Date:	5 - 6 October 2006

A human security orientation to planning demands that the needs of the vulnerable be addressed and integrated into development strategies. Human security assessments identify threats to sustainable development and the factors causing vulnerability of communities, as well as the capacity gaps at local levels of government and in the community in dealing with threats and the coping strategies of vulnerable communities. While human security concerns are critical in most Latin American countries, initiatives to incorporate a human security orientation in regional and local development policies and planning are still few. In the Latin American region, major human security concerns are related to large income disparities between the rich and the poor, social exclusion, population displacement, conflict, violence, and inadequate governance. Common threats to human security faced by regional and local governments include poverty and unemployment, deficient provision of services, degradation of natural resources, violence, and regional disparities.

Since 2005, the LAC Office, in cooperation with the JICA-Colombia Office, has supported the governments of Bogotá and Cundinamarca (B-C) in the formulation and implementation of a joint project on human security assessments as inputs into regional and local development policies and planning. The project capitalizes on the methodology and experience of the project implemented by the UNCRD Human Security Group in Asian countries since 1999, as well as the project on human security and regional development initiated by UNCRD-LAC in 2001 to forge cooperation in building capacity of regional governments and regional development institutions in Latin American countries to address critical threats to human security.

As an integral part of the project methodology, a multistakeholder workshop was held in Bogotá on 5-6 October 2006. This workshop, which constituted one of the initial activities of the project in Bogotá-Cundinamarca, aimed at: (a) presenting and discussing the findings of desk research undertaken in the B-C Region; (b) achieving a common understanding of the main HS concerns in B-C; (c) establishing a network to promote the HS approach and to implement HS assessments in B-C; and (d) identifying a preliminary strategy to implement HS assessments in the B-C Region.

Sixty participants comprising public officials of national, regional, and local levels, representatives of NGOs, academia, the private sector, and from bilateral and multilateral organizations interested and working in HS-related topics in B-C actively participated in the workshop.

Presentations included: (a) an introduction to the human security concept and UNCRD's approach and components of the HS assessment method; (b) a synthesis of the experience and findings of the project implemented by the Human Security Group (under which human security assessments have been undertaken in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, and Thailand); and (c) the output of desk research on HS conditions in B-C in which seven HS dimensions (economic, environmental, sanitary, food, political, community and personal ) were analysed in the 116 municipalities of Cundinamarca and the twenty-one localities of Bogotÿ. The analysis also involved the identification of the most vulnerable groups and recommendations for intervention, as well the main ongoing plans and programmes in B-C related to HS issues.

In group work (four groups), a preliminary human security assessment strategy for Bogotá-Cundinamarca was formulated by workshop participants. Each group comprised representatives of the governments of Bogotá and Cundinamarca and of the central level and academia.