Regional Partnership For Decentralization and Local Governance In the Americas

The program aimed to foster the development of regional peer knowledge networks and provide training and technical assistance to local governments and community groups. ICMA has worked with key institutions in the region to promote the first objective and engage in outreach. A Toolkit for municipalities was developed to promote the creation of municipal-led mechanisms to provide leadership in bringing together key stakeholders to design and implement crime and violence prevention programs. ICMA facilitated the participation of experts in national, regional, and international conferences and conducted workshops for municipal associations and municipal stakeholders. The program also focused on providing training and technical assistance to local governments and community groups, in coordination with national police efforts and other municipal-based programs. ICMA worked with cities in the US to share the model of community-oriented policing and governance with municipalities in El Salvador and Panama. Through these partnerships, police officers, municipal staff, community, and private sector representatives from the US cities provided information, training, and technical assistance to their counterparts in Central America. In 2012, USAID issued a six-month extension to ICMA through March 29, 2013, followed by a no-cost extension through April 30, 2013, and another cost extension through September 30, 2013. During the last year of the Program, ICMA continued to support both objectives, applying the tools and methodologies tested throughout the first Phase of the Cooperative Agreement to new municipalities in Guatemala and El Salvador. In October 2013, USAID issued a two-year cost extension to ICMA to continue work with supporting the creation and strengthening of Municipal Crime and Violence Prevention Committees in Guatemala and El Salvador. ICMA also strengthened the Municipal Association Network for Violence Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic, formed in August 2013, to make it a sustainable network that carries on the work of AMUPREV in the Region. During the period of January to March 2015, ICMA conducted several trips to Central America to provide technical assistance to Municipal Crime and Violence Prevention Committees and to coordinate activities with SICA and GIZ. The trips included participation in workshops, coordination of activities with local stakeholders, and provision of technical assistance to municipalities. The AMUPREV website continued to be updated daily with news and articles related to municipal-based violence prevention. Quarterly bulletins were prepared, posted on the website and on Facebook, and sent by email to more than 2,500 stakeholders in the Region. The website traffic statistics showed an increase in visits, pages per visit, and time per visit during the quarter. The most visited pages were the news section, the main page, and the municipal experiences section. The program's objective of promoting comprehensive municipal-based violence prevention strategies and programs with key Central American stakeholders was achieved through the development of the Toolkit, the facilitation of workshops and conferences, and the provision of technical assistance to local governments and community groups. The program's objective of fostering the development of regional peer knowledge networks was achieved through the creation of the AMUPREV website and the sharing of information and practices with stakeholders in the Region.