A COCODE (Consejo Comunitario de Desarrollo, community development council) is the community-level body of Guatemala’s development council system. The Development Councils Law (Ley de los Consejos de Desarrollo Urbano y Rural, Decreto 11-2002) sets five levels (national, regional, departmental, municipal and community) and the community level is made up of COCODEs (Art. 4). Through its COCODE, a community ranks its project priorities and takes them to the municipal development council (COMUDE). This page sets out what the law and its regulation say about forming and registering one. Registering yourself as a resident of a municipality is a different procedure: municipal residency registration.
Quick summary
- Who forms it: the community assembly, made up of the residents of one community, and the coordinating body it elects (Art. 13 of the law).
- Quorum: at least one third of the community’s population; without it, the meeting goes ahead one hour later with those present, recorded in the minutes (Art. 27 of the regulation).
- Coordinating body: chaired by the community mayor (alcalde comunitario), with up to 12 representatives elected by the assembly (Art. 16 of the law).
- Terms: up to 2 years, re-election allowed (Art. 64 of the regulation), unless the community sets terms by its own norms (Art. 14 of the law).
- Registration: in the municipal Civil Registry, with a transcript of the founding record; this gives the COCODE legal personality (Art. 52 of the regulation).
- Meetings: at least 12 a year, or as the community’s norms and customs provide (Art. 16 of the regulation).
- Unpaid: all members serve ad honorem (Art. 22 of the law).
The steps in the law and regulation
| Step | What the rule says | Article |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Define the community | Outside urban areas, a community is the population of a legally recognised territorial unit with the category of aldea (village) | Regulation, Art. 52 |
| 2. Hold the community assembly | Made up of the community’s residents; it is the COCODE’s highest body | Law, Arts. 13 and 14 |
| 3. Check quorum | At least one third of the population; otherwise one hour later with those present, recorded in the minutes | Regulation, Art. 27 |
| 4. Elect the coordinating body | The community mayor, who chairs it, and up to 12 representatives; where there is no municipal rule, a coordinator, a secretary and the members the assembly decides | Law, Art. 16; Regulation, Art. 63 |
| 5. Set the term | By the community’s own principles and norms, or up to 2 years with re-election under the regulation | Law, Art. 14; Regulation, Art. 64 |
| 6. Register the COCODE | In the municipal Civil Registry book, with a transcript of the founding record: this gives legal personality | Regulation, Art. 52 (amended by Acuerdo Gubernativo 229-2003) |
| 7. Get on the COMUDE register | The municipal secretary, as COMUDE secretary, keeps the up-to-date register of the municipality’s COCODEs and their members | Regulation, Art. 48 |
The articles cited here do not say who calls the founding assembly of a new COCODE; if your community has none, ask the municipal secretary’s office how it handles it. Decisions are taken by consensus or, failing that, by simple majority (Art. 20 of the law).
What the assembly and the coordinating body do
The community assembly (Art. 14 of the law), among other functions:
- elects the members of the coordinating body and sets their terms;
- promotes the community’s organisation and participation in ranking needs, problems and solutions;
- drafts the community’s development policies, plans, programmes and projects and proposes them to the municipal development council.
The coordinating body (Arts. 16 and 17 of the law):
- carries out the assembly’s decisions and reports back;
- manages the COCODE’s resources, its own or assigned by the municipal council, and accounts for them to the assembly;
- calls ordinary and extraordinary assemblies;
- is responsible for coordinating, executing and socially auditing the projects or works that state bodies and decentralized and autonomous entities prioritize and select to carry out in the community.
Under Article 65 of the regulation, communities organised as COCODEs may carry out community works and projects with contributions of money, labour, materials, land or other inputs, as long as they are voluntary.
From COCODE to COMUDE
- Representation: the COMUDE, chaired by the mayor, includes up to twenty COCODE representatives, designated by the COCODE coordinators (Art. 11 of the law).
- Second-level COCODEs: where a municipality has more than twenty COCODEs, the COMUDE may group them into second-level councils, whose assembly elects representatives to the COMUDE in proportion to population, up to twenty in total (Art. 15 of the law and Art. 53 of the regulation).
Rules used
- Ley de los Consejos de Desarrollo Urbano y Rural, Decreto 11-2002, copy published by the Comptroller General (Contraloría General de Cuentas): https://www.contraloria.gob.gt/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/17-LEY-DE-CONSEJOS-DE-DESARROLLO-URBANO-Y-RURAL.pdf (read October 21, 2026).
- Reglamento de la Ley de los Consejos de Desarrollo Urbano y Rural, Acuerdo Gubernativo 461-2002, version annotating the amendments of Acuerdo Gubernativo 229-2003, published by the Municipality of Huitán: https://munihuitan.gob.gt/COMUDE/2471.pdf (read October 21, 2026).