Establishment of the Central American Development Coordination Commission (CADCC)

The CADCC has failed, and USAID financial support will be terminated. There are several reasons for this, of which the most significant is that the environment in Central America has changed. When the Sanford Commission, which spearheaded the creation of CADCC, was doing its work from 1987 to 1989, unrest was rampant, three countries were at war, investment was fleeing, and national economies were in a shambles. However, the project was not authorized until the end of FY91, and by that time the sense of crisis had passed. Also, the project was authorized without an implementation plan or design to guide its course, and its sponsoring and support institutions (USAID/ROCAP and the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration, or SIECA) have experienced turmoil, which weakened their ability to assist CADCC. The selection of SIECA as a channel of funds and source of logistical support was not the best. CADCC itself has failed to build support for its activities or to stimulate the activities of national commissions. Its executive committee rarely met. National-level CADCCs do not seem to be functioning, with the possible exception of Nicaragua"s. Moreover, CADCC"s activities were irregular and unfocused, consisting of three regional plenary meetings and attendance at three country-level sessions. Although the regional meeting held in 8/94 dealing with NAFTA and its implications for Central America attracted high-level participants from the governmental and business sectors and included valuable presentations, labor, academic, and NGO participation lagged significantly, and CADCC provided little follow-up. Other sources of financial support for CADCC"s modest operations have not materialized, not did CADCC make any systematic effort to develop other sources despite the lack of flow of funds from USAID through SIECA. The Central American governments, which USAID originally hoped would be contributing US$2,500 each per month by now, have contributed nothing.