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Representative and Participatory Democracy: Technical Assistance Technical assistance to the Government of Colombia, in particular the Ministry for Justice and Interior Affairs, the Presidency, the National School for Public Administration (ESAP) and a network of Colombian Universities, in designing and implementing a national policy towards reform and institutional strengthening of the legislative branch at the sub-national level, i.e. city councils and departmental assemblies. The national strategy, designed by Georgetown, is built around various components: in-service training for city council members (developed by Colombian Universities), various communication strategies (TV programs, publications, a national journal for city council members etc.), and a clearinghouse website.  The Colombia Program advises Colombian universities, think-tanks and national government agencies in the preparation and publication of documents and materials that support reform of the legislative branch at the sub-national level. Technical Assistance to the Government of Colombia -the Presidency, Ministry for Justice and Interior Affairs and the National School for Public Administration -on the design and publication of a quarterly national journal, Concejos en Contacto (City Councils in Contact) (16.000 ex), that showcases lessons learned and best practices regarding programs city councils can implement to deepen democracy on the local level. This journal has published 10 numbers, in general including contributions by the Colombia Program. a. Assistance to government institutions in deepening democracy at the local level The Colombia Program works with the Colombian government and other institutions to improve the performance of city councils in their role as fundamental actors in democratic governance at the local level. According to the Program’s assessment of city council needs in southwest Colombia, the main objectives in this area are: strengthening capacity-building of city councils through a demand-directed training program, enhancing information-flow among city councils and the national government. The Program is implementing the following governance-improvement strategies in Colombia, at the departmental and local levels. b. Decentralized training program: Viernes del Concejal Created in August of 2002 through a partnership with the National School of Public Administration (Escuela Superior de Administración Pública, ESAP) and the Ministry of Interior and Justice, the objective of the training program “El Viernes del Concejal” (Councilmember Fridays) is to train city council members from small and medium-sized cities. The training is designed to improve the councils’ management capacity in handling their vast array of responsibilities, thus improving local government.  The Program runs eight times a year (from February to May and again from August to November) in 49 cities, 10 departments and 438 municipalities (40% of the country’s total municipalities) and helps to bring monthly training to 1,000 to 1,500 city council members. Before this program, no training program for city council members existed in Colombia. For further information, visit El Viernes del Concejal website at http://www.esap.edu.co/viernes%20del%20concejal/ c. National television program: El Viernes del Concejal This program, a joint initiative of the National School of Public Administration (Escuela Superior de Administración Pública, ESAP),  the Ministry of Interior and Justice,  and the Colombia Program, was created as a complementary strategy to the training program. This national television program airs periodically on the nation-wide Institutional Channel. Each program is presented in documentary format on a city council in a particular town, taking a case-study approach as to the role of the city council in relation to a specific topic. More than 30 programs of either one- or half-hour length have aired to date. d. Quarterly journal for city councils: Concejos en Contacto As a joint initiative with the office of the President of the Republic, the Ministry of the Interior and Justice, and ESAP, this journal represents the first governmental effort to foment a continuous information-flow among the city councils and the national government. The dissemination of practical information, new legislation and “best practices” through the journal contributes to the improvement of city councils as effective local governing institutions. For more than two years, four annual issues of the journal Concejos en Contacto (Councils in Contact) have been designed and distributed to all 12,000 city council members, 1,100 city mayors and additional public and private agencies in Colombia. Between 2003 and 2006 10 numbers were produced and distributed (Councils in Contact, circulation 16,000). Topics covered by the magazine: El Referendo en la Dirección Correcta, Seguridad Democratica y Orden Fiscal, El Referendo: un paso adelante en la dirección correcta, El Reto de los nuevos concejales: Mejorar la gestión del municipio, Libre Comercio: Cómo prepararse a nivel local, La Gobernabilidad comienza en los municipios. El acceso de la ciudadanía a la información, Nuestro compromiso en defensa de los Derechos Humanos, El Rol del Concejo en el Desarrollo Económico, Colombia Joven.