As part of the learning circle on local development, four fieldwork experiences aimed at generating local information were undertaken between July 1998 and April 1999. Participatory exercises were conducted in the towns of Tecoluca (in San Vicente, incomplete[1]) , Suchitoto (in Cuscatlán, including the township proper and the village of Hacienda Colima), and Apaneca (in Ahuachapán).

The criteria used to select the towns were: existence of development plans or processes, towns with a high rate of citizen participation and social organization, and the likelihood that their experiences could be replicated by other, similar towns (avoid excessively atypical cases).

A methodology was developed as the process unfolded, that included the following phases:

• Preparation or basic agreement: identification of leaders and key sectors within the town, through interviews and explanation of the idea of participatory content creation.
• Based on this phase, a workshop methodology was used:

• Foundations of the process. Commitment and definition of the unique characteristics of the members who have decided to take on this challenge.
• Preliminary analysis. Why create information? What information should we create, and to whom is it targeted? What information do we have and how well processed is it? Whose job is it to produce and/or systematize the information that is lacking?
• Creation. Collection of existing information and creation of missing information. The work was based on the needs of the actual participants, but as a dynamic process it remained open to new members at all times.
• First steps toward building a Website. This was not the direct goal of the process, but instead the Internet was seen as an option or instrument which the people could appropriate, since it facilitates the mass dissemination of the process.

Lessons learned

• The first phase is fundamental in processes of collective information generation, since when there is vision and clarity of purpose, there is more momentum and motivation among champions involved; it also promotes appropriation and sustainability of the effort.
• In the cases of Suchitoto and Apaneca, information creation is linked to and underpins their development vision. Furthermore, in the majority of cases, municipal development is strengthened and complemented by sectorial and indidivual development, and both factors provide momentum and motivation.

From the standpoint of the townspeople:

• The most innovative and pro-learning forces are young people, who are more willing to experiment with new media and leadership styles. Women are also a very dynamic force.
• Non-governmental organizations have made great efforts to generate information (particularly those which are highly organized), and results have become apparent.
• The following obstacles to accessing information were identified:

In order to delve deeper into the nature of the challenges identified in the learning circle, and involve actors beyond the municipal groups participating in the fieldwork (above), a workshop called "Generation of local information to promote local and municipal development" was held on March 25, 1999, co-sponsored by COMURES and the Local Development Network. The following section records a summary of the discussions:

Why generate local information:

• To understand and visualize the current, specific situation of the municipality, and to raise overall levels of education among the people. Information promotes and improves participation; it improves coordination and commitment by different development actors.
• To raise awareness of involvement and teamwork, breaking with the tradition of taking instead of giving. It helps people make decisions (take control) and participate in the leadership of their development process, which implies taking on responsibilities and obligations.
• To generate a local vision which helps plan development strategies in a more objective and sustainable fashion, on the basis of concrete information as a starting-point; identify and prioritize problems and needs, implement action plans and solutions based on real information; facilitate linkages among different municipal, micro-regional, or departmental efforts.
• To provide systematized information to national and international bodies.
• To promote the municipality as a way to attract national or foreign investment and aid programs; enhance negotiating power at the national and international level; optimal targeting of local and external resources, or rationalize use of existing resources.
• To monitor and evaluate processes of change in local development plans, projects and specific actions, or effects of lobbying efforts by municipal authorities, creating a culture of information and teaching people how to use it and participate in change.

What types of information ought to be generated:

• History of the area and the local government.
• Detailed inventory of natural, cultural, and human resources; geographical, environmental, and demographic information; information on technical skills, educational levels, employment profiles, and social and political organization.
• Public and municipal administration: its organization, necessary paperwork, budgets, officials, citizen safety, services.
• Economy: production, trade, industry, agriculture, agro-industry, financial resources, productive systems, economic activity and potential, ownership and use of land.
• Social and economic infrastructure: roads, highways, bridges, hospitals and other health services, schools, childcare facilities, coverage of basic and public services.

Who should be involved in generating information:

• All those who participate in local planning processes: municipal governments, municipal development councils, ad hoc committees (citizen safety, tourism, youth, women), associations, communities, productive alliances, churches, clubs, etc.
• National institutions or agencies: ministries, agencies, and development funds; non-governmental organizations which support local development; national associations with local chapters; international aid organizations with local offices.
• There needs to be an efficient system to link up these efforts, a group which collects, processes, and disseminates this kind of information; take advantage of institutions already working on this.

How to generate municipal information:

• Build a local inventory of what exists and what does not exist; evaluate the state of existing information; keep track of information that is generated and systematized outside of the municipality, especially by national and international agencies.
• Raise awareness among the people about the need to generate and systematize information and to acquire and use the necessary resources; develop a demonstration project, with education and training to support awareness-raising.
• Set up the appropriate task forces, by sector, issue, or area.
• Generate information using participatory techniques; base efforts on existing forms of organization and on a commitment to share information.

How to systematize and process the information:

• Systematization of information must be based on a clear understanding of its purpose, according to each case. By the same token, there must be clarity around the identity of the target population for the information, in order to define both form and content.

Resources necessary for generating information:

• The selection of the technologies, techniques, and means to use must be based first of all on the above criteria, and secondly on the human and financial resources available locally and through national or international assistance programs.

Local Information Systems (SILs) established by UNICEF and the Salvadoran Institute for Municipal Development (ISDEM)

Background:

The Salvadoran Institute for Municipal Development (ISDEM) was created to support the economic and social development of local governments, in the context of decentralization and municipal development efforts. Following the signing of the peace accords, UNICEF selected 25 top-priority municipalities in the departments of La Paz, Usulután, Cabañas and San Vicente, to be beneficiaries of the Program for Basic Services in Priority Areas (PSBAP). Both ISDEM and Unicef included information, monitoring and evaluation systems in their plans, which were also intended to improve managerial skills in the municipalities, and thereby help them create project priorities based on risks and goals.

The Local Information Systems (SILs), created in 1993, were aimed at developing a culture of measurement in the municipal government, in non-governmental and government agencies, and in local organized communities. It involved establishing a system of monitoring and evaluation in each one of the towns selected, supporting decentralization and municipal development processes, and measuring the impact of local institutions and of the PSBAP. It also proposed to support local governments and other institutions in recording, systematizing, and evaluating the impact of their actions; strengthening local decision-making capabilities; providing indicators to measure local progress toward the goals of the National Action Plan for Children; and to train technical and operational personnel in townships on how to generate and use information as a tool in planning, monitoring, education, and informing the community.

Lessons learned:

• The chief problem encountered in the project was that its design did not consider generating information on the basis of real local needs, but rather in order to supply the Human Development Index. The project’s priorities were thus foreign to the needs of the population, and instead reflected the needs of an external entity.
• There is a need to integrate actions taken by different actors involved at the local, departmental, and national level; a need for matrices or formats to systematize information on disasters (Mitch); a need to create information to improve the use of territory and soil.
• Absence of a culture of generating, systematizing, and managing information; vertical styles persist, which fail to promote citizen participation and commitment; it is important to develop managerial skills at the local level (town governments) and strengthen inter-municipal organizations.
• Very important to set up local information networks which strengthen local development; also to coordinate among all sectors committed to local development in efforts to generate and systematize information.
• Information systems must be flexible enough to adapt to the needs as well as to diverse types, development levels, and sizes of municipalities, but at the same time be compatible. Simultaneously, there should be an entity in charge of ongoing support for the creation, management, and capture of information, as well as coordination.
• There must be timely feedback for people involved in these types of projects, in order to motivate them and support their efforts; in this project, unfortunately, feedback did not appear until five years after project inception (1998).

[top]

Background:

The Association of Participatory Radio Stations (ARPAS) has 20 member stations, some of which have national coverage and others only local; ten stations more will open in 1999, including the first radio station to broadcast in the Nahuatl language. National news is transmitted in simulcast throughout the member stations, and some stations have their own local news programs. In the same fashion, most of the stations (five in San Salvador and 10 outside the capital) produce special reports or programs. However, this material is usually erased and taped over for lack of resources; there is also no central monitoring of the member stations’ production.

Affiliate stations produce betwen 40% and 90% of their own programming, depending on local capacity, and the rest of the programming is produced at headquarters or received from international sources. Some broadcasting is canned and other is live. In addition, the stations are used to help locate individuals and pass on messages, given the lack of other communications infrastructure in many rural areas.

Over 75% of Salvadorans rely principally on radio for their information, since it is a more economic source and reflects oral traditions and culture; estimates are that almost 100% of Salvadoran households have a radio.

The following categories of information and programming are most popular:

• breaking news and latest events
• "giveaway" programs (t-shirts, tickets)
• advice from professionals (lawyers, doctors)
• technical information, for example about the price of basic items, agricultural information (pest control, harvest times, etc.)
• information about bureaucratic paperwork (passports, registration, licenses, etc.)
• information about the town itself, mostly requested by students.

Lessons learned:

• Better use can be made of commercial frequencies by dividing them among member stations located in distinct geographical areas
• Community radio is a good way to involve local youth; about 75% of volunteers who work with local radios are youth.
• Community radios will be able to broaden their impact, and improve the quality of the information that listeners demand, if they are somehow linked to the Internet, particularly if there is an Infocenter nearby.

[top]

Background:

In November 1998, 22 national organizations –the Foreign Relations Ministry with its program Capacidad 21, 16 Salvadoran universities, the Corporation of Muncipalities (COMURES), the Social Investment Fund for Local Development (FISDL), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the National Center for Agricultural and Forestry Technology (CENTA), and the National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT)– formed the University Network for Local Sustainable Development.

The groups set up a technical and institutional assistance agreement aimed at promoting participatory and sustainable development efforts at the local and national level, as well as maintaining active information exchanges and conducting joint activities in areas of common interest for the benefit of local, regional, and/or national development.

Specific goals included: promote technical and financial assistance from national and international organizations which would help promote sustainable local development; promote scientific research on sustainable development; provide guidelines for technical assistance from the academic-scientific sector on ecoomic, social, technological, institutional, and environmental issues, through social outreach and study programs; support and participate in departmental, micro-regional, and municipal efforts which require technical or scientific support, according to the requirements of local civil society, businesses, and/or local authorities; help disseminate methods and techniques to generate employment, increase productivity, manage local resources for development, diversify production, and preserve natural resources and biodiversity, as well as other issues related to local sustainable development; help build technical and instititutional skills in municipalities and communities; share information, knowledge, and experiences about the benefits of technology use and scientific methods.

Lessons learned:

• The scientific and academic community has identified the need to promote research and innovation so that society better understands the purpose of science and technology, and is making an effort to integrate those methods and strategies which help reduce the harmful and irreversible effects of productive processes.
• Importance of supporting decentralization processes, and the role played by Departmental Councils of Mayors in seeking solutions to the most pressing problems faced by their communities, by applying or utilizing participatory methods which underscore the role of the citizen.
• Importance of coordination and consensus-building in seeking resources and financing for local development, with the goal of attaining practical, harmonious, and sustainable solutions to the nation’s chief socio-economic and environmental problems.
• Generation of two-way learning processes between the Network and the local population; this implies strengthening of municipal development processes, and at the same time, the modification and adaption of existing university programs (social services, curriculum) and those of other institutions, to better reflect real needs.

[top]

Background:

The Local Development Network is made up of six Salvadoran non-profit organizations: FUSAI, FUNDE, FUNDAUNGO, SACDEL, FUNDAMUNI, and FLACSO, each with different methodologies but with agreement on fundamental issues. For the past several years, all have been working with a variety of Salvadoran municipalities in helping them design participatory development plans, for an aggregate total of approximately 50 to date.

Lessons learned:

The process of designing these 50 development plans for rural municipalities has involved the collection of a sufficient quantity of general information, but when it comes time to draw up action plans, which require more precise information in order to locate types of problems and build priorities, or when it comes to defining the central problem and the actions required, the information is not always managed in the best fashion, and many priorities are left undefined.

Necessary information about available local resources is often nowhere to be found, which makes it almost impossible to conduct strategic planning or draw up investment projections. The causes of this problem are diverse: administrative deficiencies in the local government which make it difficult to come up with a five-year income projection, or sometimes lack of transparency in the town council.

In general terms, the Network has identified the following weaknesses in the collection and application of information necessary for local planning:

• in many cases the information exists, but no one knows where and how to find it; sometimes even it exists, it is not made available to those who need it, and is therefore useless; in other cases, the information simply does not exist;
• existing information is frequently incomplete, covering only a portion of the necessary universe, and is not representative; information is out of date (for example, the 1992 census);
• different sets of information are not comparable in terms of variables and methods used, which makes it impossible to compare zones, micro-regions, and municipalities; and
• there are serious deficiencies in the local capacity to collect information.

Fundamentally, the Network proposes the creation of a nationwide group, in coordination with local governments, which would facilitate the ongoing creation of necessary information throughout the nation’s municipalities and micro-regions.

[top]

Other good practices related to information and local development: