The planning and monitoring processes of Colombian public entities are established by the Political Constitution (Title XII, Chapter II), and regulated by the Organic Law of the National Development Plan (Law 152 of 1994) and Law 872 of 2003, through which the Quality Management System of the Executive Branch of government was created.
The Planning Process:
The National Development Plan (NDP) must set forth the nation''s long-term objectives; medium-term goals and action priorities; the general strategies and guidelines for the economic, social and environmental policies to be adopted by the government; the multi-annual budgets for the principal national public investment programs and projects; and a specification of the financial resources required for their execution.
Presidential Directive No. 10 establishes the obligation to formulate Quadrennial Indicative Plans for each sector and entity, and these plans must include the NDP program goals over which the respective sector and entity have jurisdiction. In addition, the regulations require the entities to formulate annual action plans.
At a sector level, the fundamental objectives of the Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development, as the governing agency in the institutional network, are to contribute to and promote sustainable development through the formulation and adoption of policies, plans, programs, projects and regulations related to the environment, renewable natural resources, the use of the soil, land use planning, drinking water and basic and environmental sanitation, territorial and urban development, and comprehensive housing matters (Decree 216 of 2003).
In this context, the relevant sector planning instruments are:
- The National Development Plan (NDP)
- The Sector Policies
- The Sector Recommendation Plan
- The Ministry''s Recommendation Plan
- The Annual Action Plan
The 2006-2010 National Development Plan, ''A Community State: Development for All'' ("Estado Comunitario: Desarrollo para todos"), is structured on the basis of a series of components and strategies applicable to the different government entities. Following are the components and strategies for which the Environmental, Housing and Territorial Development sector is responsible:
Component | Strategies |
Livable Cities | Urban Development: compact and sustainable cities,
Housing: solutions accessible to all,
Water for Life,
Guidelines for the articulation of comprehensive policies and programs. |
Environmental Management that Promotes Sustainable Development | - Environmental planning in territorial management
- Integrated management of water resources
- Knowledge, conservation and sustainable use of the biodiversity
- Promotion of productive, competitive and sustainable processes
- Prevention and control of environmental degradation
- Strengthening of the SINA in environmental governability.
|
Risk Management for Disaster Prevention and Response | Identification and monitoring of risks, information and disclosure |
The Challenges of the Community State | Administrative model for the economic intervention of the State,
An efficient and transparent State. |
The Monitoring Process
The process of monitoring public entities assumed importance with the introduction of the Quality Management System (QMS) and the Standard Internal Control Model (MECI, in Spanish) as tools for the control and continuous improvement of State institutions in service to the citizenry, directing the focus of public administration towards management by process, and the focus of control schemes towards risk prevention and management. This promotes the continuous improvement of agency performance and the satisfaction of the different users.
The relevant monitoring instruments for the sector are:
Monitoring and Evaluation of the Planning Instruments of the Regional Autonomous Corporations