After 36 years of civil war, new dynamics of violence have emerged in Guatemala which seriously threaten the country’s socio-political stability and affect human development and the achievement of the MDGs. Since 1999, the country’s murder rate has increased by 12% annually, and this has made it difficult for Guatemala to fulfill the Peace Agreements. The Joint Programme's aim was to consolidate peace by strengthening legal frameworks, public policies and initiatives in the field of prevention of conflict and violence, as well as the capacities of State institutions and civil society.

El Salvador has the highest levels of violence in all of Latin America. It has a homicide rate of almost 70 per 100,000 inhabitants and alarming rates of other kinds of violence, all of which impede the consolidation of democratic government, human development and the achievement of the MDGs. This initiative worked to build consensus and strengthen state capacities for the prevention and reduction of armed violence, benefiting institutions at the national level and locally in the Metropolitan Area of San Salvador.

Though Uruguay has recovered from the severe economic crisis of 2002 and has enjoyed sustained economic growth, it still suffers from inequalities, social exclusion and marginalization, leaving vulnerable populations - many of them women, children and adolescents -- without access to goods, services and basic rights. This Joint Programme aimed at improving access to cultural goods and services, promoting cultural expressions and developing cultural industries in order to boost the country's economic integration, expand its domestic market, attract quality jobs, promote the participation of women, and strengthen social cohesion.

One in three children is chronically malnourished on Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast, an area that contains 80% of the country's natural resources, but is also one of its poorest regions and home to the majority of its indigenous and Afro-Caribbean populations. The aim of the Joint Programme was to help to reduce inequalities in the human, social and economic development of these communities through cultural reclamation, productive development and a deepening of knowledge of tangible and intangible heritage.