Colombia OECD Accession - OECD Accession/Colombia 2016-2021 Colombias OECD-anslutning Projektets avtalsvärde 19 miljoner kronor för att genomföra projektet “Fostering institutional efficiency and public-governance effectiveness in Colombia as strategic enablers to sustain inclusive growth and bring Colombia closer to the OECD” under perioden 2016-2022.

Insatsen syftar till att förbättra kapaciteten hos den colombianska staten för att designa och leverera policy och tjänster för medborgare samt företag i landets samtliga regioner på ett sätt som effektivt riktar in sig mot behov och uppnår resultat. Insatsen är utformad för att ta itu med två huvudfrågor där OECD har identifierat ett behov av ytterligare reformer av den colombianska regeringen för att bli en del av organisationen: offentlig styrning och miljöpolicy. Komponenterna i insatsen är: i) tillgång till rättvisa som en mänsklig rättighet, ii) främja integritet i Colombia genom regionala kommissioner, iii) Utvidgning av Regeringens principer om transparens, ansvarsskyldighet och medborgardeltagande, iv) Förstärkning av den subnationella administrativa kapaciteten, v) stöd för att öka kvinnors politiska deltagande och vi) förstärkning av ramverket för miljöhantering.  

OECD kommer att genomföra insatsen genom workshops, seminarier, politisk dialog, tekniskt stöd och fallstudier. OECD kommer att arbeta nära med intressanter såsom den colombianska nationella planeringsavdelningen (DNP), sekretariatet för transparens, justitieministeriet och ministeriet för miljö och hållbar utveckling samt lokala myndigheter. This contribution of 19 million SEK is to carry out the Project named “Fostering institutional efficiency and public-governance effectiveness in Colombia as strategic enablers to sustain inclusive growth and bring Colombia closer to the OECD” during the period 2016-2022.

The intervention aims at enhancing the capacity of the Colombian state to design and deliver policies and services to citizens and business in all regions of the country in a way that effectively addresses needs and achieves results.  It is designed to support two committees that need further reform efforts by the Colombian government in order to become part of the Organisation: Public-governance and Environmental Policy.

The components of the intervention are: i) Access to Justice as a Human Right dimension, ii) Fostering Integrity in Colombia through the Regional Moralisation Commissions, iii) Extension of the Open Government principles of transparency, accountability and citizen participation , iv) Strengthening of sub-national administrative capacities, v) Support to enhance women’s political participation and vi) Strengthening of the environmental governance framework. The aim of this co-operation between the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Government of Colombia (GoC) is to address key challenges identified by two Committees (Public Governance, PGC and Environmental Policy, EPOC). 

Furthermore, the projects objective is also to enhance the capacity of the Colombian state to design and deliver policies and services to citizens and business in all regions of the country in a way that effectively moves the country closer to OECD standards in the areas covered by this projects components, and ultimately enables the GoC and local governments to address needs and achieve results for citizens more effectively and efficiently. 

The Project includes 6 interlinked components with the following illustrative results:

1. Access to Justice as a Human Right dimension: Impact of justice service-delivery at the local level. i) Concrete improvements in the multi-level governance and local planning capacity for justice services. ii) Enhanced horizontal co-ordination in the specific region selected. iii) Increased citizen engagement in justice provision. iv) Timelier and fairer access to justice in the selected region. 

2. Fostering Integrity in Colombia: Developing capacities at the level of the Regional Moralisation Commissions (RMC). i) Improved coordination between the national and the regional moralization commissions, as well as among the actors involved in the regional moralization commissions. ii) Enhanced relations between the regional institutions and its citizens, creating a direct impact by lowering risks of corruption and reducing the number of actual cases of corruption, building trust in the regional public administrations, and increasing transparency in public decision making. iii) Strengthening RMCs will also increase public trust in the controlling institutions and provide a best practice case to be replicated in other regions of the country. 

3. Extending the Benefits of the Open Government principles of Transparency, Accountability and citizen participation to the Sub-national Level to improve public-sector responsiveness to citizens needs, including from a gender-equality perspective. i) Strengthened territorial component of the second OGP Action Plan paving the way for a third OGP Action Plan including more departments and municipalities. ii) Independent open government action plans of regions other than Antioquia. iii) Enhanced co-ordination of open government policies between the national and the subnational levels. iv) Creation of a culture of knowledge sharing between region. v) Broader and deeper citizens engagement with public authorities, including regional and local governments and the key actors comprising the Regional Moralisation Commissions, to improve policy and service design and delivery, fight corruption more effectively on the ground, and improve outcomes and results for people. 

4. Sub-national Administrative Capacity: Strengthening regional governments Centre of Government (CoG). i) Improved vertical co-ordination mechanisms between the central government and regional/local governments to achieve development outcomes more effectively and efficiently.
ii) More capacities for public elected officials to define local policy priorities and plans, managing correctly local finances and budget allocation. iii) Improved policy co-ordination between national, regional, and local levels and with citizens. iv) Enhanced knowledge base in these areas in the National Planning Department to build next-generation national development strategies to reduce regional disparities. v) Enhanced capacity in key poor regions and municipalities in Colombia to define and manage the implementation of public investments from national, regional and local sources to achieve policy objectives identified in regional development plans that accurately reflect the needs of citizens and businesses in the region, including gender-specific services.

5. Supporting Colombia to enhance womens political participation. i) Improved gender equality in public life thanks to concrete information regarding the main barriers that women are facing and how to tackle them. ii) Adherence of Colombia to the 2015 OECD Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life and facilitate its monitoring. iii) Better policy-making that more readily reflects gender-based policy issues. iv) Reinforced policy dialogue between key stakeholders to increase women's political representation and leadership.

6. Environment: Strengthening the governance framework for integrated waste management and transition to a circular economy. i) Improved capacity to design waste management and circular economy policies based on OECD best practices at national and regional/local level. ii) Improved policy co-ordination and strengthened dialogue between national, regional, and local levels on environment policies with waste management policies as focus.

During the fifth period of the contribution, the government of Colombia asked Sida and the OECD to further support components 1 and 5 by conducting a Gender Review, and an amendment was signed for this purpose. The Gender Review built on the elements for good governance highlighted in the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Gender Equality in Public Life and in the work advanced by the
OECD Working Party on Gender Mainstreaming in Governance. It also reflected on the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women and girls, as well as institutional capacities for responding to crisis in a gender-responsive manner, with a view to mainstream gender in emergency management processes.