-developed Academy.

To ensure the right experts were selected to lead this TLA, RTC coordinated with the Customs General Directorate in Chile to identify the customs officers who would participate in the capacity exchange TLA. RTC mobilized two experts from Chile who participated in the Border

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Management Academy for one week each, training over 20 Central American customs and border officials.

42. Innovation and Entrepreneur Ecosystem in Chile; March 17 to 23, 2019

The USAID Projects of Higher Education for Economic Growth, Economic Competitiveness and Young Entrepreneurs, have been working in concert to create an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in El Salvador. The three projects aim to promote economic growth and competitiveness of the private sector. To increase the capacity of this ecosystem, RTC facilitated a TLA allowing for 25 members of the Salvadoran private, public, civil society and academic sectors to gain exposure to the equivalent ecosystem in Chile to facilitate transfer of knowledge and best practices. Participants of the Innovation and Entrepreneur Ecosystem in Chile during their visit to Innoscience The main objectives of this TLA were: ● Gain exposure to the Chilean ecosystem institutions’ procedures and methodologies of incubation and acceleration of new enterprises entering the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. ● Study linkage mechanisms between critical members of Chilean public and private sectors that give added value to start-up entrepreneurs, such as ImagineLab, Innoscience, CORFO and the Anacleto Angelini CI of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. ● Examine current business cases from the businessmen and businesswomen who have used acceleration processes with the assistance of these institutions while gaining an understanding of economic impact generated by the growth of their start-ups. ● Gain insights into the Chilean Mentors Network.

43. Footwear Technology Part II; March 17 to 27, 2019

This TLA was created as the second portion of the previously described Footwear Technology TLA. In this second part of the TLA, the same two members of the Salvadoran delegation from UNICAES carried out laboratory tests, with their own samples in the ITP-CITECCAL Lab. This will allow them to improve the norms and quality standards of the footwear industry in their country.

The project identified the need for a third week of work, to be held in San Salvador, in which professionals of ITP-CITECCAL would verify in situ, the application of the knowledge imparted during the two previous sessions held in Peru.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

At the end of the activity, the two technicians met with APCI, USAID Peru, and the Embassy of El Salvador in Peru. Participants in the closing session of the second week of exchange included the Director of the Regional Program Office of the Mission, Ms. Erin Krasik, the Ambassador of El Salvador in Peru, Mr. Greco Pineda, the Director of CITECCAL-ITP, Mr. Iván Olaechea and representatives of the Senior Management of APCI. Jasmin Retana reviewing a machine before the test

44. Footwear Technology Part III; May 13 to 17, 2019

This TLA was the third phase of the previously described Footwear Technology TLA, working closely with the UNICAES engineers and the Centre for Technological Innovation of Leather, Footwear and Related Industries (CITECCAL) in Lima, Peru. Two phases were held at CITECCAL and one in the laboratory in El Salvador.

The training began with the visit of Peruvian experts, María Luz Meneses, Laboratory Director of CITECCAL, and Dino Benedicto Chávez, Physical Laboratory Analyst.

Monsignor Miguel Angel Morán, Rector of UNICAES, emphasized that this work is the result of the efforts initiated in 2016 promoted by MINEC, as part of a strategic plan for the development of the footwear industry in El Salvador. Footwear Technicians

As part of the activities carried out during the week, they carried out the in-situ evaluation of tests of color fastness in leather rubbing, determination of the hardness of the cap and heel, resistance to floor cut union, and resistance to sole flexion.

Through the support of this TLA, UNICAES and MINED were able to meet with Peruvian experts. They were able to expose Salvadoran producers of footwear and raw materials to Peruvian technical expertise. This included the Peruvian standards for safety footwear and school footwear for both men and women. With the goal that businessmen learn best practices in the production of footwear, the experts also shared the Peruvian experience in quality verification of raw material and finished footwear. The experts discussed the stages a footwear quality control laboratory should cover.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

45/46. PUENTES II and III Inclusion of People with Disabilities and Workforce Development: May 20 to 24, 2019

The event was attended by representatives of SENA from Colombia and also by two representatives of the Colombian private sector, from Pacto de Productividad and Colcafe.

The Colombian experts explored different topics of labor inclusion for people with disabilities and the youth labor force. The experts shared their experiences with the attendees, while sharing their knowledge with their counterparts in El Salvador, thus strengthening knowledge for all Salvadorans attendees. Yolanda Martinez from USAID during the video call with the SENA Executive Director, during the activity Pacto de Productividad representative, Julio Martinez, was the Human Resources Manager for Colcafé, a Colombian company that is part of a business association focusing on processing and marketing coffee and related products. The Pacto expert successfully advocated for the incorporation of people with disabilities into the company, convincing Colcafe’s management to take steps to change policies and practices in order to build an inclusive workplace environment. Mr. Martinez’s exemplary experience allowed him to raise awareness among Salvadoran stakeholders and provide technical assistance to promote the incorporation of youth with disabilities into the Salvadoran workforce.

Ms. Rivas Perea is the Head of the People with Disabilities Directorate, under the SENA Inclusion program, which seeks to strengthen professional training, on-the- job training, and labor inclusion for people with disabilities or reduced abilities. She worked along with Mr. Martínez to identify and train people with disabilities in the skills needed by Ayda Luz Martinez during the Workforce Workshop Colcafé. Additionally, Ms. Perea helped guide Colcafé in the process of adapting positions as well as facilities in order to accommodate employees with disabilities. As a result of this collaboration with SENA, Colcafé has formally and systematically incorporated inclusive policies and practices for people with disabilities into its operations, becoming a role model for other companies in Colombia and other countries, as well. During the Best Practices Exchange, Ms. Perea was able to transfer her knowledge regarding the challenges faced by youth with disabilities when searching for training and employment opportunities. Additionally, she will address the need for specific institutional support services to assist these youth in finding employment in order to raise awareness among stakeholders in El Salvador and to motivate them to adapt and replicate in El Salvador the initiatives that have proven to be successful in Colombia.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Technical experts worked in a series of workshops and one-on-one meetings, covering the topic of inclusion of people with disabilities with private sector companies, CSOs, training centers, and government institutions, such as the Salvadoran Institute of Rehabilitation, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the National Youth Institute, and INSAFORP. Through the PACTO and Colcafe’s presentation of successful strategies, companies were be able to identify the types of Colombian Expert Yania Rivas talking to the participants positions that are often occupied by youth with disabilities and they were also be able to identify the necessary adaptations. The Colombian experts demonstrated the importance of advocating, networking, and creating partnerships among the private sector, training service providers, and the government, with the support of CSOs, to achieve the creation and promotion of employment opportunities for youth with disabilities in El Salvador. This Best Practices Exchange allowed specific Salvadoran firms to partner directly with the experts, potentially hiring them as long-term consultants to provide ongoing guidance and support on how to modify existing policies and practices to successfully incorporate youth with disabilities into the workforce. In addition, the SENA Colombian experts provided grantee training centers, government institutions, and private sector companies their technical expertise on the topic of workforce development services through a series of workshops and one-on-one meetings with these Salvadoran partners. The experts provided a general description of the successful model that SENA represents, as well as of the importance of establishing alliances between different stakeholders, nationally and internationally, to achieve mutual benefits in their work for the people.

47. E-COMMERCE June 25-26, 2019

In the framework of the study of the Electronic Commerce Law project, RTC organized and supported El Salvador Legislative Assembly´s Economy Commission to carry out on June 25 and 26, 2019 the Seminar on Electronic Commerce in which international experts on the subject from Argentina and Colombia addressed their presentations.

Margarita de Escobar (Alianza Margarita Escobar (center) and the Ambassador of Argentina and the Experts Republicana Nacionalista ARENA), during the open ceremony president of that Legislative body,

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report was in charge of the opening ceremony. Subsequently, the ambassadors of Argentina Ruben Ruffi and César Felipe Gonzalez Hernández of Colombia intervened.

During the development of the activity, inputs were collected for the study of the Electronic Commerce Law project, which aims to establish a legal framework to regulate commercial relations, contractual or not, carried out by electronic or technologically equivalent means between suppliers of goods and services.

The Congresswoman President of the Economy Commission, Margarita de Escobar, reiterated that the Legislative Assembly is promoting a digital agenda comprised of various initiatives, including the bill in question, which will provide legal certainty to both suppliers and consumers who use digital platforms.

Presentations were made by Mrs. Maria Ines Baque of the Secretariat of Digital Government and Innovation of Argentina; Mrs. Maria Carolina Barragan Mendez, of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia; as well as Mr. Argentinean Ambassador taking to the audience Mario Busso, general director of the Argentine Chamber of Software Industry.

In the afternoon, the Economy Commission met on the specific topic of the draft Electronic Commerce Law, a meeting in which representatives of the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Tourism, Secretariat of Innovation and Technology, Secretariat of Commerce and Investment, Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI), National Association of Private Enterprise (ANEP), and Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador (BCR) participated. Economic Committee from the Legislative Assembly during the meeting

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Other attended included the National Commission for Micro and Small Enterprises (CONAMYPE), Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUSADES), Superintendence of Competition, University of El Salvador (UES), José Matias Delgado University, Tecnologica University (UTEC), Francisco Gavidia University (UFG) among others.

On June 26 the Economic Committee met with Gabriela Montenegro from the USAID Economic Competitiveness Project, and the Colombian and Argentinean Experts to talk about the E- Commerce Law in El Salvador. The congressmen had the opportunity to ask specific question to the experts regarding the best practices and the experience they have implementing the law in their countries.

Mario Busso Argentinean Expert during his speech

SELECT HIGH LEVEL RESEARCH

Competitiveness Labs (C-Labs) USAID requested that RTC conduct a high-level research project discussing the WEF’s Competitiveness Labs that are currently in existence in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil. Specifically, USAID requested that RTC look into what these Competitiveness Labs are and how they operate currently.

RTC’s research found that according to the results of the Global Competitiveness Index 2017- 2018, El Salvador was ranked 109 out of 137 nations assessed and it occupied the last place in Central America. In addition, a significant challenge for El Salvador’s competitiveness environment is the continuous decline of the nation’s economic measures which strengthened the structural factors of competitiveness, such as investment in human capital, infrastructure, innovation, and the movement towards more formal institutions. These factors, combined with the deterioration of the investment climate, affected the WEF’s confidence in the predictability of public policies and the increase in crime and corruption in El Salvador. Other Latin American countries have promoted agendas to improve productivity and competitiveness. PUBLICATIONS, EVALUATION, AND MEDIA Publications with DEC links Annual Performance Report, Year 1 Annual Performance Report, Year 2 Assessment Report Branding Implementation and Marking Plan

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Fact Sheet Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan Quarterly Performance Reports • October 2018 – December 2018 • March 2018 – May 2018 • December 2017 – February 2018 • September 2017 – November 2017 • April 2017 – June 2017 • January 2017 – March 2017 • October 2016 – December 2016

Evaluation

As described earlier in the Sustainability section of this report, in 2018 USAID hired Mendez England & Associates to carry out a third-party, external, mid-term performance evaluation of the RTC project. The DEC link to the evaluation is attached here: RTC Midterm Performance Evaluation. USAID’s objectives as described in the Scope of Work are listed below:

“The evaluation answers three primary evaluation questions (EQs) and three sub-EQs: 1. To what extent are the beneficiary organizations applying the new knowledge transferred by SSC provider countries through the RTC project? 1.1 What are the hindrances and barriers that beneficiaries face in applying this newly transferred knowledge? 2. In terms of the use of resources such as cost and staff time, timeliness to respond to needs, and other factors, what are the advantages and disadvantages of a centralized approach like RTC’s, and how do they compare to those of activities with trilateral exchanges as a component or sub-component of a development project? 3. To what extent has the RTC project contributed to building partnerships among the USG, the Government(s) of the recipient country(ies), the Private Sector and Civil Society of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (Northern Triangle of Central America), and those SSC provider countries? 3.1 How do the above recipient countries perceive the trilateral cooperation facilitated by the RTC project compared with traditional North-South Cooperation? 3.2 To what extent have the beneficiary organizations established networking with their counterparts or the private sector in the SSC provider countries that may lead to future collaboration beyond the life of the RTC project?” This mixed-methods evaluation included both quantitative and qualitative tools including (a) document review of 108 documents, (b) key informant individual and small group interviews with 51 individuals, (c) a web-based survey of 72 TLA participants, (d) a review of performance data, and (e) a review of RTC financial data. The evaluation team included Dr. Gary Woller, Team Leader; Dr. Randal Joy Thompson, International Cooperation Specialist; and Gladys Soler, Research Associate.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Overall evaluation findings and conclusions were positive and included the following:

● “Trilateral exchanges were well planned and executed, met participants’ needs, imparted useful knowledge on timely/relevant topics by experts in their relevant fields, and generated recognized benefits for participants.” As show in the table below, “over three-quarters of respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the knowledge transferred during the trilateral exchanges was useful. In excess of 70 percent likewise “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that trilateral exchanges addressed important and timely topics, used qualified experts, met participants’ needs, had well-organized logistics (RTC did an excellent job managing logistics), and required an appropriate amount of time.”

Table 3: Perceived Quality of USAID-Facilitated Trilateral Exchanges (N=72) Neither Quality Strongly Agree Strongly Don’t Disagree Agree Dimension Disagree Nor Agree Know Disagree Useful knowledge 6.9% 2.8% 0.0% 19.4% 56.9% 13.9% Topics important and timely 5.6% 1.4% 4.2% 11.1% 68.1% 9.7% Qualified experts 5.6% 2.8% 1.4% 23.6% 54.2% 12.5% Met needs of participants 5.6% 2.8% 5.6% 27.8% 51.4% 6.9% Logistics well organized 5.6% 4.2% 8.3% 25.0% 45.8% 11.1% Time appropriate 5.6% 2.8% 8.3% 36.1% 40.3% 6.9% Source: Mid-Term Evaluation Survey

● “Trilateral exchange participants increased their knowledge as a result of the exchanges. RTC’s MEL Plan, implemented by its sub-contractor FUSADES, tracked trilateral exchange participants’ knowledge acquisition by asking how much they knew about the relevant topics both prior to the exchange (i.e. Before) and after the exchange. Answers were tracked on an ascending 10-point scale. As seen in Figure 1, participants reported an increase from their pre-exchange score of 5.8 to a post-exchange score of 8.2, indicating that the trilateral exchanges had filled approximately one-half of the perceived knowledge gap. The pre and post-exchange scores for study tours and workshops/seminars followed a similar trend.”

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Figure 1: Increase in Trilateral Exchange Participants’ Knowledge 10 8.2 8.0 8.2 5.8 6.1 5.8 5

0 Study Tour Workshop/Seminar Total Before After

● “Knowledge acquired during trilateral exchanges was still considered useful six months after the exchanges’ conclusion. FUSADES returned to the same trilateral exchange participants six months later and asked how useful they found the trilateral exchanges using an ascending 5-point scale in three areas: 1) their institution, 2) their area of work, and 3) their personal performance. Respondents gave a 4.8 rating in each area indicating a high level of perceived usefulness, even after the passage of time.”

● “Trilateral exchanges produced tangible benefits for participants. In terms of overall effectiveness, approximately one-third (72.2 percent) of survey respondents either “agreed” (27.8 percent) or “strongly agreed” (44.4 percent) that the trilateral exchanges produced tangible benefits for them or their organization.” (Figure 2). Figure 2: Level of Agreement Whether Trilateral Exchanges Produced Tangible Benefits (N=72)

50% 44% 40% 28% 30% 20% 11% 10% 6% 6% 6% 0% Strongly Disagree Neither Agree Agree Strongly Agree Don’t Know Disagree or Disagree

Source: Mid-Term Evaluation Survey

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS Performance Indicators: Targets versus Actuals: RTC tracks six indicators and exceeded life of project targets for 3 of the indicators as shown in the following table.

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

Life of Project Targets and Actual Results The table below describes all six indicators, with a detailed breakdown of life of project targets vs. actuals, gender disaggregation, and information on how indicators are measured, for the entire three years of the project.

Gender Considerations A total of 1,088 people were trained in RTC’s activities over the past three years, including 466 women and 622 men. RTC funded 302 people from this total, of which 109 were women and 193 were men.

Learning Considerations

According to the data collected2 during all of the trilateral activities carried out by RTC, and in relation to the usefulness of what was learned, both in the application in their workplaces and in each institution, 100% of participants responded that as a result of their participation in the trilateral activities, they increased their knowledge in the topics studied. They also stated that with the knowledge acquired, institutional strengthening has been achieved in their organizations.

It is important to note that in the surveys carried out, people’s learning expectations were met, and they stated an increase in knowledge and the creation of institutional and personal relationships resulting from each trilateral activity.

2 Data was processed from information collected on survey forms collected at end of TLAs. 48

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

I. Number of people trained as a result LOP Target LOP Actuals LOP -- % Achieved of USG assistance (disaggregated by sex) Men Women Men Women Men Women 738 738 622 466 84% 63% 2. Proportion of people trained who LOP Target LOP Actuals LOP -- % Achieved have an increased knowledge 3 (disaggregated by sex) Men Women Men Women Men Women 50% 50% 100% 100% 100% 100%4 3. Number of people assisted by the LOP Target LOP Actuals LOP -- % Achieved Trilateral Cooperation Activity

(disaggregated by sex) Men Women Men Women Men Women 222 222 193 109 87% 49% 4. Number of trilateral cooperation LOP Target LOP Actuals LOP -- % Achieved interventions 24 475 58% 5. Value of project interventions LOP Target LOP Actuals LOP -- % Achieved $900.000.00 $748,921.30 83% 6. Estimated value of services invested LOP Target LOP Actuals LOP -- % Achieved by LAC partner nations in trilateral cooperation6 Estimated contribution $900,000 $1,269,412 141%

3 This indicator is measured by the information gathered by the pre- and post-survey that RTC/FUSADES does after each activity. 4 According to the surveys, 100% of the participants stated that they increased their knowledge due to their participation in the TLA`s organized by RTC 5 This number includes all the interventions developed by RTC (include the cancelled TLAs) 6 This is an estimated amount. It is not possible to determinate the exact contribution from each providing country. RTC estimates that countries contribute between 10 and 500% of the cost of each TLA, due to all the high-level technical assistance, facilities and logistical support they provide for each activity. This includes personnel costs, local transportation, meeting facilities, etc. in support of TLAs, delegation, and/or conferences and related activities, unless such direct investments have been claimed by or for a different USG entity. 49

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

PROJECT INTERVENTIONS

1. Trilateral Activities Completed Below is a detailed list of all Trilateral Activities completed over the past three years, delineated by Trilateral Effort/USAID Program Area, Date, Providing Country, RTC Funds Expended, and Providing Country Contributions.

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA) Regional Trade Facilitation: Central America Nov 27 to Public-Private Regional Border 1 Dec 3, Inspection Mexico $5,707.71 $14,267.50 Management and 2016 Certification Trade Facilitation Part I;

Regional Trade Central America Facilitation: One Regional Border March 14- Stop Shop $43,091.56 2 Guatemala $21,545.78 Management and 16, 2017 Customs Trade Facilitation Border Crossings Part II Diagnosis of the Fiscal Policy and 3 March 14- Salvador $7,711.80 Expenditure Colombia $3,855.90 22, 2017 Customs/Port Management System Part I

Fiscal Policy and Transfer Pricing May 7-12, $16,468.62 4 Expenditure Control System Argentina $8,234.31 2017 Management Part III

Integrity Governance May 8-11, Evaluation and $42,523.32 5 Mexico $21,261.66 Strengthening 2017 Control Center (PNC) Tax Collection Fiscal Policy and May 16-19, and Anti- $9,714.88 6 expenditure Colombia $8,457.44 2017 Corruption Part management: IV

7 This is an estimated amount. It is not possible to determinate the exact contribution from each providing country; RTC estimates that countries contribute between the 10% and 500% of the cost of each TLA, due to all the high-level technical assistance, facilities and logistical support they provide for each activity, that includes the salaries of the experts, administrative and operational staff that receive the delegations, also includes the facilities, transportation, coffee breaks, etc. 50

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA)

Fiscal Policy and May 18-20, Simplified Tax $17,333.70 7 Expenditure Colombia $8,666.85 2017 System Part V Management

Reverse Fiscal Policy and Auctions and May 23-29, 8 Expenditure Public Perù $6,615.26 $ 13,230.52 2017 Management Procurement Part II Regional Trade Central America Facilitation: May 29 to Regional Border Authorized $84,094.74 9 June 1, Guatemala $42,047.37 Management and Economic 2017 Trade Facilitation Operators Part III Regional Trade Central America Facilitation: Regional Border July 24-28, $64,059.40 10 Customs Union Guatemala $32,029.90 Management and 2017 Integration Part Trade Facilitation IV Regional Trade Central America July 29 to Facilitation: Regional Border $3,620.84 11 August 3, Customs Risk Costa Rica $1,810.42 Management and 2017 Management Trade Facilitation Part V International Fiscal Policy and Public Sector August 15- $6,312.76 12 Expenditure Accounting Panama $3,156.38 19, 2017 Management Standards Part VI

Economic September Innovation: $97,517.38 13 Colombia $48,758.69 Competitiveness 4-9, 2017 RUTA N Part I

Fiscal Policy and October Single Taxpayer $17,723.20 14 expenditure 22-26, Argentina $8,861.60 System Part VII management 2018

Implementation Fiscal Policy and of a modern November $14,561.34 15 Expenditure Public Uruguay $7,280.67 6–11, 2017 Management Procurement System Part VIII

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA) Central America US Agricultural Product Export Regional Border November $55,684.68 16 Law Equivalence Colombia $27,842.34 Management and 6-11, 2018 Part VII Trade Facilitation Central America Regional Trade November Regional Border Facilitation: Risk $40,992.04 17 13-18, Mexico $20,496.02 Management and Management 2017 Trade Facilitation SIECA Part VI Regional Trade Central America Facilitation: Risk November Regional Border Management $3,048.76 18 13-18, Mexico $1,524.38 Management and Strategy 2017 Trade Facilitation Finalization Part VIII

November Economic Puentes I Youth $43,806.78 19 13-19, Colombia $21,903.39 Competitiveness Workforce 2017

November Open Governance $22,546.90 20 18–23, Government Argentina $11,273.45 Strengthening 2017 Partnership

November Environmental 27 to Low Emissions $78,163.98 21 Costa Rica $39,081.99 Strengthening December Cattle Farming 2, 2017 Regional Trade Central America January 29 Facilitation: US- Regional Border to Mexico $73,742.94 22 Mexico $36,871.47 Management and February 2, Customs and Trade Facilitation 2018 Border Facility Part IX

Electricity Environmental March 15– $54,458.40 23 Market System Mexico $27,229.00 Strengthening 16, 2018 Strengthening

Governance March 20, Child Protection 24 El Salvador $430.00 N/A Strengthening 2018 Strategy Meeting

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA) April 4, 2018 and Tertiary 25 Citizens Security El Salvador $860.00 N/A May 22, Prevention 2018 Fiscal Policy and Fiscal Policy and expenditure April 10- $20,498.86 26 Expenditure management: Argentina $10,249.43 13, 2018 Management Cash Flow Models Part X IOM Regional El Salvador,

Reintegration of Conference for Guatemala, May 8–9, $30,136.43 27 Returning Reintegration of Honduras $60,272.86 2018 Migrants Returning and

Migrants Colombia

Environmental May 16–17, $73,424.00 28 Natural Gas Mexico $36,712.00 Strengthening 2018

Regional Trade Central America Facilitation: Regional Border June 4–8, Applying $26,175.10 29 Peru $13,087.55 Management and 2018 Information Trade Facilitation Technology Part X Civil Service Governance June 24-29, Reform/Merit- $4,813.70 30 Chile $4,813.70 Strengthening 2018 Based Models Part I

July 23-27, Economic Innovation: $4,681.39 31 2018 Colombia $4,681.39 Competitiveness RUTA N Part II

Central America Regional Trade Regional Border August 14– Facilitation: $56,067.20 32 Honduras $28,033.60 Management and 15, 2018 Sanitary Product Trade Facilitation Registration

September $4,616.15 Economic Innovation: 33 21-27, Colombia $4,616.15 Competitiveness Roadmap Part III 2018

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA)

Governance October 1- Civil Service 34 Chile $1,022.50 $ 1022.50 Strengthening 5, 2018 Reform Part II

Fiscal Policy and November Results 35 Expenditure 11-17, Oriented Chile $6,592.24 $13,184.48 Management 2018 Budget Part IX

November Governance 36 26-30, Ethics Week El Salvador $16,818.85 $16,818.85 Strengthening 2018

December Governance 37 17-18, Ethics Tribunal Chile $5,253.20 $5,253.20 Strengthening 2018

Footwear Economic February 38 Technology Part Peru $ 6,477.00 $ 12,954.00 Competitiveness 3–9, 2019 I

Northern Triangle USG Technical Central America Assistance Regional Border March 6, Coordination 39 Guatemala $1,833.00 $9,165.00 Management and 2019 Meeting on Trade Facilitation Trade Facilitation Border Management Central America Border Regional Border March 10– 40 Management Guatemala $ 2,775.05 $5,550.10 Management and 14, 2019 Academy Part I Trade Facilitation Central America Border 41 Regional Border March 16– Management Guatemala $ 3,057.67 $6,115.34 Management and 23, 2019 Academy Part II Trade Facilitation

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA) Innovation and Economic March 17- Entrepreneur 42 Chile $ 62,284.45 $124,568.90 Competitiveness 23, 2019 Ecosystem in Chile

Footwear Economic March 17- 43 Technology Part Peru $ 7,389.30 $14,778.60 Competitiveness 27, 2019 II

Footwear Economic May 13-17, 44 Technology Part Peru $1,573.78 $3,147.56 Competitiveness 2019 III

PUENTES II Economic May 20-24, 45 People with Colombia $ 18,858.60 $15,086.88 Competitiveness 2019 Disabilities

PUENTES III Economic May 20-24, 46 Workforce Colombia $ 16,458.48 $13,166.78 Competitiveness 2019 Development

Economic June 25-26, Argentina 47 Competitiveness E-Commerce $ 11,239.00 $ 11,239.00 2019 Colombia

Trilateral Activities - Cancelled8

High Risk Court Justice Sector Models: $548.50 48 Cancelled Guatemala $5,485.00 Strengthening (Citizen Security Sector)

Citizen Security: 49 Governance $5,034.98 Cancelled Tertiary Colombia $25,174.60 Strengthening Prevention

8 The cancelled TLAs have been included in the “Trilateral Activities Completed” because these activities were fully organized and cancelled one day (High Risk Court Model) and one week (Tertiary Prevention) before the TLA start date. 55

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

RTC Trilateral Contribution Program Effort/USAID Dates Trilateral Providing Providing Funds No. Program Area Activity Country Countries 7 Expended (TLA)

TOTAL $748,921.30 $1,280,651.49

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

2. Public Sector, Private Sector and Academic Partner Institutions in Recipient Countries

Country Institutions Belize Belize Electricity Limited Belize Customs Belize Ministry of Investment, Trade and Commerce Belize Ministry of Science, Technology and Public Services Costa Rica Costa Rican Electricity Institute Costa Rica Customs General Directorate Costa Rica Foreign Trade Promoter Costa Rica Ministry of Environment and Energy Costa Rica Ministry of Health Costa Rica Ministry of Trade Dominican Republic Customs General Directorate Dominican Republic Customs/OEA Dominican Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs El Salvador Agricola Bank El Salvador Agricultural and Agroindustrial Chamber of El Salvador El Salvador Agricultural Development Bank El Salvador Association of Air Lines of El Salvador El Salvador Association of Distributors of El Salvador El Salvador Association of Professionals in Economic Sciences COPROCE El Salvador Autonomous Executive Port Commission CEPA El Salvador Catholic University of El Salvador El Salvador Central Reserve Bank of El Salvador El Salvador CIEX-Centro de Trámites para la Exportación de Productos El Salvador Civil Aviation Authority El Salvador Court of Accounts of El Salvador El Salvador Creative Industries El Salvador Development Bank of El Salvador BANDESAL El Salvador Directorate-General for Migration and Foreigners El Salvador Don Bosco University El Salvador Export and Investment Promotion Agency El Salvador PROESA El Salvador El Salvador Exporters Corporation COEXPORT El Salvador Ethics Tribunal El Salvador Executive Hydroelectric Commission of the Lempa River El Salvador Faith and Joy Association El Salvador Francisco Gavidia University El Salvador General Customs Directorate El Salvador General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) El Salvador General Directorate of Medicines

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

El Salvador Grant Thornton Tax & Legal El Salvador Human Rights Defender El Salvador Inter-Union Trade Facilitation Commission CIFACIL El Salvador ITCA-FEPADE El Salvador Centra American University “Jose Simeón Cañas (UCA)” El Salvador Legal Tutelage El Salvador Legislative Assembly El Salvador Mayoralties of the Central zone of San Salvador El Salvador Mayors of the Eastern Zone of San Salvador El Salvador Mesoamerica Project El Salvador Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock El Salvador Ministry of Economy El Salvador Ministry of Education, Science and Technology El Salvador Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources El Salvador Ministry of Finance El Salvador Ministry of Foreign Affairs El Salvador Ministry of Health El Salvador Ministry of Investment, Trade and Commerce El Salvador Ministry of Labor El Salvador Ministry of Public Works El Salvador National Academy of Public Security El Salvador National Association of Aqueducts and Sewers (ANDA) El Salvador National Association of Private Enterprise ANEP El Salvador National Center of Fairs and Conventions El Salvador National Civil Police El Salvador National Council for Small and Medium Enterprises El Salvador National Energy Commision El Salvador National Judiciary Center El Salvador National Registration Center El Salvador National School of Agriculture El Salvador Office of the Attorney General of the Republic El Salvador Office of the Human Rights Procurator El Salvador Presidency of the Republic of El Salvador El Salvador Salvadoran Association of Fintech ASAFINTECH El Salvador Salvadoran Association of Industrialists El Salvador Salvadoran Chamber of Commerce Salvadoran Chamber of Information and Communication El Salvador Technologies (CASATIC) Salvadoran Foundation for Social and Economic Development El Salvador (FUSADES) El Salvador Salvadoran Institute for Childhood and Adolescence El Salvador Salvadoran Institute for Women Development (ISDEMU) El Salvador Salvadoran Institute of Integral Rehabilitation El Salvador Salvadoran Institute of Professional Training

IBTCI Regional Trilateral Cooperation – Final Report

El Salvador Salvadoran Social Security Institute El Salvador Salvadoran Sports Institute El Salvador Salvadorian Banking Association ABANSA El Salvador Secretariat for Trade and Innovation El Salvador Secretariat of Innovation and Tourism El Salvador Social Fund for Housing El Salvador Social Security Institute of the Armed Forces (IPSFA) El Salvador Technical Secretary of the Presidency El Salvador Technical Unit El Salvador Textile Industry Chamber CAMTEX El Salvador The Next Service El Salvador Tutela Legal El Salvador Vice-Ministry of Transport El Salvador Zigma Guatemala Central American Economic Integration Secretariat Guatemala Ministry of Energy and Mines Guatemala One-stop Foreign Trade Window Guatemala Single Window for Exports Guatemala Superintendence of Tax Administration Honduras Economic Development Secretariat Honduras Electricity Regulatory Commission Honduras Energy Secretariat Honduras Ministry of Foreign Trade Honduras National Electric Energy Company Honduras National Health and Safety Service Panamá National Energy Secretariat Panamá Ministry of Commerce and Industry Panamá Ministry of Health Panamá OEA/Customs