Participatory country assistance strategy in Colombia : a case study

________________________________ 22371 October 1 999 OCIAL DEVELOPMENT PAPERS i X - t- s2W - f s E - E < @*t C Fh ^ q Y < EsN r ; 1 P ;> ' .t M, ZE N- r N E rT - 0 R ks Paper Number 33 October 1999 Participatory Country Assistance Strategy in Colombia: A Case Study Jairo Arboleda THE WORLD BANK   Social Development Papers Paper Number 33 October 1999 Participatory Country Assistance Strategy in Colombia: A Case Study Jairo Arboleda  This publication was developed and produced by the Social Development Family of the World Bank. The Environment, Rural Development, and Social Development Families are part of the Envirorunentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) Network. The Social Development Family is made up of World Bank staff working on social issues. Papers in the Social Development series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are published informally and circulated to encourage discussion and comment within the development community. The findings, interpretations, judgments, and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to members of the Board of Executive Directors or the governments they represent. Copies of this paper are available from: Social Development The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 USA Fax: 202-522-3247 E-mail: sdpublications@worldbank.org  Contents 1. The Context 1 Social Participation in Colombia 1 Participation and the World Bank 3 The Dialogue between Colombia and the World Bank 4 2. The Plan to Prepare the Country Assistance Strategy 5 Workshop Models 5 3. The Implementation Experience 7 The Country Team Workshop 7 The Desired Future 9 A Look at the Past 10 The Action Strategy 11 The Government Workshop 12 The Desired Future 12 A Look at the Past 13 The Action Strategy 17 Workshops with Civil Society Representatives 20 Workshop Model and Methodology 20 Phase I. Brainstorming to Identify Key Issues 21 Phase II. Discussion in Small Groups on the Topics Identified 21 Phase III. Vote to Decide on the Order of Priorities 22 The Desired Future 22 Role of Different Actors: Government, Private Sector, Civil Society, and Multilateral Organizations 24 The Action Strategy 25 Final Recommendations 25 i  The Joint Government-World Bank Workshop 26 Methodology of the Workshop 26 The Strategic Objectives 27 Priority Areas of CAS 27 7The Results for the Strategic Objectives 28 T1he Consistency of the Portfolio with Proposed Strategic Objectives and Results 30 Construction of the Logical Franework 31 Bank and Government of Colombia Discussion of the Draft CAS 33 4. Lessons from the Experience 34 Main Features of the Process 34 Main Outcomes 36 Limitations 37 Major Challenges Ahead 39 Annexes: 1. World Bank CAS - Country Team Workshop, October 30-31, 1996 40 2. World Bank CAS - Government Workshop, Santafe de Bogota November 18,1996 42 3. World Bank CAS - Consultation with Civil Society on Development Challenges 48 4. Consultation with Colombian Civil Society, Santafe de Bogota December 2-3, 1996 50 5. World Bank CAS - Joint Government and World Bank Workshop Santafe de Bogota 52 6. World Bank CAS - Consistency between Strategic Objectives and Existing Projects 55 7. World Bank CAS - Plan for Completion of Logical Framework 56 8. World Bank CAS - Final Meeting, 1998-2000 57 9. World Bank CAS - Final Version of Logical Framework Matrix for Three of the Areas 59 . .  Acknowledgments The material in this report comes from facilitation of key events, and to Maurice contributions from members of the Colombia Stern, and Margarita Bellinger, who led the Country Team in Washington and in the groupware workshops with civil society Resident Mission, and counterparts from the representatives. Ines de Mosquera, a local Government of Colombia, provided during consultant, provided invaluable services in the period of construction of the CAS: June the design and facilitation of the government 1996 to October 1997. Ernesto May, Felipe workshop and of the joint World Bank- Saez, and Marina Niforos deserve special Government of Colombia workshops. recognition for leading the country team during the process. Ernesto and Marina put Arturo Garcia, Deputy Director of the together the draft and final versions of the National Planning Department at the time, CAS matrixes shown in Annex 9. Felipe made a significant contribution by his contributed an analysis of the participatory leadership of the government team in the process which is extensively used in chapters process to construct the first draft of the 2 and 3. In addition, the report uses logical framework for each of the priority information generated in the series of events areas. He was also a key counterpart during with the country team, the government, and the revision of the various drafts of the CAS civil society organizations by the participants document and in the final discussions with in each of them, whose names appear in the the government. annexes. Finally, the new lead specialist for Staff from the Learning and Leadership Colombia, David Yurivlakier and the Center (now the World Bank Institute) Director of the Department, Andres provided technical support to the core team Solimano provided valuable input to the in the design of the plan and of the events. final version of the document and led the Special thanks to Fred Nunez, Hoveida final discussions with the government. Novakt, and Ernesto Cuadra for the skillful 111   1. The Context Social Participation in Colombia vehicles linking the state with the communities for either agrarian reforms or Civil organizations in Colombia have a long the creation of community infrastructure. tradition of involvement in public affairs. This period was also characterized by the This involvement has been promoted and radicalization of the labor unions as a influenced by state, church, and business reaction to the closed and exclusive political organizations. In effect, during the 1920s system created by the National Front. and 1930s, under the auspices of liberal Finally, during the 1970s and 1980s, governments, a variety of large-scale social influenced by the doctrine of plurality, movements emerged to promote the inclusion, and social justice of Pope John agrarian, labor union, and popular interests XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, of large segments of the population. During many popular organizations and the 1940s and 1950s, under the influence of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) the Conservative Party, important were created in order to promote social productive and business associations were change and empower the poor and created to neutralize the control of the state marginalized populations of urban and and to influence the economic policy of the rural areas. At this time, several of the government on behalf of business. These human rights NGOs, so active and associations included the Colombian important today, were established, as well Association of Industrialists (ANDI), the as other sector-specific groups such as the Federations of Cattle Producers Boards of Viviendistas (juntas de (FEDEGAN), the cotton manufacturers' Viviendistas), and the Solidarity group (FEDEALGODON), the metal- Cooperatives. working industries' group (FEDEMETAL), and the Colombian Association of Small and These popular organizations were Medium Industries (ACOPI). sponsored by religious orders, university and professional groups, international In the 1960s, at the beginning of the NGOs and charities, political parties, and National Front (a political deal to alternate local philanthropists. During this period power between the liberal and conservative some of the most influential and parties), two very large nationwide professional foundations were created, such grassroots movements were created: the as Corporaci6n El Minuto de Dios, National Association of Peasant Users motivated by religious values, and others, (ANUC) and the Community Action Boards such as Carvajal, Social, FES, Corona, Mario (JAC). Both organizations became political Santo Domingo, Compartir, by business 1  Participatory CAS in Colombia: A Case Study concerns. These foundations undertook a also strong and better organized, which is variety of social, cultural and economic usually the case in large and medium-size programs in their respective areas of urban centers. Recent reports have found a influence. correlation between the size and location of a municipality and the strength of its civil Despite this diversity, breadth, and density, organizations.' Colombian civil organizations (which are estimated to number 120,000) do not The Constitution of 1991 might become constitute a homogeneous whole. Instead the greatest achievement of civil society they show great heterogeneity in terms of in the century. On one hand, it provided organizational capacity, level of autonomy, an opportunity for NGOs, foundations, resources, access to power circles, and and labor unions to mobilize around the ability to protect their interests and election of members of the Constitutional influence public affairs. In this respect, the Assembly as well as participate in the composition of civil organizations reflects discussion of the new public charter. the diversity of interests and the These groups elected several members to stratification of the society at large. As a the Assembly. On the other hand, the matter of fact, each segment of civil society, Constitution provided a building block such as those of base organizations, labor for the consolidation of an enabling unions, NGOs, and business associations, environment for citizen participation by has its own agenda, and the history of their proposing a new societal paradigm relationships with the state is also quite based on participatory democracy. This varied and diverse. For example, business enabling environment gives new impetus associations have traditionally been close to for organized groups of civil society to the power elites because they are part of one take a leading role in the definition of a of the powers. Business foundations new social contract that would create a command a great amount of access, more viable social and political system. although they maintain a serious commitment to the poor. Although they The constitutional mandate for a more open have much less influence, labor unions are society -together with the instruments for powerful organizations capable of citizen participation that it created, such as negotiating their interests in front of their the plebiscite, the referendum, the legislative public or private bosses. The media also initiative, the recall of mandate, the national constitute a power in Colombia, although and territorial planning boards, among they are regarded as hybrids that combine a others -represents an enormous step private, moneymaking business with a toward the establishment of a strong, private enterprise that is service oriented. modern civil society in Colombia. Finally, base organizations, NGOs, and academic groups enjoy little power and are The mandate of the Constitution is evolving traditionally subordinated in the social with the creation of important legislation in conflict. Frequently, their demands are met critical areas such as the environment (Law with repression and violence. 99, 1993), rural development (Law 101, 1993), general education (Law 115, 1994), Furthermore, as in other political and social and citizen participation (Law 134, 1994). dimensions, the centralized tradition of the These legal frameworks created additional country affects the relative influence of these mechanisms for citizen and community organizations. It is clear that civil participation specific to each sector. There is organizations are stronger and more also draft legislation regarding the influential in those areas where the state is participation of nonprofit organizations in 2  The Context public affairs and the rules for contractual promoter, liaison, convener, interlocutor, arrangements with state agencies in a joint fund-raiser, lobbyist, and representative of action by congressional leaders and the associated NGOs in front of private, organized nongovernmental groups. The public, and other nongovernmental contractual arrangements are a organizations. development of the Constitution that prohibits the direct transfer of state funds to It is therefore likely that the long tradition; nonprofit organizations but recommends the density; the mixed experience; the instead that those organizations contract for facilitating normative environment; the services with the national or regional intensification of the social, political, and governments to implement their economic conflicts; and the recently development plans. increased capacity and involvement of civil organizations may all become contributing Recent political, economic, and social factors in the establishment of a strong and developments in Colombia resulting from modern civil society in Colombia. the intense political crisis of the last few years, as well as the intensification of social Participation and the World Bank and armed conflicts, provided an opportunity for an increased presence of One of the most significant developments in and influence by civil organizations. One the World Bank within this decade has been may think that this new impetus is an increased interest in participatory supported by the existing participatory development. A key part of this renewed environment. Examples of that presence are interest was the launching of a Bank-wide (a) the notorious increase in the number of Learning Group on Participatory people who vote in elections over the last Development in December of 1990. The five years; (b) the political involvement and group was charged with examining the oversight of public concerns during the crisis issue of participation and identifying of the previous administration; (c) the challenges for the Bank in stepping up its Citizens' Mandate for Peace, with the votes efforts to support broad participation in its of 10 million citizens for a peace agenda operations. The learning group's work was and the Redepaz Network; (d) the influenced by many initiatives inside and establishment of the Permanent Assembly of outside the Bank. The experience of many Civil Society for Peace; (e) the process of NGOs around the world was of particular peace negotiations with the Armed relevance. Revolutionary Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army. The main conclusion of the report of the group is that there is significant evidence In addition, one notable example of a that participation can, in many recognized convening capacity of civil circumstances, improve the quality, society is the role being played by the effectiveness, and sustainability of projects, Colombian Confederation of NGOs during and strengthen ownership and commitment this decade. In the 1990s, the confederation of government and other stakeholders. established representative structures at the Community participation strategies are regional and national levels, resulting in a found to be particularly important in more united social force represented by over reaching the poor. The report expands on 2,500 member organizations committed to a the importance of participation for prosperous, equitable, and peaceful civil promoting client orientation and society with increasing influence in public partnership in order to achieve better results affairs. The confederation plays the role of on the ground, a conclusion that had been 3  Participatory CAS in Colombia: A Case Study set out as part of the new direction of the strengthen country mechanisms for World Bank in another report, Learning from involving the poor and other the Past, Embracing the Future.2 stakeholders in development interventions.3 Consequently, the Bank has adopted a long- term strategy for increased participation in The Dialogue between Colombia and its work. Some of the guidelines for this the World Bank strategy, which entails bringing about a broad cultural change in the way business is This context of a conducive environment for conducted, include: citizen participation in Colombia, a new policy of the World Bank on participatory * Dialogue with borrower countries must development, coupled with a long tradition start with efforts to understand, take of goodwill, mutual respect, and productive into account, and, where appropriate, dialogue between Colombia and the World actively address the concerns and issues Bank, provided a fertile ground for the of stakeholders: governments, private initiative to conduct a participatory country interests, local leaders, any vulnerable assistance strategy (CAS). During the 1996 group likely to be negatively affected, Annual Meetings, the Colombian authorities and local institutions. and the World Bank agreed to carry out the CAS exercise in a participatory manner. * The degree to which community They agreed that the participatory process participation occurs will be an explicit would be ample and would include focus of country dialogue and country consultations with national authorities, assistance strategies. Bank support for selected local governments, and development investments and economic representatives of civil society. and social policies will be defined in partnership with governments, reflecting, where relevant, their willingness to elicit and take into Notes: account inputs from those affected as well as other stakeholders. l Alvarez, Maria Eugenia, Diana Constanza Castillo, and Rodrigo Villar. 1998. * Analytical work (that is, economic and "Organizaci6n Participaci6n de la sector work, or ESW) will be more Sociedad Civil," in Municipios y Regiones collaborative and will aim toward de Colombia, una mirada desde la formulating policy or effecting change Sociedad Civil, Bogotd, Fundaci6n Social. rather than toward producing a report. 2 World Bank, September 1994, Learningfrom the Past, Embracing the Future, Washington, * The Bank will support government DC. efforts to promote a more enabling environment and institutional reforms 3 World Bank, Operations Policy for participatory development within Department. September 1994. The World client countries; it will also encourage Bank and Participation, Washington, DC. and finance technical assistance and 4  2. The Plan to Prepare the Country Assistance Strategy Following the Annual Meetings, an intense Workshop Models and highly innovative process got underway. The initial step was to set up a The events of the country team and of the working group made up of representatives govermment were designed following this of the Colombian core team in Washington, model: future-past-present. The look at the advisers of the Learning and Leadership future is intended to identify the main Center, and staff of the resident mission, challenges Colombia has to confront to under the general coordination of the achieve an adequate level of development. country team leader. The small team The look at the past is meant to analyze the proposed and validated with the Colombian background of the relationships between country team a series of four events among Colombia and the World Bank, identifying relevant stakeholders, thus making sure that comparative advantages and areas where the process would take into consideration improvement is needed. Using this model, their views, expectations, and concerns the workshop was to propose an action regarding the CAS for 1998-2000. strategy that establishes where and how the Bank can best assist the country at the The four events were the following: (a) a present. two-day workshop for all members of the Colombian country team held in The design of the workshops with members Washington on October 30-31, 1996; (b) a of civil society addressed three tasks: one, a one-day workshop for top national look at the future to resolve the question of government leaders and selected local development challenges as in the previous government authorities held on November events; two, the assessment of the role of 16 in Bogota; (c) a series of three half-day several social actors regarding the workshops for representatives of a broad challenges; and the comparative advantage spectrum of civil society, using Groupware of the Bank to assist the country in meeting technology,' held in Bogota on December 2- those challenges. 3; and (d) a joint government-World Bank workshop with representatives of the two The design of the joint workshop addressed sides who had taken part in their respective three objectives: to prioritize the previous workshops, held in Bogota on development challenges using the December 6-7, 1996. information produced by the three previous 5  Participatory CAS in Colombia: A Case Study events as the main input, define strategic lasted for about one year. The design of the objectives and the corresponding results for process took place between July and each of the priorities, and assess the September, the main workshops between consistency of the portfolio with the October and December of 1996, the follow- strategic objectives and identify new areas up working group between January and of activity. One of the tools used to establish April of 1997, and the preparation of the a hieTarchy among objectives and results formal document between May and June. was the logical framework, or logframe.2 The final discussion took place on July 16. The CAS was presented to the Board and Workshops one, two, and four were adopted in October of 1997. designed and facilitated by staff from the Learning and Leadership Center. The government workshop was jointly designed by the staff of the resident mission and a local consultant selected by the government, Notes: and it was facilitated by the consultant. Groupware, is a computer-based system of To follow up the joint workshop, a new consultation that allows individuals or working team was established, led by very small groups to express their ideas the deputy director of the National and opinions, using a computer terminal Planning Department (DNP) in linked to a central service. On a large conjunction with local staff of the screen, the ideas and opinions appear resident mission to finalize the logframe without identification of the source. The exercisde initiamted. Thle workg logfrop method is very efficient in that it allows the exercise*initiated. The w orking grop rgathering of information from large had the task of refining the set of numbers of people simultaneously, and activities that needed to be pursued, the information generated can be continuing to assess the coherence of the organized in a variety of categories pipeline with the strategic objectives, according to the objective desired. The and proposing new activities. In anonymity of the process lets the ideas and addition, the group had to identify the opinions stand on their own merit, risks involved and recommend ways of regardless of the source. dealing with them, and identify The logical framework is a tool for strategic indicators to be used as progress planning based on three main concepts: benchmarks. This working team kept in cause-and-effect relationships, means and touch with government counterparts in ends, and necessary and sufficient Colombia as well as with members of the conditions. It was developed by the U.S. country team in Washington in an Agency for International Development in attempt to enhance the quality of the the late 1970s and is widely employed in outcome, and ensure that it reflected the project design by international perspectives and analysis of all those organizations like the German Agency for concerned. Technical Cooperation, the United Nations Development Programme, and the World The process of constructing the new CAS Bank. for Colombia in this participatory manner 6  3. The Implementation Experience Figure 1 summarizes the main building Bank teams to build a matrix for each of the blocks, the process, and the outcomes of the priority areas; it contained the following participatory CAS exercise. The main entries: summary diagnosis, strategic building blocks are: objectives, strategies and actions, results, progress benchmarks, and risks and * Economic and sector work activities, assumptions. including a country poverty assessment study with the participation of academic The last step in the process was the groups, specialized NGOs, and national agreement between the government and the and regional governments. There were Bank on a lending and technical assistance also studies of decentralization, public program for the period 1998-2000. The most management, and the capacity of local important outcome of this last meeting was governments carried out by research the joint commitment between Colombian centers of regional universities, NGOs, authorities and Bank management to the and local consultants. Finally, there was implementation of the strategy. a consultation with civil society representatives on the social dimensions The following is a full description of the of development, which was used as elements for each of the four main events input for the report by the Task Group and of the follow-up activity to build the on Social Development, led in mid-1996 logical framework. Each section includes a by the Latin America and the Caribbean brief description of the methodology used regional vice president. and a fuller account of the process and of the results. The annex for each section offers * The four workshops of the government, the detailed agenda, the exercises, and the civil society, and the World Bank instruments used in each of the workshops. previously described, which provided the main forums for the identification of The Country Team Workshop the six development challenges and priorities listed on the chart. The objective of the event was to identify core elements of the country assistance Following the joint government-World Bank strategy, taking into consideration the workshop, an action plan for constructing development priorities of the country as the logical framework was put in place. well as the comparative advantages of During this process, there was an interactive the World Bank. The twenty-four staff exchange between the government and the members participating in the workshop 7  c:1X- Figure 1. Participatory CAS in Colombia Colombia CAS Preparation Process ESW 4 Priorities Action Plan Program | eenWrank Govemment| WB/Other Poverty DLalogue Assessment 1. Violence/Peace Agreement 2. Human X Lending Program Development Strategic /' Local 3. Legitimacy and Objectives Govemment egiimcyRisks/ Government _ efficiency public Assumptions Approval by Capacity Study r institutions Indicators Board of 4. Infrastructure Strategic Directors Infrastrictres Alliances Studies on _ services Decentralizations 5. Rural poverty Follow-up Public Management 6. Environment Panel Consultation I,~Know-how Civil Society on I Studies by AlacsStratey Social Development civiisocie Civil Socdiet by Participation Social Development Civil Society | Civil Solety Citizen Oversight .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~t.AA...MMW  The Implementation Experience represented the following sections: * Reduction of urban and rural poverty. The country operations, natural resource strategy adopted should deal with the management and rural poverty, existing asymmetries between the urban infrastructure, human and social and rural sectors, and consequently it development, public and private sector should emphasize the relief of rural modernization, environment and urban poverty. This emphasis is a recognition development, resident mission, the of the fact that 70 percent of the poor executive director's office, the live in rural areas. Furthermore, the Intemational Finance Corporation, and approach to overcoming poverty must the office of the director (see annex 1 for recognize its multidimensional character a full list). and result in the empowerment of the poor . Specific areas to be addressed The process followed the three steps include devising an adequate framework proposed in the model: looking at the future, of incentives for the agricultural sector, the past, and the proposed action strategy. provision of productive infrastructure The methodology in each of the steps and services in rural areas, and ensuring consisted of a combination of brief better quality of and access to social presentations by the facilitators, small-group services. work on specified tasks, and plenary discussions. The main objective of the first * Institutional development. This theme has step was to identify, in a brainstorming four major areas of emphasis: (a) session in each of four small groups, the deepening the decentralization process; main development challenges, organize them (b) creating the capacity to move from into clusters of themes, and establish an conceptualization of programs and order of priority. The results of the group projects to implementation and results, discussion were presented in a plenary (c) attacking corruption and session followed by a general discussion and "clientelism", (d) strengthening civil a summary. society by promoting greater participation by citizens in public affairs. The Desired Future Specific areas include consolidation of the decentralization process, The country team concluded that the improvement of public sector following three themes constitute the management, and promoting priority challenges a CAS should include: community participation. * Sustainable economic development. This is The rich discussion in the plenary session understood as a combination of growth, provided an opportunity to present a variety removal of the barriers that prevent the of concerns regarding issues of priority and poor from benefiting from that growth, implementation, how to take advantage of protection of the environment, and current and future opportunities, and the measures to reduce the impact of role of the new Bank in the future of violence on people's well-being and Colombia. However, two issues received a future investments in the country. significant amount of attention from the Specific areas of intervention by the Bank country team. One is the prevalence and may include development of capital intensity of violence throughout the country. markets, a facilitating environment for The group felt that this is one of the reasons the participation of the private sector, why the growth of Colombia remains below environmental protection, and better its great potential. Violence has a direct income distribution. impact on life expectancy, expenditures on 9  Participatory CAS in Colombia: A Case Study defense, price distortions, and the general A Look at the Past well-being of the population. The Bank, then, needs to work together with In a plenary session, the group dealt with Colombians and with other organizations the experience of the members of the team on the problem of dealing with violence as a in their work with the Colombian high risk for all operations. government. The following list describes such experience: Another issue of great concern for the team is the amount of time it is taking to achieve Successful Events in the Relationship: progress in the social sector. On paper, fostering the participation of the private * the ability to have a frank and open sector seems a sound strategy to free up dialogue with government authorities resources from infrastructure and invest has led to good results. them in nutrition, education, and health, but in reality this is not working as * there have been several joint studies and expected. The link between such a strategy reports on poverty, the capacity of local and the combination of growth and poverty governments, and decentralization. reduction does not seem to exist. In general, * direct loans to territorial governments the Bank needs to make sure that its have been accepted as a pilot experience programs in Colombia produce better results for operations in a decentralized in terms of poverty reduction and that such framework. impact can be measured. 0 the Bank has credibility with the The last exercise of this first part asked the government, and it is considered a good participants to describe what they would partner with respect to the promotion of like to see happen in the future as a result of new initiatives. the collaboration between the Bank and Colombia. Using all the information s the Bank provides continuity and generated by the small groups as well as by stability across administrations in the plenary discussion, each member of the sectoral investments. team had to create a press headline * Colombians appreciate the know-how capturing what he or she would like to see and technical assistance that come with by the year 2005. Here is a sample of them: the lending program. * World Bank-Colombian Alliance: Main Difficulties and Areas for Improvement: significant achievement in social development. * The good communication with the * The Social Summit concludes that all central policy level does not always regions of Colombia have been translate into effective actions with line integrated into the development process. authorities of sectoral ministries. * The World Bank helps Colombia become * There is a lack of clear definition of a world leader in decentralization. priorities, both within the Bank and * Magdalena Medio: a territory of peace. between the Bank and the country. This is particularly serious with respect to * Colombia is graduated by the World sectoral ministries because, among other Bank, given the great progress achieved, reasons, high-ranking officials, especially and the professionals of the World Bank in the social sector, are constantly being team are reassigned to other countries. 10  The Implementation Experience rotated to other posts or leaving the * The treatment of rural-urban differences administration. and of the issue of violence is more explicit. * The Bank's lending instruments and procedures are rigid, inflexible, and The comparative advantages of the Bank are time-consuming, thus limiting its the following: capacity to react to new situations. * The Bank's global experience with * The relationships have been primarily decentralization and project with the central government, thus implementation can be transferred to the ignoring, on the one hand, the other two country. levels of government and, on the other, those who will do the implementation. * The Bank can act as an agent for dissemination of best practices from * The budget system in Colombia is other countries or for the identification complex and cumbersome. This creates a of social agents promoting change and great dependency of the projects on the partnerships within the country. budget process, which results in great inefficiencies and serious delays in * The Bank can provide continuity in an project implementation. environment where key government Officials are constantly rotating. * Project design is distant from the real clients. The Bank needs to better assess * The Bank has credibility and can who really benefits from growth. influence decisionmaking. The Action Strategy Areas for improvement include: This step consisted of two phases. This first O The simpification of instruments and entails a quick assessment of the similarities procedures and differences between the priorities proposed for the future CAS and the The promotion of more iovative previous lending program. The second interventions, which requires financing involved determining the comparative mtervents with aer ris level advantages of the Bank regarding those o p p i priorities and areas in which it should improve. * Improving the skill mix to better respond to the emerging matrix structure Regarding the first phase, the country team concluded that: * Creating partnerships and strong alliances with other social actors * The proposed priorities are more directly focused on poverty reduction than in the * Examining the reasons for the low previous CAS. success in achieving institutional objectives * The participatory process under way for its preparation provides a better chance * Working with the government to close to achieve the commitment of all the gap between conceptualization interested parties. (policy and strategy) and implementation (results on the ground). 11  Participatory CAS in Colombia: A Case Study The Government Workshop * To analyze the relations between multilateral cooperation agencies and The authorities' participation in the Colombia. by identifying positive aspects definition of the CAS was extremely and points for improvement. with proactive and constructive, and the top specific reference to the World Bank. government officials were involved in the process. This involvement can be divided in * To define the vision of the nation for the four stages: (a) government team workshop, year 2005 if the structure of World Bank (b) joint Bank-government team workshop; assistance capitalizes on the comparative (c) development of the CAS matrix, and (d) advantages of the Bank that may Bank-government discussion of the draft contribute to their achievement. CAS. In light of the comparative advantages The first stage of the process was intended of the World Bank, to identify the to provide an opportunity for the priority challenges on which the Bank's government team to reach internal assistance to Colombia should focus, and consensus regarding the two basic questions indicate how this is to be accomplished of the series of workshops: the (see annex 2 for the detailed agenda and developmental challenges of the country design of the group exercises). and the past and future roles of the Bank relative to Colombia. With these objectives, The Desired Future the Colombian government team participated in a one-day workshop on Development Challenges: The first exercise November 16, 1996. The workshop was asked group members to identify the main attended by 32 top government officials development challenges that Colombia has (including six members of cabinet, five vice to confront. Each participant writes down ministers, three heads of national the four main challenges and then in the institutions, two presidential counselors) group, one by one, they present each of the and two leading local government heads items, which the facilitator writes on the flip (the governor of Antioquia and the mayor of chart, without repetition of items. At the Bogota). The list of participants appears in end, by a voting procedure, each group annex 2. member gives a mark to the key five challenges and all points are added up. The The process and results of this event were as items with the most points are then follows: presented in a plenary session as the results of the group. Workshop Model and Methodology: The workshop model was the same as that for When the results of all the groups were the Bank team: the desired future, a view of summarized, the participants agreed on the the past, and a proposed action strategy following challenges as national priorities: based on the previous two steps. e Peace, justice, impunity, coexistence The methodology consisted of four exercises among citizens, safety and security for designed with the following goals: citizens, and "denarcotization," or reduction in the significance of the drug- * To identify the major challenges faced by trade. Colombia in terms of its future development. 12  The Implementation Experience * Improvement of human resources perceptions of the relationship between the (education-in terms of quality and Bank and the country, using drawing as a quantity -health, and nutrition) technique. Each group member made a * Modernization of the state: graphic representations of his or her perceptions, then explained it to the other * Reduction of bureaucracy, members of the group. Together, they had to decentralization, managerial capacity decide which drawing they liked best and add new features, if desired. Once this was Ethics i politcs and politcal done, they wrote below the drawing in two participation columns three to five short sentences * Physical infrastructure (particularly describing the positive aspects of the transportation and drinking water,) and relationship on one side and the negative reduction of poverty and inequality aspects on the other side. Then each group presented the drawing in a plenary session. * Internationalization and competitiveness The results of the exercise, which sought to Sustainable development with a regional graphically portray relations between focus. Colombia and the World Bank, were very There was full consensus among the groups revealing and added a touch of humor to Thatpeae washull consensusamon the grout nthe workshop. The metaphors used and that peace should be the first national their corresponding analysis are briefly priority, followed by the improvement of commented upon in what follows. human resources, modernization of the state, infrastructure, and then the others. D7- Taxi A Look at the Past This group illustrated its perception of relations between Colombia and multilateral Colonmbia-World Bank Relations: The second cooperation organizations with the exercise asked participants to present their following simile (see figure 2): the World Figue 'fPCV~UfCA e j%j6~a'' - W- EGAT X ?v06'da-5 N <u ^ . r- "6\O - ick.4u i ; UGA>Ot - A& & yWfSO1 rIv?otauCCQ c ectsJVraP pke>CcioVn - t-Soc..dod (tauviuiiit