UNCRD LAC Office
Human Security and Regional Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
Background
This project is aimed at forging cooperation in building the institutional capacity of regional governments and regional development institutions to address critical threats to human security. Latin America is a region with the highest income disparities between the rich and the poor in the world, which has resulted in increasing social exclusion that threatens democratic systems in many countries. Many local and regional governments and regional development agencies are facing an increasing number of human security threats in their territories related to increasing poverty and unemployment; the results of a deficient provision of basic services; degradation of natural resources; civil conflict and violence, population displacement; and regional disparities. Women and the youth are especially vulnerable to human security threats.
Over the last two decades, several developing countries have made remarkable progress in economic growth and social development. Yet, the number of people vulnerable to poverty, disease, environmental degradation, violence, and social disintegration has also increased, generating a sense of insecurity in the peoples. There are also great disparities between provinces, municipalities, and urban and rural areas, related to infrastructure, income, and institutional capacity to deal with regional problems. This situation makes it imperative that the different entities and levels of government work in collaboration to face these challenges.
The human security approach, highlighted in the United Nations Human Development Report of 1994, proposed a change in the perception of security, and opened the debate about what should be the focus of regional and national efforts to promote security around the world. An integrated approach along different interrelated dimensions of economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security was recommended to counter the disparities between the rich and the poor, rise in ethnic conflicts, negative impacts of globalization, and environmental degradation.
Building organizational and institutional capacity for the efficient and integrated management of human security issues is one of the most important challenges of local and regional governments and regional development institutions in Latin American countries. It is particularly so in the context of the decentralization policy implemented in most countries of the region over the past two decades. While human security concerns are critical in the LAC region, initiatives to incorporate a human security orientation in regional and local development policies and planning are still few. A human security orientation demands that the needs of the vulnerable be addressed and integrated into development strategies.
Objectives
Specific project objectives are:
- Undertaking human security assessments in the LAC region;
- Identifying best practices, measuring programme/project success, and disseminating the lessons learned from the research findings;
- Assessing local government capacity to address human security threats and training needs;
- Assisting local and regional governments in strengthening their capacities to address human security problems, and in facilitating the integration of human security concerns and actions into their local development policies, plans, and projects; and
- Promoting partnerships for training in human security and regional development, including exchange of information and experiences between the regions of the hemisphere.
Project components include action research, in-country and international training courses; human security assessments as inputs to local and regional development policy, planning and projects; project formulation; and development of pilot community projects.