Mejores de las realizaciones de cada programa desde enero hasta marzo 2007:

Guatemala

Transparency and Accountability

• Accountability of state agencies was promoted through support to the “Transparency Month” Initiative of the Guatemalan Government. Throughout the month of March, the Office of the Presidential Commissioner organized public presentations of the Government’s agencies for 2006. The number of reports increased significantly in comparison to the previous year: all 45 Central Government and 22 Departmental Governments reported to the public.
• Results of the Access to Information Study were presented and discussed with the wide public. The study revealed that six out of ten citizens obtain information requested only if the request had the support of the private entity. The Executive Branch ranked better than the Legislative and Judiciary Branches.
• The Program supported regional efforts to promote budget transparency. Representatives of participating countries met in Cartagena to agree on the methodology and the timeline to produce the fourth edition of the Latin American Index of Budget Transparency.

Anti-Corruption Efforts

•  In order to promote awareness and understanding of the UNCAC, the T/AC Program supported three workshops with officials from the Public Ministry, the central authority for the UNCAC.  At least one hundred officials attended the trainings.  Five more workshops are scheduled to be carried out with the Public Defense Agency and one more with the Landivar University Law School.

Public Participation

• COVAPAZ, a coalition of various CSOs, presented its final legislative proposal on Citizen Participation in the Social Audit. COVAPAZ also held a workshop on the role of civil society in political decision-making.

Political Party Financing

• In January, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal approved the procedures for political party financing that were developed with the program’s support. The Tribunal also produced a timeline for training political parties on the new procedures.

Nicaragua

Transparency and Accountability

• A second Transparency Forum “Investigation of Corruption Cases: Where we are and Where are we Going?” was held on February 28, 2007. The forum was attended by Nicaraguan Government officials, private sector representatives and civil society as well as their foreign counterparts. The latter shared their experience in investigation of corruption cases in Bolivia, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.
• Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, provided with a grant in 2006, developed and presented a series of publications on access to information (including the international best practices in this area). The NGO also held a public awareness campaign on freedom of information issues as well as produced a detailed analysis of the Access to Information Bill that is being currently considered for approval.

Anti-Corruption Efforts

• The Program conducted a round table discussion and two seminars that promoted tools and mechanisms for the implementation and compliance with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACC), as well as the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
• Several donor coordination meetings were held to facilitate mainstreaming of anticorruption and transparency issues into program objectives of the donor community.

Public Participation

• The Program facilitated participatory budget planning through the support of open municipal councils’ meetings in two municipalities: Palacagüina and Chinandega. Overall 19 meetings with the participation of almost 2 000 people were conducted in both cities enabling the citizens to participate in budget consultations, suggest their own projects for funding and familiarize themselves with the final version of the municipal budget. 

Political Party Financing

• Transparent political party financing was promoted through support to two fora on political party finance monitoring, development of a Catalogue of Best Practices on Political Party Financing as well as development and dissemination of the Manual on Political Party Finance Monitoring.

 

Panama

Anti-Corruption Efforts

• In March 2007, the National Assembly approved most of the Program’s suggested reforms to criminalize different types of corruption, as set forth in the international conventions. In particular, the Program assisted the Attorney General’s Office to revise 26 articles of the new Penal Code.
• The Program specialists developed a manual for the Corruption Investigation Unit and organized a week-long training for the unit’s employees. Furthermore, on-site technical support was provided in the design of strategies to implement the investigation of high profile corruption cases.
• The Attorney General’s Office was supported in drafting legal standards in the areas of: 1) corruption crimes; 2) plea bargaining, 3) whistleblower and witness protection, 4) conflicts of interest 4) and asset forfeiture and recovery mechanisms.

Civil Service Reform

• The Program produced an “Assessment of the Government’s Salary Rates and a Job Description System”. The document outlines the major shortcomings of Panama’s civil service system and suggests recommendations for improvement. Furthermore, a project on improvement of the internal organization and human resources practices of the National Tax Directorate (under the Ministry of Economy and Finance) was launched.

 

El Salvador

Strengthening Local Governments

• The study on transparency of local governments in El Salvador was completed and distributed among local stakeholders.
•  The Program organized several seminars and workshops on transparent local governance and ethical leadership for over a 100 of municipal officials from different parts of the country.  

Judicial Reforms    

• Several workshops were organized for the National Council of the Judiciary.  Furthermore, the Program supported a conference on “Ethics in Judicial Management”, which was attended by over 300 participants.    

 Access to Information

• The program supported three workshops on transparent governance and mechanisms of promoting access to information for three different target groups: government officials, civil society representatives and students from the Technological University.