In the year 2004, the European Union and CABEI, agreed to establish the Central American Border Zone Development Program, based primarily on contributing to the integrated development and management of Municipalities and Multinational River Basins located near the border zones areas of the Central American countries.

The benefited municipalities have been selected for presenting high levels of poverty and vulnerability, as well as, marked deficits in the quality and quantity of water. The latter has come as a result of elevated concentrations of population, unequal distribution of water, advanced degradation of natural resources and a high concentration of rural poverty.

The Program aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. Contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the Central American border zone municipalities through activities designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability and to strengthen management and social participation capabilities.
   
   
2. Contribute to the improvement of the quantity and quality of water from multinational river basins thus avoiding possible international conflicts for its usage and protection.
   
   
3. Contribute in strengthening the Central American integration process.

In order to obtain these objectives, the Program has intended to create sustainable forms of development by strengthening the levels of social capital amongst the benefited municipalities.

The Program will then focus its efforts on attaining the following specific objective:

“Increase the participation of the populations located in the selected border zones and multinational river basins at the local, national and regional level through an improvement in the planning and management capabilities of their territories”.