Encouraged by the great success of the European Organization for Economic Cooperation (EOEC), created in 1948 to manage Marshall Plan aid, the United States and Canada joined the members of the EOEC, with the perspective of expanding its work globally and signed a new Convention on December 14, 1960, creating the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). On October 5, 1961, the first meeting of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) was held, a body of the OECD system in charge of guidance, monitoring and analysis of public development aid policies. Among its functions, it highlights the monitoring of compliance with the 0.7% of GNI contribution by the OECD member countries, which was established by the United Nations since 1970.

In March 1961, the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, launched the so-called Alliance for Progress program, responding to demands made in several forums during the 1950s calling for a plan to support development in Latin America, in addition to giving a strong boost to development ideas generated by the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) since the late 1940s. Although ALPRO failed to achieve development objectives in the region, it left a legacy in Latin America. Thanks to its stimulus, institutional reforms were launched, innovations in public policies were implemented, and significant changes occurred in how to approach development obstacles. In November of the same year, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was created.

The OECD, the DAC, and the development aid policy emerged from the world order created at the end of World War II, where cooperation policy focused on transfers from North to South based on the model of developed and underdeveloped countries, where development was focused on economic growth. Undoubtedly, after more than six decades, development cooperation policy has evolved, adapting to the major and profound transformations that the international community has experienced, the emergence of new actors, as well as the growing demands of Southern countries to establish more horizontal relations and with greater relevance on the global agenda.

In this new context, international cooperation for development in Latin America and the Caribbean is in a full process of redefinition, for which it has the maturity provided by all the experience and knowledge accumulated over decades. Although there is a significant reduction in some international cooperation actors in the region, on the other hand, work has intensified to strengthen a model based on triangular cooperation, horizontality, and where knowledge, learning, and innovation are priorities. It encourages partnerships between various actors, where there are partner countries that are sources of knowledge and innovation and partner countries that receive that knowledge.

Most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are in transition to high income levels and, consequently, are ceasing to be aid recipients to become contributors, with growing influence and great prominence in the global sustainability agenda, taking on challenges as development actors (ECLAC, 2018). For these economies in a transition development process, it is essential that the design of tools for building development cooperation take into consideration the following principles:

First, to consider new criteria for measuring development. Clearly, per capita income and its growth measurements do not appropriately reflect a country’s level of development. It is about moving from the graduation approach to the gradation approach. Second, cooperation strategies and development orientation must be linked to national strategies and reflect a multidimensional approach. Third, the approach to the multilateral agenda must be based on Agenda 2030, thereby promoting more and better global public goods. Fourth, the governance and financing approach to cooperation must go beyond Official Development Assistance (ODA) and include multiple levels, considering South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation, as well as horizontal cooperation that includes different levels of government. Finally, international cooperation must go beyond traditional instruments and include modalities such as innovative knowledge exchange instruments, capacity-building, and technology transfer. (ECLAC, 2018)

Since the creation of the UN, actions were taken with the purpose of creating an organization in charge of tourism worldwide, and thus emerged the International Union of Official Travel Organizations (IUOTO), which evolved to give rise to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), whose statutes were approved at the General Assembly held on September 27, 1970, in Mexico City (Mexico).

In 1975, the Agreement between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UNWTO was signed, under which the UNWTO would act as the implementing agency of the UNDP for the execution of technical cooperation activities together with Governments. In the following decades, tourism gradually consolidated itself among the various agencies and international institutions with development mandates as an economic activity capable of generating benefits in the economic, social, and environmental dimensions and therefore contributing to the solution of problems related to poverty and exclusion.

Currently, UN Tourism, along with other international institutions, is working on the development of tools to help countries align tourism activities with the goals established in the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030). A very recent example of this is the publication of the guide titled: Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through Tourism, Toolkit with Indicators for Projects (TIPs). This guide is the result of intensive work with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Additionally, UN Tourism provides support to governments to improve the competitiveness of the tourism sector, strengthen technical training, promote investment, and drive innovation in the sector.

For its part, the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) developed the Strategic Lines on Tourism and Sustainable Development in Ibero-America (LETDSI), which form the reference framework for the region, with ten lines of action to promote sustainable development through tourism. Also, SEGIB, with the support of UN Tourism, has prepared a recent study entitled: Integrating the 2030 Agenda into Tourism Policy in Ibero-America. The cases of Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic. This study seeks to understand how the SDGs are being integrated into the tourism policies of Ibero-American countries and to identify positive actions that can be replicated among countries.

Author: Arturo José Moreno Arrieta

International consultant and advisor