The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) developed a training cycle, “Master classes in local management for municipalities of El Salvador,” a capacity-building initiative designed to support the country’s 44 newly restructured municipalities in strengthening their institutional, technical, and managerial capacities.
The programme was implemented between October 2025 and February 2026, in a fully virtual format, spanning over nine weeks and more than 20 hours of training. The initiative was led by theUNDP SDG Local Action team, in coordination with the UNDP El Salvador Country Office, in the context of the national territorial reform, which consolidated 262 municipalities into 44.
The reform has introduced a new scale of governance, increasing administrative complexity, budget volumes, and coordination responsibilities. In this context, strengthening municipal capacities is essential to ensure effective service delivery, strategic planning, and evidence-based decision-making.
Final report
A consolidated report summarizing the main results, lessons learned, and methodological approach has been developed and shared with participating municipalities and partners, documenting the process and providing a reference framework for continued institutional strengthening.
Download the report in English and Spanish.
Throughout the cycle, each module registered an average of 50 municipal officials, including mayors, planning directors, financial teams, procurement units, cooperation officers, and local economic development staff.
The programme was structured as a sequential learning process, covering seven thematic modules:
- Strategic planning, project management and budgeting
- Public procurement and contract management
- Territorial prioritization through socioeconomic data
- International financing and cooperation
- Local economic development
- Leadership and coordination for results
- Data visualization for municipalities
More than ten practical exercises were conducted, promoting peer exchange and enabling municipalities to translate conceptual tools into concrete solutions.
The capacity building exercise contributed to:
- Creating a shared learning space among the 44 municipalities
- Strengthening a common technical language across municipal teams
- Enhancing the use of data and evidence for prioritization
- Improving understanding of public procurement processes
- Expanding knowledge of international financing opportunities
- Promoting a results-based management culture
Participants highlighted the programme’s relevance in supporting institutional adaptation to the new territorial scale, reinforcing internal coordination, and aligning planning, budgeting, and implementation processes.
Closing session
The closing session convened municipal representatives from El Salvador and international partners to reflect on achievements and lessons learned. The agenda included remarks by Maribel Gutiérrez, UNDP Resident Representative, Diana López, UNDP Advisor on cities and local governments and Pablo Fernández, Assistant Secretary-General for Partnerships at United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).
Through this initiative, UNDP reaffirms its commitment to supporting local governments as key actors in sustainable development. The programme accompanies ongoing institutional transformation processes with practical tools that strengthen local leadership, promote datadriven decisionmaking and communication, and foster transparency and resultsoriented governance.