2009 Annual Report

2009 Latin America and the Caribbean Grantee Spotlight:
Monitoring City Councils in Colombia

Decades of armed conflict in Colombia damaged the rule of law there and left many institutions weak, corrupt and susceptible to the pressures and influence of illegal, armed actors.

The 2000s, however, saw dramatic improvements and opportunities to address long-standing obstacles to fully transparent, accountable and democratic governance. As a result, NED grantees in Colombia were able to coordinate their efforts and build a successful national network to oversee, analyze and evaluate the work of city councils in major metropolitan areas throughout the country.

This process began in 2002, when Corporación Transparencia por Colombia (Transparency for Colombia Corporation) began support for an initiative promoting citizen oversight of city councils. Transparencia por Colombia initially focused on crafting a general methodology that would lead to greater transparency in the work of city councils throughout the country. Early assessments of city councils included basic evaluations of attendance and legislative outcomes.

By 2009, the methodology for city council oversight included a sophisticated battery of indicators that analyze the work of individual council members and their parties, the constitutionality of legislative proposals, and whether a council has effectively addressed the needs of its constituents. Starting with the City Council of Bogotá, Transparencia por Colombia helped build a national network dedicated to improving municipal governance throughout the country.

The Fundación Cívica Social Pro Cartagena (the Social Civic Foundation for Cartagena, or FUNCICAR) joined this network in 2004 with an initiative to oversee the City Council of Cartagena. FUNCICAR initially monitored how often and for how long council members attended legislative sessions. After FUNCICAR reports revealed that several members were present for less than half of the Council’s sessions, attendance jumped sharply; by 2009, average attendance was over 85 percent. FUNCICAR’s monitoring methodology has evolved steadily and now uses local polling data to analyze council responsiveness to the interests and concerns of Cartagena’s citizens. These new strategies for oversight are helping the City Council to become ever more responsive and accountable to its constituents.

In 2004, the Corporación Caribe (Caribbean Corporation) also partnered with Transparencia por Colombia to craft a program to monitor and analyze the City Council of Barranquilla. As was the case in Cartagena, Corporación Caribe’s oversight of attendance records received widespread media coverage and prompted council members to drastically increase their presence at legislative sessions. In 2009, Corporación Caribe developed a methodology to objectively evaluate each member’s and party’s work in the City Council. These assessments provide the citizens of Barranquilla with detailed information about their public officials and will be an invaluable tool for voters in the next round of municipal elections in 2011.

The Corporación Cívica de Caldas (Civic Corporation of Caldas) launched its own chapter of the city council oversight network in Manizales in 2007. By implementing best practices from other cities across Colombia, the Corporación Cívica de Caldas has become a respected voice on government accountability in Manizales.

As these grantees demonstrate, this growing national network — which now includes members in the cities of Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Cali, Cartagena, Manizales and Neiva — has been remarkably successful in helping citizens hold their elected officials accountable and inspiring council members to be more responsive to their constituents.