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ART Annual Report 2011

Forewords

Advancing the Territorial Approach

The UNDP launched the ART Global Initiative in 2005, as part of its commitment to support countries in their efforts to accelerate progress on the MDGs and achieve sustainable development. Since then, the Initiative has demonstrated that regional, municipal and local authorities have an important role to play in promoting sustainable development.

This annual report captures some of the most compelling examples of how ART's impact on the ground has helped narrow implementation gaps for achieving the MDGs and improve local economic development, health and education, water resource management, conflict prevention and gender equality, to name but a few areas.

The report also shows that ART's territorial approach is contributing to development effectiveness through the coordination, harmonization and alignment of development efforts of multiple actors at the sub-national level, such as in Morocco, Colombia, Ecuador and Sri Lanka. This work is instrumental in contributing to achieve greater coherence among development partners, the importance of which has been emphasized in Busan and in various fora prior to that, such as the UN 2002 Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development and the subsequent Doha Declaration.

The Initiative is also an important entry point for Decentralized Cooperation partners to UNDP and the development system, as it offers a tested multilateral framework to assist in identifying the territories' needs and priorities and in making the territories' voices heard. For instance, in 2011 ART had the support of more than 1,600 decentralized cooperation partners (600 from the North and 1,000 from the South) and 40 regional networks and associations; these increasing numbers attest to the Initiative's credibility, expertise and ability to deliver.

UNDP's 19 ART Country Framework Programmes, innovative initiatives and case studies described in this report show that ART is well placed to meaningfully contribute to the new development paradigm and the post- 2015 challenge. With its experience in the field, large networks of decentralized cooperation partners and closeness to local and subnational authorities, the ART Initiative can be the catalyst for achieving sustainable development for all.

Sigrid A. Kaag
UN ASG and Director Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy - UNDP

Olav Kjørven
UN ASG and Director Bureau for Development Policy - UNDP

A Challenging 2011

A year of changes, challenges and opportunities, 2011 has witnessed the consolidation of the ART Global Initiative as one of UNDP's leading innovative instruments for development cooperation.

The ART Initiative has become acknowledged as a reliable, tested and trusted mechanism to promoting development effectiveness at the local level, contributing to MDG achievement and favoring a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive human development.

The Initiative has also reinforced its position as an entry point for decentralized cooperation partners wishing to contribute to human development and decentralization processes.

Focusing on long-term processes rather than on one-off projects, ART's multilateral, multi-stakeholder and multilevel approach, firmly grounded on the promotion of mutually reinforcing partnerships, is well equipped to substantively contribute to enabling local development processes and promote a much needed dialogue between and among territories, as a constructive means to approach local, national and global partners.

Furthermore, ART's experience has contributed to improved coherence between local and national processes of sustainable human development, in part thanks to its territorial approach, which incorporates the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable human development at the local level.

Despite the ongoing financial crisis and decreasing aid budgets, the ART Framework Programmes continue to thrive. The Initiative has consolidated its decentralized cooperation networks, mobilized new international partners and launched new Programmes at the request of the partner countries.

Today, the ART Initiative is strongly embedded in the UNDP corporate structure and brings in the territorial perspective to the emerging development paradigm.

The Initiative can now confidently capitalize on its six-year long experience and position itself in crucial development processes. ART would certainly not have achieved these accomplishments without the collective, steadfast and perseverant efforts of all its partners in the territories.

As ART's International Coordinator and in the name of all the ART teams, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to each and every one of the 1,600 entities and networks (1,000 from the South and 600 from the North) that have contributed to proving that the harmonized effort of multiple players is indeed possible and has an important role to play in this complex financial crisis.

Giovanni Camilleri
International Coordinator of the ART Initiative

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