Guatemala officially joins NICHE
15 Sep 2010
On 10 August 2010 Guatemalan Secretary of State for Planning and Programming Karin Slowing Umaña and Dutch Ambassador for Guatemala Teunis Kamper signed the NICHE programme outline, which took the form of a Memorándum de Intenciones, in order to fit Guatemalan standards and expectations. The signing of this document marks the conclusion of the identification process, which started over a year ago with the first of a series of three Nuffic identification missions.
In Guatemala, NICHE will continue to build on the process that has been initiated through its predecessor, the NPT programme, which aimed to strengthen post-secondary capacity within the Good Governance and Environmental sectors.
The identification process consisted of a literature study; studies conducted by local consultants; interviews with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) and with local authorities, experts and interested parties (including gender and labour market experts), and a number of workshops.
The workshops focused on higher education institutions, NGOs, research institutes, police academy representatives, the international cooperation assistant of the Ministry of Government, and representatives of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
The NICHE programme in Guatemala will be implemented in a number of sub-themes within Environment and Water, and Governance, the two selected focus sectors:
Environment and Water
- Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM);
- local environmental management;
- environmental education;
- environmental jurisdiction;
- food safety and gender;
- land administration.
Governance (Security and Justice)
- continuous education for the National Civilian Police (PNC);
- training in criminal and forensic investigation;
- strengthening the legal system in respect of human trafficking and exploitation;
- gender and penal system;
- strengthening internal university management.
NICHE activities will build on the Embassy’s strategy which is based on political dialogue promoting comprehensive justice and security, and environment and water systems. NICHE will complement EKN's activities in these sectors, by focusing on strengthening skills and institutional backing.
First two subsidy tenders published
The first two project outlines were published shortly after the signing of the Memorándum de Intenciones. These projects will build on projects implemented under NPT with a clear need for a second phase. The closing date for bids for both projects - one is aimed at strengthening the National Civilian Police Academy and the other at strengthening education in Land Administration at USAC’s Occidental University Centre (CUNOC) in Quetzaltenango - is 1 November 2010.
More projects coming soon
The other NICHE projects in Guatemala will be articulated gradually during the final quarter of 2010 and during 2011. If you are interested in implementing a NICHE project in Guatemala, please keep a close eye on the NICHE project pipeline and don’t forget to register to our email alert list to be updated about new subsidy tenders.
