Since its start in 1994, the Esquel Group’s Civil Society Task Force has become a clearinghouse and a forum for debate on issues relative to the advancement of active citizen participation in the Americas. This has occurred especially within the framework of the Hemispheric Summit process, which has emphasized sustainable and inclusive development. Participants in the Task Force span a wide range of organizations and affiliations, including representatives from US and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, multilateral institutions, foundations, academia, the media, and private for-profit organizations. The participant database exceeds 400 names, and an average number of 40-45 participants are present at each meeting. The meetings have been highly successful-”the best briefing in town” according to one participant-as a vehicle to coordinate civil society action on the Miami Summit Process (1994) and subsequent Summits in Santa Cruz, Bolivia (1996), Santiago de Chile (1998), Quebec City, Canada (2001), Monterrey, Mexico (2003) and Mar del Plata, Argentina (2005). The Task Force similarly expects to provide a space for dialogue and sharing information for the Summit in Part-of-Spain, Trinidad in 2009 (for more information on the Summit of the Americas visit: summit-americas.org).
Meanwhile Esquel collaborates with other partner organizations across the hemisphere to:
- Increase awareness about the Summit Process within the Governmental and Non-Governmental sectors of the countries of the region;
- Promote constructive dialogue and collaboration between governmental and non-governmental sectors in each country, and within the latter, to foster implementation of Summit Mandates; and
- Promote information exchange between civil society, governments and Summit officials at the hemispheric level to advance effective participation of civil society in the Summit Process.
In addition to the Summit, Task Force activities generate opportunities for civil society participation on other specific issues/instances at the regional level. By addressing broader topics related to the strengthening of civil society in the region, the Task Force creates a critical mass of individuals interested in tackling particular subjects. Some of these have been:
- The NGO Working Group on the OAS created in November 1998 to advise several missions regarding the reform of the organization, particularly regarding its relationship to civil society. It focused on an NGO accreditation system within the OAS, which was approved by the General Assembly in June 1999.
- Task Force participants monitored the Free Trade Area of the Americas’ (FTAA) Government Committee on Civil Society (GCCS), charged with devising procedures to promote discussions with civil society.
- Esquel Group chaired a Working Group on Financing Participation in Development “To review and analyze options for financing public participation in development decision-making and to develop a consensus set of recommendations (including strategic considerations, best practices and innovative solutions) for consideration by governments, donors, development banks and agencies, and other interested organizations and individuals”.
- Task Force participants were actively engaged in the definition of the Inter-American Strategy for Citizen Participation (ISP), a program of the OAS to promote transparent, effective and responsible public participation in sustainable development policies in the Americas. The ISP reported to the Task Force on a regular basis about their activities and new groups were formed upon the request of participants.
- The Task Force has also offered a space for information on the efforts within international development assistance organizations to incorporate the role of citizens in their programs as well as within their own internal structures. As such the Task force has frequently hosted presentations by the European Commission, the Organization of American States, the World Bank and the Inter American Development Bank.
In addition, it continued to explore the advantages of encouraging forums similar to the Task Force on a pilot basis in one or more Latin American/Caribbean countries in co-ordination with the Inter American Democracy Network. In this regard the Task Force co-sponsored several teleconferenced sessions with the Inter American Democracy Network, inspired a similar “Roundtable for a Culture of Transparency” in the Dominican Republic and collaborated with a similar effort in Honduras.
Over the last few years the Task Force has conducted a series of presentations by distinguished experts on the general topic of the construction of social capital as a pre-requisite to economic and social progress. Presentations have focused, for instance, on the roles of non-governmental actors in promoting -or hindering- such construction (Lester Salamon, Johns Hopkins University and David Crocker, University of Maryland), on the role of foreign assistance in this respect and the modifications that might be made to it (Thomas Carrothers, Carnegie Endowment), the role of civic values and culture in fostering such interconnections (Lawrence Harrison, Harvard University), the construction of social capital within community development efforts in the US (David Moore, The Harwood Institute and Andrea Anderson, The Aspen Institute), the theoretical underpinnings of the various kinds of social capital (Michael Woolcock, Cambridge University) and the empirical measurement of social capital (Deepa Narayan and Christian Grootaert, World Bank).
Over the past year the Task Force has sponsored presentations on different civil society initiatives and citizens’ participation. It has discussed the emergent civil society’s leadership related to law professionals (María Navarro, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras; Aracely Zuniga, Universidad Católica de Honduras; and Beatriz Sosa, Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey), and the role of hemispheric organizations supporting civil society efforts to strengthen democracy (Janine Perfit, Inter-American Development Bank; and Larry Birns, Council on Hemispheric Affairs). From a different perspective it has also analyzed how the activism within the Latin American Catholic Church has been promoting social development after the 1980s (Carlos Quintana, U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Mary DeLorey, Catholic Relief Services; and James Stormes, U. S. Jesuit Conference) and which opportunities and constraints has the social Catholicism of the 21st century to offer in order to advance citizen development (Joseph Palacios, Georgetown University; and Judith Torney-Purta, University of Maryland). Finally a special session was also dedicated to overview ongoing slave work eradication efforts in the Americas (Binka Le Breton, Iracambi Atlantic Rainforest Research Centre, Brazil).