Date:	9-10 March 2009
Venue:	Bogotá, Colombia
Co-organizers:	City of Bogotá and State of Cundinamarca
Participants:	40 representatives of central and provincial public officials of the City of Bogotá and the State of Cundinamarca

Programme (PDF, Spanish)

UNCRD-LAC initiated a Human Security assessment project in the Bogotá-Cundinamarca region in 2005, which aimed to analyse human security, vulnerability, and migratory trends in the region, and to train local and regional government officials. The project also aimed to provide inputs to the formulation of local and regional development and planning policies in the region. In this context, UNCRD-LAC has supported a variety of activities, including the development of a comprehensive analysis of the Human Security situation in the 116 municipalities of Cundinamarca and 21 localities of Bogotá; a field survey; various community and public officials workshops; the development of a tool kit; and a capacity-building agenda.

In December 2008, UNCRD implemented a workshop to train local officials, using the kit developed in phase 1 of the project on Human Security assessments and project formulation for 61 public officials of B-C. As a continuation of this activity, a training workshop was held in March 2009, aimed at the development of an in-depth analysis and discussion of the Human Security and Regional Development concept and approach, review the different perspectives from the different entities involved, and come up with a position shared by both Bogotá and Cundinamarca to make the formulation of common projects and programmes possible. The workshop had the participation of experts from the UN (UNCRD, ECLAC and UNDP), academia, and social monitoring institutions.

This workshop also provided a unique opportunity to: (a) review Bogotá and Cundinamarca's social policies from a human security perspective, (b) discuss the relationship between human security and other development concepts, (c) understand the benefits of the human security and regional development approach in project and policy formulation, and (d) strengthen bonds and establish commitments between public officials of Bogotá and Cundinamarca for the implementation of collaborative work in future activities related to the formulation and follow-up of projects, plans, and policies of common interest.

As a result of the workshop, officials of both entities confirmed their interest in positioning the human security and regional development approach in programmes and projects. Three working groups were established and commitments were made to: (1) come up with a common Human Security conceptual document for both Bogotá and Cundinamarca; (2) revise development plans and policies to establish the state of the art from which both entities will be able to define common activities; and (3) identify existing agreements between the Mayor of Bogotá and the Governor of Cundinamarca which are relevant for supporting common activities related to the Human Security approach.