Meeting of the RUTA Steering Committee

RUTA proposes Engines of Growth studies for the Trifinio Region The National Technical Unit of RUTA in El Salvador, accompanied the mission led by expert Hans Jansen of IFPRI/RUTA between February 12 and 14, in San Salvador. The purpose of the visit was to announce the proposal to incorporate the sustainable engines of growth approach in the Trifinio region (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador). The proposal's main objectives are poverty reduction, integrating poor populations into the regional and economic development process through targeted public investments and government policies. For this it will be necessary to: 1. Analyze the sectors defined as priorities by the Tri-national Commission of the Trifinio Plan, in order to identify the factors that determine success or failure; evaluate the role played by the area's domestic, community and specific assets in determining success; identify bottlenecks that prevent widespread participation; and study existing links between a specific sectoral growth and poverty reduction. 2. Examine the area's domestic, community and specific assets to determine how best to improve the participation of poor families in the dynamic sectors. 3. Understand how institutional conditions and capacities affect the viability and potential for poverty reduction of a sector's specific growth, with a view to formulating a plan to generate assets and strengthen institutions. 4. Promote capacity building among local governments to enable them to plan and execute a sustainable poverty reduction program and achieve improvements in well-being.

The meeting of the RUTA Steering Committee will take place on March 12 and 13 in Washington DC. The committee is made up of the Ministers of Agriculture of the seven Central American countries, representatives of RUTA's seven partner agencies, the Secretary of the CAC and the Representative of CC-SICA. The objectives of this meeting are:

• Analyze the main results and the value added of RUTA V

• Instructions for the technical and administrative closure of this phase of the Project

• Discuss the conclusions and recommendations of the external evaluation in relation to RUTA's future.

RUTA implements new Management Information System

The new Management Information System (MIS) implemented by RUTA centralizes information and provides the necessary tools for decision-making by the management. RUTA has been using a MIS since 1999, but this was redesigned at the end of 2006 to provide the Project with a more modern and effective system.

The new system offers the possibility of generating inputs from the data, facilitating complete and immediate access to information generated in RUTA and offering an exhaustive overview of the Project's operations, follow-up and activities. Its main functions are to gather information about RUTA's activities, define the responsibilities of the specialists of partner agencies and analyze the contextual variables to facilitate strategic planning and the design of an action plan.

FAO approves sub-regional Office in Central America

The Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the executive body of the Conference, approved the opening of a FAO Sub-regional Office for Central America, at a meeting on November 2006. This decision was taken following a proposal made by FAO's Director General, Mr. Jaques Diouf.

The Office will be staffed by a multidisciplinary team of experts on topics related to agriculture, food and rural development, to more effectively address the needs of the Central American Sub-region. The office's physical location, its mode of operation and the implementation timetable have yet to be determined.