Triangular Cooperation between the International Development Agencies of Guatemala, Mexico and Germany

Strengthening the role of the Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency of Guatemala in managing relationships with donor countries and other international development organizations

Guatemala´s Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency of Guatemala (SEGEPLAN) aims to strengthen internal coordination in order to foster alliances and align international DC to national priorities and interests in sustainable development. There is interest in strengthening internal management mechanisms within SEGEPLAN in order to strengthen the Guatemalan DC policy and to foster collective and coordinated efforts for joint development.  

It is expected that a collective and triangular learning and knowledge-sharing process will contribute to strengthen SEGEPLAN´s internal management processes to ensure that international cooperation is closely linked to the Guatemalan development priorities. This initiative contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 16 (Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies) and 17 (Partnerships for the goals). Thus, global and regional alliances as well as alliances in Guatemala for the sustainable development are fostered and managed.  

In collaboration with Germany and Mexico and their respective DC agencies (AMEXCID, GIZ), the objective will be achieved by implementing the following actions and measures: (i) providing spaces for dialogue to identify best practices and lessons learned in technical DC management of other countries with similar challenges; (ii) providing assistance in the design and implementation of institutional strategies and methodologies for an effective monitoring and evaluation system of technical DC projects in Guatemala; and (iii) providing assistance in the registration of existing technical DC projects in Guatemala through a digital platform to improve information and knowledge management.  

Germany supports the project through the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and provides methodological assistance in the strategic implementation of the technical DC policy. Mexico contributes with the transfer of know-how that the Mexican Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AMEXCID) has acquired and experienced in its own consolidation process of the DC policy. It is a unique triangular cooperation between DC agencies of an emerging economy (Mexico), an industrialized country (Germany) and a developing country (Guatemala) that may be replicated in other regions and countries. The results and lessons learned are of particular importance given the increasing role of DC agencies for effective DC and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in each country. 

So far, exchanges of experience in networking modalities with cooperation partners and the promotion of internal coordination between the institutions (SEGEPLAN and AMEXCID) in both countries in 2017 and 2018 have already nurtured the internal analysis of SEGEPLAN´s own plan of institutional strengthening. In addition, tools for an effective DC project management as well as for the existing DC systems, managed by SEGEPLAN and AMEXCID, were shared and jointly revised. 

In the past few years, Mexico has experienced an institutional transformation of its development cooperation management after the approval and implementation of the DC policy in 2011. This process has been supported with technical assistance by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and hence, the interest in replicating the initiative with Guatemala.