17 March to 23 April 2010

From mid-March to the last week of April, consultations were made with several CSOs in Central and South Latin American countries regarding the RoA country outreach program on the broad implementation of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) at country level.The purpose of each of these consultations was to (a) introduce/orient country CSOs on the RoA Better Aid program, country CSO processes and country research to engage AAA implementation and (b) agree on next steps (activities, schedules) for country activities.

Colombia. On 22 March, several Latin American CSOsa from Colombia and Ecuador who participated in the High Level Event on South-South Cooperation in Bogota came to a side meeting where such discussion on country outreach was initiated.These organizations included the Corporacion Region, CIASE¹, CCONG² and La Alianza from Colombia, and the Observatorio de la Cooperacion al Desarollo from Ecuador.

There was general interest in the country level AAA implementation which the participants deemed to be important and challenged by many events. In Colombia, there would be the presidential elections and the Open Forum national consultations, among other ongoing national and regional activities.In Ecuador, CSO conversations were ongoing with regard to an emerging development model called “buen vivir” or “vivir bien” which CSOs and the government were paying attention to.In other countries, CSOs were concerned about the need for a CSO platform that will carry the aid effectiveness advocacy to a more sustained mode.

In another meeting organized by the Reality of Aid in Latin America and the Caribbean, observatories on international cooperation were discussed, primarily based on the experience of La Alianza – Observatorio a la Cooperacion Internacional³.Discussion points included the history and rationale of the observatorio, the elements/parts of the system and the issues that challenge the project.

What ensued in the following weeks were consultation meetings with CSOs in five other Latin American countries, namely, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Bolivia.

 Perú. In Perú, a meeting on the RoA country outreach program was held with representatives of ANC⁴ and CONADES⁵ last 30 March.To contextualize the discussion, they shared a broad description of the national aid situation in Perú and in the Latin American region: (refer also to Attachments 1 and 2)

1. Downward trend of official development aid (ODA) to Latin America and Peru
2. Redirection of aid to Africa and poor countries in Asia and Latin America.
3. Peru has lost importance as a destination for international aid compared to other countries in the region.However, in spite of being a middle-income country, Peru still maintains a significant position.
4. Concentration of European aid in 10 countries in the region:  El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua Honduras, Perú, Bolivia, Colombia, Brasil, Haití and Cuba
5. In total, aid from European private agencies is concentrated in Perú, Bolivia, Brazil and Nicaragua.
6. Tendency of donors to work with fewer NGOs that are larger and more specialized
7. Some Latin American countries emerging as donors

In this context and with the theme of international cooperation, the activities particularly of ANC and CONADES, together with other Peruvian CSOs, have included country researches, conduct of CSO forums at national and sub-national levels and coordination with regional civil society networks.A national forum on CSO development effectiveness was also planned for May as a country level expression of the parallel process on CSO development effectiveness and organized through the cooperation of ANC, ALOP⁶, Latindadd⁷ and Mesa de Articulacion⁸.Peruvian CSOs’ advocacy work included engagement with the Agencia Peruana de Cooperacion Internacional (APCI).

Mr. Romulo Torres also represented Latindadd as Coordinator, and as such he shared that the regional network is concerned with the development of indicators on human rights and democracy in the face of poverty in a middle income country.Latindadd was also set for a meeting in July in Nicaragua.

Integrated into the conversation was the relevance of CSO advocacy work on aid effectiveness which ANC suggested could be a topic for discussion during the national workshop on CSO development effectiveness.The RoA call for country researches was also introduced.

 Ecuador. Meetings among CSOs based in Quito were convened by the Observatorio de la Cooperación al Desarrollo enEcuador⁹.The agenda in the meeting of 8 April (refer also to Attachment 3) included the discussion of the workshop on CSO development effectiveness scheduled in June and a brief introduction of the RoA program for CSOs on engaging the implementation of AAA at country level.Facilitated by Ms Gabriela Weber and Mr Camilo Molina of Centro de Investigaciones CIUDAD (Coordinator of Observatorio), the meeting was attended by more than 23 CSO representatives.

There were also points presented on the issue of development effectiveness, particularly three thematic blocks that may help define the effectiveness of various CSOs.These were:

1. El buen vivir – possibly a new more effective development model of good living and development as a right.Principles integral to the model include plurinationality, law of nature, economic solidarity and social equity.The plan around this model may be a tool to improve the effectiveness of CSOs.
2. Public policy and the new role of CSOs – This was discussed in the light of a new national policy framework (i.e., Decree 982) for relations between the state and CSOs, covering the areas of public participation, legality and legitimacy, financing structures, accountability mechanisms and CSO effectiveness.
3. Relations between north and south NGOs, national and international south-south networks and relations between donors and governments.

In the open discussion that ensued, the CSO participants commented that the buen vivir concept was not so new and needed concrete application to make it meaningful.They also raised a few principles that should guide civil society action, one of which is ensuring that international cooperation is based on international social justice.This would also relate to the principles of plurinationality and linking national actions to international processes.Emphasis was also placed on the imperatives of transparency and accountability among CSOs.

On 9 April, there were further informal discussions with CIUDAD on CSO advocacy and country research related to aid effectiveness.While the CSOs were focused on preparing for and conducting the workshop on CSO development effectiveness, CSO discourse and engagement strategies for policy reforms on aid effectiveness would be continued.Ideas for potential activities included the formation of a CSO platform and CSO workshops that would link the CSO priority thematic blocks to the issue of aid effectiveness.To forward this agenda, CIUDAD and other CSOs have begun communicating with AGECI¹⁰, the government agency for international cooperation, and with SENPLADES¹¹, the country’s central planning secretariat, to promote the role of CSOs in engaging government on aid effectiveness in the country.

Guatemala. It was opportune that the meeting with CSOs in Guatemala City was scheduled a day after a workshop with small coffee growers to discuss the recent trade agreement between Central American countries and the European Commission (EC)a,b.In this workshop sponsored by the CONGCOOP¹² last 12 April, representatives from the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the International Gender and Trade Network delivered presentations of the economic, political, cultural and environmental situation of Guatemala and the impact on the coffee production industry and small producers.

A small after-dinner evening gathering on 13 April was held with colleagues from CONGCOOP, CEMAT and ASINDES-ONG¹³, CSOs who were active in development work in Guatemala.They shared the situation of CSOs in the country and the changing CSO-government relations.They were familiar with the basic advocacy on the Paris Declaration and the AAA and were interested to work on this with RoA, as they were also involved in the consultation process on CSO development effectiveness.There was discussion on the wisdom of creating a new CSO platform on aid effectiveness in the face of different CSO networks focusing on topics such as enterprises, environment, cooperatives, human rights and agriculture, among others.

Similar to the suggestion in Ecuador, CSO discourse and engagement strategies for policy reforms on aid effectiveness would be continued and integrated into the country-level process on CSO development effectiveness.

Honduras. A short meeting last 15 April with representatives of Tegucigalpa-based FOSDEH¹⁴ provided the venue for introducing the global and country-level CSO processes on aid effectiveness.They shared the research experience of the organization and its assessment that the national government may be open to dialogs with CSOs regarding the theme.

Bolivia. After the preoccupation of most CSOs in the Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climatico(CMPCC), a conversation was set with Ms. Susana Erostegui of UNITAS last 23 April in La Paz, Bolivia.Ms Erostegui shared valuable insights on the current government in Bolivia and its relationship with CSOs and social movements in the country.The discussion proceeded to include Bolivian CSO activities that ran parallel to the global processes on CSO development effectiveness and on aid effectiveness.

A general trend among the CSOs consulted in the six (6) countries was the focus on completing the national workshops on CSO development effectiveness so that by the second half of the year, more focus could be given to advocacy and engagement with country governments and donors on aid effectiveness. Overall, in the region, most CSOs in the aid effectiveness and development effectiveness agenda were planning to develop a Latin American strategy for AAA that would be presented in the Fourth High Level Forum in 2011.

Included in all the conversations was the RoA plan to compile reports on the implementation of the AAA in each country from a CSO perspective.The CSOs involved in the above meetings will help produce the country reports and send these to RoA by year-end.To assist this course of action, IBON/RoA will provide and share a monitoring guide on AAA implementation.

Additional References:

1. Acuerdo de Asociacion entre CentroAmerica y La Union Europea:Documento de trabajo.Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.Octubre 2009.
2. El Acuerdo de Asociacion Union Europea / CentroAmerica:Mas que un espejismo una propuesta neoliberal expliadora.Jorge Coronado Marroquin.