Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

To publicly show their commitment to the development planthe political parties in Alta Verapaz jointly drove the streets of the capital of Coban in a long line of cars on 17 June.

At the presentation in Chimaltenango on 12 May 2007 UNDP representative Mr Beat Rohr stressed the importance of this broadly negotiated development plan: “The political parties are the actors in development. They are the link between state and society. The next challenge is to put this mutual commitment into practice.”

Since 2002 NIMD has been actively involved in Guatemala, which came out of a civil war in 1996. Together with the United Nations Development Programme and the Dutch Embassy, NIMD has been very active in stimulating dialogue and trust among the political parties. In 2005 this resulted in a Shared Agenda on national level, now taken to the departmental level in Alta Verapaz and Chimaltenango.