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GRAEME THOMPSON FOR UMG GUATEMALA URBAN MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE (UMG) PROJECT Quarterly Report, January to March 2018 This report was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by Tetra Tech through the Guatemala Urban Municipal Governance Project Task Order under the Making Cities Work (MCW) Indefinite Quantity Contract (USAID Contract No. AID-OAA-1-14-00059, Task Order No. AID-520-TO-17-00001). CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION 5 COLLABORATION WITH NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, OTHER DONOR PROJECTS, OR OTHER USAID PROJECTS 28 MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 30 2 | GUATEMALA UMG: QUARTERLY REPORT, JANUARY TO MARCH 2018 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW The Urban Municipal Governance (UMG) project was awarded by USAID to Tetra Tech on January 27, 2017. UMG is a five-year project designed to reduce levels of violence in municipalities most at risk of violent crime through enhanced municipal governance, increased coverage and quality of municipal services, and greater citizen participation and oversight. The project will provide municipal governments with improved technology solutions and technical assistance to achieve transparent and participatory planning, financial management, and effective service delivery implementation. UMG will also provide technical assistance, capacity building support, and resources for direct improvements to community- based organizations working in partnership with municipalities to improve services that will help reduce crime and violence. The goal of UMG is to reduce levels of violence in municipalities most at risk of violent crime through enhanced municipal governance, increased coverage and quality of municipal services, and greater transparency and accountability through citizen participation and oversight. UMG will result in 1) Strong public budgeting and municipal service delivery processes in place, 2) High-crime, urban marginalized communities are improved through citizen-driven improvements in living conditions and municipal services, 3) Citizens and civil society especially in the most at-risk communities are actively involved in municipal decision-making and accountability processes. UMG made important progress this quarter in its programmatic implementation. It advanced negotiations and signing of 16 of 17 municipal partnership agreements (MOUs) and subsequent 15 Functional Organization Capacity Assessment (FOCAS) assessments. UMG also developed and validated Public Financial Management Plans (PFMs), which lay a roadmap for customized UMG program assistance to partner municipalities. To meet the training needs of these municipalities, UMG signed agreements with two highly-respected Guatemalan universities to improve the municipal capacity in planning, financial and administrative management, and leadership training to Municipal Councils. Additionally, to support the Ministry of Finance (MINFIN) to improve Municipal Transparency, UMG supported Amatitlán in improving its Financial Management System SICOIN GL, the MINFIN Integrated Accounting System for budget execution, recording revenues and spending of programs and projects. Five other municipalities will receive support in the coming quarter. Advances to support cadastral systems in five municipalities has also been designed and approved by the municipalities. Together with partner municipalities, UMG has identified all high-crime, urban, marginalized communities where primary and secondary violence prevention activities will occur. Within these communities, UMG began a two-pronged approach to preparing Crime and Violence Prevention Plans (CVPP). In six communities, UMG will work side by side with Unidad para la Prevención Comunitaria de la Violencia (UPCV) delegates, using their established methodology. In the other communities, UMG will experiment with a methodology focused on increased municipal involvement and one that significantly reduces the time needed to develop a CVPP. Once both processes are completed, UMG will present results to the Vice Ministry for possible adjustments to the status quo. Lastly, UMG advanced the design of its secondary violence prevention strategy by considering different at innovative methodologies to be implemented in high-crime municipalities. The strategy looks to measure results on five different methodologies that include: 3 | GUATEMALA UMG: QUARTERLY REPORT, JANUARY TO MARCH 2018 1) Violence Interrupters (VIs) that specialized in detecting and interrupting conflicts in the community (Cure Violence). 2) Structured Leisure Time Activities for at-risk youth that include the psychosocial and life skills training behind them 3) Vocational training programs that will help a child or a teenager increase his employability 4) Improved parenting skills designed to improve the relations between parents and children 5) Cognitive Behavior Therapy where therapeutic approaches based on counseling, skill building and multiple services are geared to reduce and/or mitigate against criminal behavior. Major program results for the past quarter include: • Signed three additional Municipal Partnership Agreements; • Completed five FOCAS and completed and four PFMs • Digitalized over 11,000 taxpayers in Amatitlán from the water, cemetery, and IUSI (La Dirección de Catastro y Administración del Impuesto Único sobre Inmuebles) property tax services. This represents 50% of the total current taxpayers • Signed first two sub-awards with Guatemalan Universities FLACSO and InterNaciones to improve municipal capacities • Entered all but two communities (Zacapa and Mixco) to advance in the preparation of CVPPs • Finished two Community Assessments (Jocotillo and Tableros) which will provide inputs for the preparation of their CVPPs • Reviewed over 50 concept notes and 20 full proposals focused on crime and violence prevention activities in different geographic locations Reflecting on program implementation and coordination with USAID and other stakeholders, UMG is highlighting the following critical constraints, that will be incorporated into future program implementation. In terms of security challenges, on March 17 the mayor of Zacapa, Mr. Julio Alberto Enrique Sánchez, was murdered near his home. From a security perspective, this is another reminder of the important reason to carefully plan municipal and community development interventions in the region. In other areas of the country, such as the municipality of Chinautla, the main concern is the arrest warrants and raids on the homes of young people who are allegedly linked to youth gangs. With these raids, UMG took steps to meet with community leaders in controlled spaces and under basic security measures with the presence of municipal authorities. Since the program is just starting community activities, there is concern that the presence of the violence prevention activities is directly related to the raids hindering programmatic interventions. Security issues are also prevalent in the municipality of Coatepeque, specifically in the Chuatuj community where community relations with municipal authorities are tense. With the community showing some resistance to violence prevention interventions, UMG is currently holding community meetings outside the community to better understand the overall environment and discussing the most appropriate and effective way to enter the community. 4 | GUATEMALA UMG: QUARTERLY REPORT, JANUARY TO MARCH 2018 ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION 2.1 COMPONENT 1: STRONG PUBLIC BUDGETING AND MUNICIPAL SERVICE DELIVERY PROCESSES IN PLACE 2.1.1 COMPONENT 1 KEY ACTIVITIES ACTIVITY 1.1: FORMALIZE RELATIONSHIPS WITH MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES AND NATIONAL COUNTERPARTS UMG signed MOUs with the municipalities of Puerto Barrios, Chiquimula and Jocotan this last quarter bringing to 16 the total number of municipal authorities committed to promoting urban violence prevention through municipal strengthening, improved public services and increased citizen engagement This leaves only the municipality of Zacapa unsigned due to the security issues discussed in the Executive Summary. MUNICIPAL AND COMMUNITY SELECTION With the signing of MOUs with municipal governments also came the selection of partner communities. Based on lessons learned from the community selection process in previous quarters, UMG adjusted its methodology to depoliticize the process. Instead of relying on the municipalities to select a site where they could “earn additional votes”, UMG provided them with two to three of the most violent sites from which to select. UMG determined these sites based on primary and secondary data including interviews with: • National Civil Police • Municipal Traffic Police • Ombudsman for Indigenous Women (DEMI) • Presidential Commission against Discrimination and Racism (CODISRA) • Ministry of Health • Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) • Regional Offices of the Attorney General (PGN) • Ministry of Education • Volunteer Fire Department • Prosecutors Office (MP) • Commission for the Integral Protection of Children and Adolescents Based on the data UMG received on crime and violence, the municipalities provided additional information which was added to the criteria, such as: • Level of community organization; • Presence of primary or secondary school; • Proximity to cemetery, prisons, markets or garbage dumps (areas in which young people are vulnerable to being recruited by gangs). Then based on that information the municipality selected the community and the Municipal Violence and Crime Prevention Committee (COMPURE)