EU Roadmap with Civil Society Bolivia 2019-2024

A capable civil society is a crucial component of any democratic system and is an asset in its own right. It represents and fosters pluralism and can contribute to more effective policies, equitable and sustainable development, and inclusive growth.

Civil Society is an important actor in the promotion of peace and conflict resolution.

The Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) enables a more structured and strategic dialogue between the Delegation of the European Union, the Member States and Switzerland with civil society organizations active in Bolivia.

The Roadmap identifies 3 long-term objectives for EU cooperation with civil society organizations:

1. Promotion of an environment conducive to the development of civil society work;

2. Greater CSO participation in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of national, sectoral and local public policies;

3. Strengthening the capacities of CSOs in their technical capacities as governance actors.

In 2019, an extensive consultation process, done with civil society organizations, was completed, leading to the adoption of a Roadmap 2019-2022 by Member States and the Delegation of the European Union.

Since the adoption of this document, activities and consultations have been organized with Civil Society. We can highlight a training on the Escazú agreement and several consultations carried out to feed the programming processes of the Cooperation. In addition, several dialogue meetings were held with CSOs and Member States. However, the possibilities to continue developing these activities were diminished during the socio-political situation at the end of 2019 and COVID pandemic 2020-2021, and the process had to be interrupted.

As soon as we are able to return to a more normal rhythm in 2022, we continue to promote a process of reflection on the next stage of the Roadmap.

As a result, the European Union, the Member States and Switzerland concluded in June 2022 that the Roadmap 2019-2022 work process remains relevant and valid, and decided to extend this strategy until 2024.

Thus, the Roadmap for Engagement with Civil Society Organizations 2019-2024 takes up the same process to implement a structured dialogue with CSOs.

 

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– Level 1: sectoral dialogues

We take advantage of the existence of European working groups with the participation of cooperation officers from the European Union and the Member States and Switzerland, as well as, on certain occasions, representatives of the Bolivian government and/or other actors relevant to the national context, to involve civil society actors at this technical level. The topics prioritized by this level are based on the following criteria:

• Real opportunities for dialogue and constructive work on public policies with CSOs and/or government in certain sectors.
• The willingness of the coordinators (DUE/EEMM/Switzerland) of the different sectoral groups to show leadership and interest in associating CSOs.

– Level 2: Multisectoral Meetings

Organization of multi-sectoral meetings bringing together European partners and various CSO representatives, with various themes for discussions, consultations and/or training on relevant topics. Also, organization of meetings with the CSOs that have participated in the sectoral dialogues to favor the sharing of successes and good practices of each of the sectoral dialogues, as well as the challenges.

– Level 3: High level dialogue

Depending on the needs, high-level meetings will be organized. The EU/EEMM/Switzerland Heads of Cooperation and representatives of civil society, whose participation is necessary according to the topics to be addressed during the meeting, will participate.

This three-level process will allow us to achieve the objectives of the 2019-2024 Roadmap and the planned indicators.

It is expected that by early October 2022, the European Union Delegation will organize an information meeting to provide further details of this process.

Source

European Union Delegation in Bolivia