End-Review of the Programme “Democratic Values and Political Management”, Guatemala

The Project 
The programme "Democratic Values and Political Management Support to Legally Registered Political Parties" (PVDGP), was carried out by the Organisation of American States (OAS) with funding from Norad and Sida from 2000-2007. The Development objective for 2004-2007 was: "to promote democratic values and instruments for political management in the political parties (PP), so to raise the levels of institutionalisation, representativity and legitimacy".  The immediate objective was: "to design and promote processes for institutionalisation and democratic change in the PPs and the party system in Guatemala".  The main activities were: Strengthen the PPs, facilitate multiparty dialogue, support the revision of the law on elections and political parties (LEPP), and financing and publishing of relevant studies. The program (2000-2007) received Norwegian support of about 24.5 million NOK. Under the final agreement (2004-2007), funding from Norway amounted to 14 million NOK (approx. 2.2 million USD) and the Swedish support to 9 million SEK (approx. 1.3 million USD), thus giving a total support of around 3.5 million USD for the period 2004-2007.

Interesting Findings
Efficiency / Effectiveness:

• The single most important change with direct relevance for the achievement of PVDGP's objectives is the change in the legal framework concerning elections and political parties represented by the 2004 revision of the LEPP. Of particular importance is the decentralisation of the voting, implying an increased number of polling stations, which has led to decreased abstentionism in the rural areas. Also important is the introduction of rules for party financing and a system for public financing of the parties.
• The sustained support to the reform of the LEPP has had a direct effect on the electoral campaign of 2007 and has thus improved participation of women and indigenous people somewhat. One effect of the reform of the LEPP is the diminished fragmentation of the party system.
• The communication and general relation between the OAS Washington office, the local PVDGP office and the donors were initially quite well functioning, and there was initially a high degree of OAS ownership of the programme.  However, the reorganisation of OAS in Washington during 2006 and the related staff changes implied a reassessment of the programme within OAS. The result was a strained relation between the head office and the programme coordinator, which culminated with his resignation at the end of 2006.
• As fixed costs constituted a considerable part of the budget, a reduction in the activity level (as it happened in 2006 due to the problems between the OAS head office and the PVDGP staff) implies that the relation between costs and outputs becomes particularly unfavourable, thus leading to a relative decline in cost-efficiency.
  Sustainability:
• The programme has been functioning for almost 10 years, but despite some progress, particularly regarding the legal framework and the willingness to dialogue, the political parties and the party system still have a series of obvious weaknesses.  This reflects partly the very low point of departure, and partly that change in political culture and democratic values is a long-term process. 
• In general, the review team considers that the (limited) progress noted is probably sustainable after the termination of PVDGP.  This is particularly the case for the improved legal framework and the willingness to dialogue, while it is more doubtful whether progress on the issue of inclusion can be expected.