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El Salvador
>> Regional Overview >> El Salvador Overview Activity Data Sheet
PROGRAM: El Salvador
TITLE AND NUMBER: More Inclusive and Effective Democratic Processes, 519-002
PLANNED FY 2001 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $4,400,000 DA and $1,482,000 ESF
PROPOSED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND ACCOUNT: $4,000,000 DA and $1,500,000 ESF
STATUS: Continuing
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2003Summary: USAID/El Salvador's democracy objective directly supports the Mission Program Plan goal of consolidating El Salvador's democratic institutions and practices and institutionalizing respect for human rights. Trustworthy public institutions will greatly assist in attaining support for democratic systems. A stronger, more responsive democracy in turn will encourage Salvadorans not to emigrate to the U.S. in search of better prospects. Additionally, increased respect and rule of law will attract and retain greater levels of national and international investment and thus contribute to regional stability.
USAID has identified five key intermediate results which are essential to fostering more inclusive and effective democratic processes: 1) more politically active advocacy organizations; 2) more effective electoral administration; 3) strengthened local government; 4) increased use of the justice system; and 5) improved court case preparation and management. The fundamental challenge remains to ensure that customers are served equitably by a fair and just legal system, by open and transparent public institutions, and by enhanced opportunities for inclusion in national and local-level decision-making processes. USAID/El Salvador is promoting greater opportunities to access legal services in rural and semi-rural areas. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are learning how to advocate for change and democratic local governments are becoming more responsive to citizen demands. Free and fair elections have now become the standard in El Salvador. Strengthening the effectiveness of key democratic institutions continues to be central to achieving the Mission's democracy objective.
Key Results: The democracy strategy is on-track. Access to justice and confidence in the justice system continues to grow facing the criminality challenge, there has been a substantial increase of cases being filed in target areas. In 2000, about 22% more cases were filed in target areas than in 1999, indicating a greater belief that the judicial system can provide fair trials. As implementation of the criminal code reforms passed in 1998 continues, there has been a substantial increase in the overall number of wrongful detention cases resolved by the court system, a fundamental mechanism in protecting citizen rights. For example, the Supreme Court adjudicated a total number of 586 habeas corpus cases in 2000, a 26% increase over last year.
Over the past year, free and fair elections were held for local government authorities and national legislators, with all parties respecting the results. This was the fourth popular election since the 1992 Peace Accords which included the active involvement of the former guerilla group as an official political party, Faramundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Target municipal governments improved their local revenue generation by eleven percent and increased coverage of basic public services such as water and sanitation and solid waste collection and disposal. Citizen participation in local decision-making processes has continued to deepen in the Mission's 28 target municipalities as well as nationwide, resulting in greater transparency in the management of public funds. Several CSOs initiated advocacy activities for significant policy changes such as an improved water law, the decentralization of water services and domestic violence prevention. At the national level, the Assembly expanded its citizen outreach activities by opening a third constituent outreach office and augmenting the number and breadth of their public hearings.
Performance and Prospects: The 2000 elections for local and legislative representatives were deemed free and fair by both national and international observers. All political participants in this election accepted the results as the will of the people. Significantly, no party achieved a majority in the legislature and the former guerilla force, the FMLN, won the largest congressional representation. One of the basic tenets of any democracy is transparent and fair election processes. El Salvador has proven that their electoral system can now pass that test.
Support for the democratic system in El Salvador is rising. In the latest national democratic values survey (Seligson, et.al., 1999), 57% of those surveyed supported the current democratic system as measured by a set of core support values. By contrast in 1991 only 49% showed such support and 53% in 1995. This is a vital measure of political culture and is directly linked to political stability. This continued upward trend is an indication that democratic institutions are being more responsive to citizens' demands and receiving larger popular support.
Administration of Justice. Over the past year judicial operators have become more versant in the new criminal system. Inter-institutional coordination and the definition of roles and responsibilities have continued to improve. The Assembly passed key amendments to the criminal code and criminal procedure code, further clarifying roles and responsibilities. Fundamental weapons in dealing with organized crime and public security were included in the codes such as the inclusion of conspiracy to commit murder or kidnapping as crimes, authorization to use wire-tapping, amplified and simpler use of warrants by police, and special protection provisions for victims and witnesses. Justice sector operators are now working more closely in task forces, especially to deal with organized crime. As part of the Peace Accord's mandate to develop a new civilian police force, USAID has also supported the DOJ efforts to introduce community policing practices to lower crime rates and to assure more effective coordination between police and prosecutors in bringing cases to conclusion.
The Attorney General's Office and the Public Defenders Office have made substantial investments in their regional offices (14 and 18 respectively) to increase their capacity to provide services in the interior of the country. This has resulted in the Public Defenders Office handling over 36,000 cases during the last year compared to 14,000 during the previous period. The Attorney General's Office has been able to increase its caseload by 300%.
Local Government. The Mission supported several citizen participation activities in its 28 target municipalities. Town planning meetings and public budget hearings were held in all of these municipalities and 14 of them opened up their city council meetings to public scrutiny. These initiatives have served as positive examples for the rest of the country's municipalities, with an estimated 160 of the 262 total municipalities carrying out at least one form of citizen participation. These actions are crucial to improving transparent and efficient public management of resources at the local level.
Service delivery has improved with the opening of a new sanitary landfill and increased solid waste collection plans for several municipalities in the western interior part of the country. Plans are also underway for similar activities for groups of municipalities both in the eastern and northern interior provinces. Important steps towards decentralizing of water and sanitation services to local governments have been taken. Several systems have already been decentralized on a temporary basis and draft legislation to further decentralize these services is under discussion with the government.
Civil Society: A new grants program was begun in 2000 to strengthen the capacity, skills and human resources of civil society organizations for advocacy on public policy issues. Initial activities were carried out for CSO advocacy in the areas of water service decentralization, a new national water management and protection law, violence prevention, and transparency. A virtual journal, "Probidad", was established by a local CSO to use the Internet to combat corruption. Weekly e-mailings of anti-corruption news and issues in El Salvador are sent out to key government officials, donors and other interested CSOs.
With USAID assistance, the Assembly opened its third constituent outreach office in San Salvador. The offices received 886 visits by the public during the year and are channeling citizens concerns and proposals to their elected representatives. The congressional committees on Budget and Finance, the Environment, and Public Health held public hearings on several different themes.
Election Administration. As mentioned above, successful municipal and legislative elections were held in 2000. This was possible, in part, to USAID's past assistance on electoral management and the Mission's support to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in becoming Y2K compliant. A new, more accurate electoral registry should be completed by June 2001. The production of the single identity card will begin at that point and continue until all eligible voters have one, estimated at just over three million individuals. The government plans to use the new electoral registry and identity cards in the 2003 municipal and legislative elections as a guarantee of even greater electoral transparency and accuracy.
In FY 2001, $1,482,000 of ESF funds and $4,400,000 in DA is requested, and, for FY 2002, $1,500,000 in ESF and $4,000,000 in DA are sought. The ESF monies in both fiscal years will be used to continue efforts to modernize the Salvadoran Justice System, to deepen GOES efforts in the rule of law, and to provide for equality in citizen access to justice, with the aim of achievement of a more effective, impartial and timely administration of justice system. USAID will continue to assist ICITAP with its successful community policing initiative. As for the DA funds, they will be utilized to (a) provide training to all judicial sector players, (b) enhance local government capacity via improved municipal administration, and (c) increase citizen participation and transparency in government.
Possible Adjustments to Plans: No significant adjustments to the current strategy are planned. However, some resources will be reallocated to assist, within current program mandates, those areas most effected by the country's recent series of devastating earthquakes. This includes providing additional technical assistance, equipment and support to the Mission's target municipalities most damaged by these tragedies as well as similar assistance to judicial sector partners, especially the Attorney General's Office.
Other Donor Programs: Other donors working in the field of judicial reform include the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Spanish government. The World Bank is evaluating a possible infrastructure loan for the Supreme Court. The IDB, the UNDP and the German Assistance Agency (GTZ) are all engaged in local government strengthening. The IDB has also made a small loan to the Assembly for legislative strengthening.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: The main judicial sector contractor is DPK Consulting. Research Triangle Institute is working in the area of local government strengthening along with DevTech Systems Inc. Creative Associates Inc. (CREA) is strengthening several local CSOs and is managing a grants program. CREA has sub-contracted the University of Texas to take the lead in USAID's legislative strengthening efforts.
FY 2002 Performance Table
El Salvador: 519-002
Performance Measures:
Indicator FY97
(Actual)FY98
(Actual)FY99
(Actual)FY00
(Actual)FY00
(Plan)FY01
(Plan)FY02
(Plan)Indicator 1: Number of Assembly-sponsored constituent service offices established by department NA NA 2 3 3 4 5 Indicator 2: Municipal funds allocated for investment in services and infrastructure in target municipalities 1,587,892 7,390,044 7,682,483 8,644,291 10,407,000 11,660,000 12,425,000 Indicator 3: Habeas corpus cases adjudicated by Supreme Court 537 468 464 324* 441 419 398 Indicator 4: Criminal court cases filed in family, juvenile and criminal courts in targeted geographic areas 12,781 15,495 13,685 16,667 14,232 14,801 15,393 Indicator Information:
Indicator Level (S)or(IR) Unit of Measure Source Indicator Description Indicator 1: S Number of offices Legislative Assembly A Departmental Constituents Service Office is a new outreach mechanism for Legislative Assembly deputies to have more direct contact with their constituents. A service office is staffed and paid for by the Legislative Assembly and must have at least one scheduled visit per month by deputies. There are a total of 14 departments in El Salvador. Indicator 2: IR Amount, in dollars Municipal budgets This indicator monitors total funds derived from two sources, government of El Salvador funds transferred to municipalities and resources generated locally by the target municipalities for these purposes. Indicator 3: S Number of cases Annual report of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court Number of wrongful imprisonment cases heard and settled by the Supreme Court.
*The justice system has been implementing the criminal code reforms faster than planned, resulting in a larger than expected number of habeas corpus cases being resolved by lower courts (262 during 2000). Therefore the overall number of habeas corpus settled by the court system was 586.
Indicator 4: IR Number Supreme Court, Administrative Systems Unit yearly report, "Informe Anual de Causas Ingresadas" The geographic areas targeted for USAID assistance are the departments of Cuscatlan, Sonsonate and Usulutan, and the populous San Salvador suburb of Soyapango. The reported number includes court cases filed in family, juvenile and criminal courts. U.S. Financing
(In thousands of dollars)
Obligations Expenditures Unliquidated Through September 30, 1999 16,776 DA 8,692 DA 8,084 DA 0 CSD 0 CSD 0 CSD 13,300 ESF 11,112 ESF 2,188 ESF 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 DFA 0 DFA 0 DFA Fiscal Year 2000 3,773 DA 3,977 DA 0 CSD 0 CSD 1,500 ESF 465 ESF 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 DFA 0 DFA Through September 30, 2000 20,549 DA 12,669 DA 7,880 DA 0 CSD 0 CSD 0 CSD 14,800 ESF 11,577 ESF 3,223 ESF 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 DFA 0 DFA 0 DFA Prior Year Unobligated Funds* 0 DA 0 CSD 0 ESF 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 DFA Planned Fiscal Year 2001 NOA 4,400 DA 0 CSD 1,482 ESF 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 DFA Total Planned Fiscal Year 2001 4,400 DA 0 CSD 1,482 ESF 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 DFA Future Obligations Est. Total Cost Proposed Fiscal Year 2002 NOA 4,000 DA 673 DA 29,622 DA 0 CSD 0 CSD 0 CSD 1,500 ESF 218 ESF 18,000 ESF 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 SEED 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 FSA 0 DFA 0 DFA 0 DFA
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
