In the current budget, Q600 million are earmarked for projects of the Great National Crusade for Nutrition (GCNN), an initiative of the previous government. This year, the resources were redistributed among the 340 municipalities, but the projects being promoted are progressing slowly, although the need is evident.
As of August 12, the Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency (Segeplán) has registered 490 projects, of which only 98 have met all the requirements and have been approved for implementation. There are 350 that are waiting to complete the processes and obtain the approval of the entity, another 42 have not yet been presented by the Codedes to Segeplán.
The only department that has all the projects approved is Escuintla, with 23; Retalhuleu, Quiché, Baja Verapaz, Zacapa and Chiquimula have none approved, because they are still in process. Totonicapán has 17 projects that have not been presented to Segeplán, so they do not have a technical opinion, and Quetzaltenango has not presented any.
Last Friday, a meeting of the Quetzaltenango Departmental Development Council (Codede) was held, where the mayor of Cantel, Allan Cabrera, who is also president of the department’s municipal leaders, explained that his municipality, in addition to Génova, San Carlos Sija and Olintepeque, had already submitted the respective documentation for approval.
“The parameters for continuing with the administrative processes have not been given. The municipalities are already ready to work on them, but we are waiting for the guidelines for investing those funds,” argued Cabrera.
Funds
These works must specifically respond to certain classifications, such as to improve the distribution or introduction of piped water service, sewage systems, improvement of health posts or hospitals, educational establishments, works related to waste management, infrastructure for the promotion of production and infrastructure projects.
Regarding the funds, the distribution was based on a formula, taking into account the rural population, the extreme poverty rate and the municipal ranking. Of the Q600 million available for the budget, Q520 million were allocated for new projects and the other Q80 million correspond to debt carried over from last year.
The departments that received the most for new projects were Huehuetenango, with Q43 million; Alta Verapaz, with Q40 million, and San Marcos, which was allocated Q38 million.
During the first months of government, the National Council for Urban and Rural Development (Conadur) authorized the execution of the funds to extend this year. In addition, since it is an extraordinary distribution of funds, there is no deadline for the presentation of the works.
In addition, another Q4,113 million were approved in the budget extension, including ordinary and extraordinary funds and a specific article for development projects. In that article, Q1,875 million were allocated to all municipalities, although the technical criteria were questioned since the initiative was presented.
Average term
The approval process for a project takes between six and 11 months, according to information shared by Conadur a few months ago.
The approval of the entities involved is also required, such as opinions from the Health, Environment and Natural Resources departments and the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred). On average, each entity takes between two and three months to provide the documentation, although some mayors have reported that sometimes the departments take up to six months for an opinion.
The Secretariat for Executive Coordination of the Presidency (SCEP) assured that it has advised the codedes, but emphasized that the execution is not the entity’s responsibility. In addition, the changes of governors and directors of the councils, plus the number of new mayors, generated the greatest delays in the processes.
“In this process, SCEP has rigorous technical and administrative support at each stage, ensuring that the projects meet the established criteria and are aligned with national priorities. In this way, it is guaranteed that resources are used efficiently to support the fight against malnutrition in the country,” said SCEP.
CONTENT FOR SUBSCRIBERS
Process improvement
The initiatives should target areas with the highest incidence of malnutrition, said former Secretary of Food Security Luis Monterroso. He acknowledged that local authorities are key in addressing malnutrition.
“Inter-institutional coordination must be essential and there is one figure that must be taken into consideration: the municipal commissions for Food Safety and Nutrition. All the information needed to carry out an effective operation should be provided there,” he said.
He also questioned the fact that, given the slow pace of implementation in the portfolios, decentralized actions are gaining more relevance.
For his part, Luis Linares, from the Association for Research and Social Studies (Asíes), said that attention should be paid to the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (Sesán), to ensure that the areas that require it are prioritized and thus avoid political overtones. In addition, the typology of the projects should be reviewed, so that they have a direct impact on the fight against malnutrition.
“It is pointed out that there is corruption in the codedes regarding the projects and that no changes have been made in the way of execution and the processes continue there, while the piñata continues to be torn apart,” he pointed out.
#ten #projects #Great #Crusade #Nutrition #approved
