Lessons from Latin America Politics and Poverty: New Frontiers for Donor Agencies

Transcription

1 Lessons from Latin America Politics and Poverty: New Frontiers for Donor Agencies 5-6 June, 2008 CONFERENCE PROGRAMME Overseas Development Institute 111 Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7JD UK Kristen Sample, Senior Programme Officer International IDEA Enrique Mendizabal, ODI Research Fellow + 44 (0) E.Mendizabal@odi.org.uk 1

2 Lessons from Latin America Politics and Poverty: New Frontiers for Donor Agencies LONDON, UK 5-6 June, 2008 Despite considerable political and economic reforms that have accompanied the advent of the 'Third Wave' of democratisation in Latin America since the early 1980s, the quality of democratic governance remains uneven and highly problematic throughout the region, and deep-rooted poverty is a persistent challenge. In fact, while economic growth has made great strides over the past few years, Latin America remains the most unequal region in the world. Based on the many changes that the region has undergone over the past few decades, Latin America is a rich laboratory of experimentation from which other areas in the developing world can draw lessons. In recent years, both national actors and international donors have gained a greater appreciation for the importance of context and politics in a development setting. A growing debate centers on the ways in which poverty and political systems inter-relate interact, and how the donor community and specialized agencies can best engage local actors in promoting a pro-poor development agenda. This Conference seeks to highlight the strategic and practical experiences, best practices and lessons learned by donor agencies in Latin America in promoting pro-poor development agendas aimed at reducing extreme poverty and inequality and address their relevance in other parts of the developing world. It will also concern itself with identifying some of the common political factors which impact positively and negatively - the achievement of these objectives. The objectives of the Conference are to: 1. Stimulate debate and discussion on the ways in which poverty and political systems interact in Latin America and elsewhere 2. Identify practical strategies for how the donor community and specialized agencies can best engage local actors in promoting a pro-poor development agenda 3. Contribute to the growing research on the subject by broadly disseminating the Conference results, findings and lessons learned 2

3 The Conference is co-organized by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and made possible by the support of the Department for International Development (DFID). Speakers and participants will include representatives from these organizations as well as Parliament, political parties, think tanks, academic centres, other donors, NGOs, and the media. They will provide a range of disciplines and views that will help address the relevance of these lessons from Latin America for the rest of the world. Seminar Programme: Thursday, 5 June Inauguration: 12:00 Presentation of the programme and an assessment of the importance of this research for donor policies across the developing world. Simon Maxwell, Overseas Development Institute Director Paul Spray, Department for International Development, Head of Latin America and Caribbean Department Vidar Helgesen, International IDEA Secretary-General Rt Hon John Battle, Member of Parliament The Relationships between Poverty and Political Systems: Why They Matter for Donor Agencies. 12:50 2:30 Based on global research, the session will address the following: What is known about the relationship between poverty, inequality and how political systems operate? In what ways can political systems be shaped such that they are more conducive to reducing poverty and promoting equality? Why is this relationship important for donors -and what lessons can they draw from Latin America for their work in other developing regions? Panel Chair: Sarah Lister, UNDP Governance Center Panelists David Booth, Overseas Development Institute Sue Unsworth, Institute of Development Studies Mark Robinson, Department for International Development 3

4 The State of Democracy: Political Systems and Poverty in Latin America, 3:00 5:30 The session will address the following: What are the current debates and tensions between different social, political and economic models and policies in LA? How does poverty and inequality continue to affect the nature of democratic politics in Latin America? What are the impact and politics of social movements in Latin America and the Andes in particular? What impact do these processes have on the nature and action of democratic institutions? How do natural resources and extractive economies affect the dynamics of politics, policymaking and poverty? Panel Chair: Fiona Wilson, Institute of Development Studies Panel John Crabtree, Oxford University Michael Reid, The Economist Marta Lagos, LatinoBarómetro Fernando Carrillo, Inter-American Development Bank Seminar Programme: Friday, 6 June How do Parties, Parliaments, and other Representative Institutions Matter for Poverty Reduction and Pro-Poor Policies? 9:30 11:45 The session will address the following: What is the state of the institutions of representative democracy in Latin America? What are the new alternatives of more direct and local means of political participation? In the presidential systems that characterize the Andean Region, what influence do representative institutions specifically parties and parliaments have on national development efforts? How is parliamentary policy making informed? What is the role of think tanks in policy making? Political Parties? 4

5 What is the level of participation of the poor and excluded groups more generally in parties and parliaments and what impact does it have on proposal and policy making? Poverty Reduction Strategies and Parliaments: the Experience of DFID and the World Bank Panel Chair: Alina Rocha Menocal, Overseas Development Institute Panel Andrés Mejia, Institute of Development Studies Rafael Roncagliolo, International IDEA James Swigert, National Democratic Institute Alberto Arene, Multi-Donor Political Parties Project in Central America Daniel García Peña, Polo Democrático Alternativo Bringing Together Political Systems and Poverty in Practice: Lessons from Latin America (and Beyond) 12:15 2:30 What can donors do to promote democratic governance that is conducive to development and poverty reduction? What are the lessons learned in assistance to parties and parliaments in the context of poverty reduction? Who are the key sectors, organizations, methodologies, approaches and best practices that are best suited for this kind of engagement and how can the donor community work with them? What are some of the similarities and differences with other regions? To what extent are these lessons useful to other regions? Panel Chair: Goran Fejic, International IDEA Panel Adam Behrendt, Department for International Development Kristen Sample, International IDEA Sebastián Ortiz, Fundación Internacional para Iberoamérica de Administración y Políticas Públicas Lisa Von Trapp, World Bank Institute 5

6 Closing: Implications for Other Regions and Future Directions 2:45 3:15 A review of the main lessons learned from the Conference proceedings, and their relevance to donor policies across the developing world. Alina Rocha Menocal, Overseas Development Institute David French, Westminster Foundation Organisers DFID s Subregional Politics and Poverty Programmes The Department for International Development (DFID) is the part of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. Since 2003, DFID has been supporting a programme in Latin America aimed at increasing the representation of the poor in political systems in order to produce more pro-poor policies and budgets. As part of this programme, DFID has supported studies, workshops, and dialogues on the themes of poverty, politics and international cooperation in Central America and the Andean countries. International IDEA The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is an intergovernmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. Democracy and Development and the complex links between the two concepts, has been included in International IDEA s strategy with the objective of fostering a more integrated and thus more effective participation of national political actors in developing countries on the one hand, and the international community and development cooperation agencies on the other, in the fields of democracy support and development cooperation. The issue has been at the heart of IDEA s work in Latin America in recent years and it underpins work underway to support the African Union in the implementation of the AU Charter on Democracy, Governance and Elections. In Latin America specifically, the 2002 publication Democracies in Development by IDEA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) highlighted the message that politics matters for development. In 2005, IDEA created the Andean Politics and Poverty Programme with DFID support and in alliance with the National Democratic Institute and the Asociacion Civil Transparencia which has included a series of dialogues with political, academic, civil society and international actors and technical cooperation to political parties for platform development. 6

7 Overseas Development Institute ODI is Britain's leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Its mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. It does this by locking together high quality applied research, practical policy advice, and policy-focused dissemination and debate. The Latin America and the Caribbean Group (LACG) at ODI is an interdisciplinary group that draws together research on Latin America at ODI and seeks to amplify lessons from other regions that could be useful in Latin America (and vice versa). LACG organises and supports private and public events on development issues both in the UK as well as in Latin America with the main the objective to share knowledge and experiences. A key focus of the LACG is study of politics in poverty reduction policies in Latin America, the role of evidence in policymaking and the role of civil society and other policy actors. 7