The UE EUROsociAL+ Programme accompanies SISCA in the elaboration of Recovering Post-COVID Plan for Central America and Dominican Republic that will respond to human settlements and territorial regulation.
San José de Costa Rica
In the member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA) it is estimated that the crisis caused by COVID-19 will mean a 7.3% reduction in average GDP, that increases in the Gini index will be between 1.0% and 8.0%, and that there will be a 4.3% increase on average in the proportion of the population living in poverty compared to 2019, according to ECLAC estimates.
Added to these figures is the rising concern about being able to meet the 17 goals of the 2030 Agenda, whose achievement is at risk due to the impact of the pandemic and the historical social gaps in the region.
The potential of the Central American Integration System (SICA) has been a safe bet for moving the development of the Recovery, Social Reconstruction and Resilience Plan forward in a coordinated and articulated manner, an instrument that will mitigate the effects of the pandemic and set up societies that are more resilient, socially more just and environmentally more sustainable.
This Plan responds to the mandate of the Council for Social Integration (CIS) which, in its Second Special Declaration was launched in the midst of the health emergency and lays down the lines which SISCA is to follow, with assistance from EUROsociAL+ and United Nations specialised agencies, to develop a regional level initiative which supports the efforts that each SICA country is carrying out to further the global promise not to leave anyone behind. The objective of the Plan is to structure the public sector responses regarding social, labour and human settlement problems of SICA member countries and to guarantee the mainstreaming of the gender approach throughout the initiative.
As Alfredo Suárez, Secretary-General of the Secretariat for Central American Social Integration (SISCA) explains, “we need to redouble our efforts and rethink the different social programmes to meet the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable populations, who are currently facing a greater loss of livelihood, low availability of income, vulnerability in health and education, and not least, greater food insecurity and malnutrition; both in the immediate phase of the response and in the medium term, in order to prevent or generate a lesser negative impact as a result of the crisis.”
The EUROsociAL+ Democratic Governance Area, managed by FIIAPP, within its Territorial Development line of action, coordinates the third pillar of the Plan whose objective is to respond to informal settlements and achieve sustainable urban development.
As Sonia González, head of the Governance area, explains, there are diverse urban challenges in the region. “From the housing deficit to the degradation of historic centres or the gentrification processes which are incipient in some of these same centres, but the spread of the COVID-19 crisis has established the significance that those who reside in informal settlements are in situations of particular risk, particularly women, given the indices of overcrowding, the lack of basic services such as water and sanitation or the lack of integration with the “formal city”, which makes access to services difficult.”
With the help of the DEMUCA Foundation and the collaboration of UN HABITAT, different bilateral meetings have been held with the main organisations of each of the countries in the region with responsibilities in housing and land use planning.
These meetings, explained Bárbara Gómez, head of the territorial development line of the European Union programme, constitute the origin of the strategic proposals that will make up the programme’s third pillar. “The first proposal is focused on the strengthening of municipal authorities in the area of land use planning to enhance effectiveness in the implementation of neighbourhood improvement projects and the provision of basic services. The second proposal is aimed at understanding the magnitude of urban challenges through the mapping of informal settlements in order to prioritise them in territorial policies. And finally, the third proposal seeks to promote the improvement of precarious settlements, taking on the neighbourhood approach as a reality that enriches the urban environment from a gender perspective,” said Gómez.
In parallel, the proposals being developed will also feed into the construction of the Regional Action Plan for the Implementation of the New Urban Agenda in the SICA region (PRINAU-SICA 2020-2036) of the Central American Council for Housing and Urban Settlements (CCVH ), which is also accompanied by UN HABITAT.
The first proposals for strategic projects of the three pillars will be validated by the three regional political platforms supporting the Plan: the Council for Social Integration, the Council of Labour Ministers and the Central American Council for Housing and Human Settlements. The final version of the Recovery, Social Reconstruction and Resilience Plan, once approved by the three political platforms, will be presented at the next summit of SICA Heads of State and Government, scheduled for December.
