Projects
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM CUBA, 1999
The general objective of the Local Human Development Program PDHL - which started its activities in 1999 - is to support the implementation of the commitments of United Nations summits and, more specifically, since 2000, the Millennium Goals. Specifically in Cuba, the PDHL supports four prioritized processes jointly with the country, in particular the following:
- Organizational technical decentralization.
- Coverage, quality and sustainability of services.
- Support for the development of the local economy.
- Gender approach transversal to development.
In this framework ILS LEDA supported several programs and initiatives.
Since 1998 ILS LEDA collaborated to Masters in Public Administration, dealing with the issue of local economic development, addressed to officials, business managers and political leaders.
Since 2001, ILS LEDA supported the creation of a Revolving Fund for Local Economic Development Initiatives (FRIDEL), which is a credit instrument created experimentally within the framework of a PDHL program.
FRIDEL is a tool which has significant new characteristics for the international cooperation and for the country if compared with the existing modalities of cooperation: i) it has an inter-institutional cooperation mechanism, approved by the central government with the participation of MINVEC, the territorial governments and the Credit and Trade Bank; ii) the involved territories created specific working groups for this purpose; iii) the provinces and territories - where the PDHL program works -have set their priorities by means of a local programming effort iv) a training that accompanies the use of the instrument through masters and PHD; v) the presence of a permanent representative of international cooperation who develops diagnostic activities for the prioritization and execution of FRIDEL in the territories, in close collaboration with a Cuban coordinator.
The need to design a financial mechanism to support the objective of promoting local development was then raised.
The FRIDEL is the first instrument within the framework of international cooperation that grants loans in free convertible currency in Cuba (MLC, dollars) to be repaid in the same currency.
A Technical Evaluation Committee is formed, consisting of the GTP Coordinator, the PDHL Area Officer, the FMC representative, the BANDEC representative, who send a copy of the Investment Plans formulated, with their recommendations and the technical bank evaluation of the local bank (BANDEC), to the ATP (Principal Technical Advisor) of the PDHL that presents it to the National Coordination Committee session. The interested parties that have requested the loan, the SADEL, the national and local BANDEC, are invited to this session.
Since 2002 ILS LEDA supported the design and creation of the SADELs, which fulfils two main functions: on the one hand, to know in detail the situation of the territory in order to identify the main opportunities and needs and, on the basis of these elements, to be able to choose the projects perceived as priorities; on the other hand, to achieve technical tools, especially in the economic and financial fields, in order to be able to raise, support and evaluate the ideas of companies.
They have the following objectives:
- Design, propose and execute operational work plans in support of local economies;
- Improve, manage and supervise the application of the FRIDEL instrument;
- Organize the training of the provincial and municipal actors in the issues related to the local economic development and the promotion of entrepreneurial capacity within the initiatives related to the APPI / PDHL program;
- Improve and facilitate links and relationships between the economic territorial actors and the decentralized cooperation committee and its provinces;
- Transmit the experiences, information and contacts to the economic actors of the province.
The members of each SADEL are: the representatives of the technical, administrative and productive institutions involved in the local economic development (representatives of ministries, of the BANDEC, of the University, of the Federation of Cuban Women, etc.), the officials of area and the coordinators of the Working Groups acts as secretary of the SADELs.
