 BOLIVIA |  Mission. October 2-7, 2005. The beginning of the Training Comprehensive Program was agreed to be in charge of two practitioners of the Support Network, Alejandro Nató and Gabriela Rodríguez Querejazu. Support to the Intersectoral Dialogue initiative between the cities of El Alto and Santa Cruz, was opened. The three simultaneous activity lines for Bolivia continued being developed supporting the Country Office: training in dialogue facilitation, consensus building, and conflict resolution; support to the Presidential Delegate Jorge Lazarte on issues related to the Constituent Assembly; and support to the dialogue initiative between business and social sectors in the cities of El Alto and Santa Cruz.
Mission. October 26-29, 2005. The second part of the Comprehensive Training Program in Dialogue Facilitation was delivered by Gachi Tapia, member of the Support Network. The start of the dialogue process El Alto-Santa Cruz was postponed by the actors due to the proximity of the national elections.
Mission. November 28 – December 1, 2005. With the support of Augusto Barrera from the Support Network, a series of high-level, structured interviews were conducted. These were previously agreed with the team of the Political Analysis and Prospective Scenarios Project (PAPEP). As a result from the joint work and as a contribution to the PAPEP’s national team, an analysis of the conflict’s | dynamics and of the future scenarios was made. Based on this, an Action Memorandum was prepared taking into account the recommendations from the Country Office and Headquarters.
Facilitation of the meetings of the Pre-Constituent Council, Cochabamba, January 12 and 13. The second meeting of the National Pre-Constituent and Pre-Autonomous Council was hold. Most of the councilors participated in this meeting working in workshops divided into two commissions: Constituent Assembly and Autonomous Regime. The Council asked for the support of the Network for facilitating its plenary meeting, and Joel Vargas facilitated the Autonomous Regime commission. The work of the first commission focused on building consensus around the basic elements for convening the Constituent Assembly. The second commission worked on the juridical aspects of the referendum on autonomies, its convening and the question to be posed.
Mission. January 24-27. The third part of the Training Comprehensive Program was delivered by Raúl Aramayo from the Support Network. Assistance was given for the induction and training program aimed at the new legislators. Contacts with the new government were made. An evaluation mission on the new government’s situation was carried out. |  ECUADOR | Mission. October 11-14, 2005. Exploratory mission about the possible support to the UNDP Country Office effort aimed to fostering a process for building a common vision for Galapagos and promote the Strong initiative. From UNDP’s perspective, and taking into consideration the recommendations on previous reports, setting-up the Unit “Galapagos 2020 Initiative” in charge of Mónica Ribadeneira, represents a substantial step. This office within the Ministry of Environment (MAE) is the result of the cooperation between UNDP-IDB with MAE; basically, it has to make the “path” drawn by the Strong Initiative, feasible. Also, a productive meeting was hold between representatives from the International Cooperation and political and institutional authorities of Galapagos. Follow-up of the situation in Galapagos. November 20-22, 2005. Work with the national office and the responsible for the Galapagos 2020 Initiative. The topics covered were: appointment of the PNG Director, international cooperation, future meetings with NGO for project execution, and planning of a workshop for dialogue practitioners during 2006. Mission to Quito and Galapagos. January 10-15. The mission started in Quito to hold preparatory meetings with national authorities (Undersecretary Alfredo Carrasco) and members from the international cooperation that are heading the process (IDB-USAID-UNDP). | In Galapagos, a coordination meeting with the responsible for FUNDAR Galapagos was hold to redefine the Foros Ciudadanos project and the local facilitators training, as well as some preparatory meetings with the conveners to the extended meeting of the cooperation table (INGALA and Galapagos 2020 Initiative).During the 12th and 13, a meeting on fishing alternatives between ministers, majors, regional authorities, fishing, tourism and production leaders, and the international cooperation was hold.
Mission to Quito. January 24-28. Support will be provided to the Minister of Education Raúl Vallejo and his undersecretaryship, in order to generate a consensus-building process for fostering the approval of the Law on Education, and launch a National Education Plan. 
|  GUATEMALA | Follow-up dialogue. The Visión Educación process (ojo vínculo) was designed and supported by the Project during 2004 and 2005. It ended in August 2005 producing a set of scenarios and a shared vision for education in Guatemala. This results are being used by the Ministry of Education as inputs for its education planning efforts at a national level. The purpose of this new initiative on a follow-up dialogue, is to convene the Visión Educación Building Group and form an Extended Group to generate a permanent dialogue and encounter space, and become a society-based sounding board for education policies fostered by the Ministry of Education. The initial convening, linking activities, and process design have been prepared by the Project and the stakeholders during February. The first meeting will take place on March 4. Strategic dialogue around the fiscal subject. In February, the preparatory phase for this dialogue has started. The process aims at fostering a learning, dialogue and encounter space for addressing the challenges faced by the State related to fiscal issues. This process will work on making viable the necessary decisions on the amount, origin and allocation of public resources, in order to adequately meet the population’s needs. Training on dialogue, agreement and public management processes to members of the political parties in Guatemala. The main objective is to optimize the technical and methodological performance of political parties for the facilitation, design and continued support of public dialogue and agreement processes. This activity was designed during January and February, and will commence in March. | Agrarian National Dialogue. Support to the Supreme Court of Justice in the design, facilitation, organization, and systematization of the dialogue process that aims at preparing an agrarian bill for Guatemala. This bill will be delivered to the Congress. The first workshop was hold on February 27 with the participation of 43 representatives from diverse sectors of society. During this first workshop, a positive collaborative dialogue experience was built, the main topics for the process were defined, and the basic principles for the bill were agreed. The process will include four workshops and learning journeys, and will finish by the end of April. | |  HAITI | A second phase of activities begins within the framework of the National Dialogue project, whose purpose is “to achieve an agreement for living together to guide an accord on a new society model at the beginning of the third centenary of national independence”. This phase will be focused on offering logistical support to the Executive Board of the Independent Preparatory Commission for the National Dialogue (CPIDN), and support for performing consultations and surveys, as well as preparatory, communications and awareness-raising workshops. It is also foreseen to assist in the organization of dialogue conferences. |  JAMAICA | Mission for the formulation of the Community Transformation and Peace Building Program (CTPB). February 6-10. Our director, Elena Díez-Pinto, was part of the cadre of experts from BCPR, RBLAC and LAC SURF that recently met for assisting the country office in finalizing an overarching CTPB strategy and programme. The objectives were to develop a CTPB strategy; develop a CTPB programme, including the formulation of projects; cost the CTPB programme and identify possible sources of funds to be approached and strategies for resource mobilization; and review and advise on the criteria set by the IDP group for selection of communities where pilot projects will be implemented. |  NICARAGUA | Group Work Journey on Nicaragua. November 4, 2005. Work with all the group of volunteer professionals on the issue of following-up the situation in Nicaragua, counting with the participation of Raúl Alconada, who closely assisted Dante Caputo as OAS facilitator in that country. |  URUGUAY | Participation in the seminar organized by PAPEP. December 8-9, 2005. The main objective was to strengthen the conceptual basis of PAPEP, from the perspective of the UNDP’s agenda for Latin America; analyze and evaluate progress of the project as a resource for strengthening democratic governance in the involved countries; and contribute to the design of future actions for PAPEP to foster mechanisms that strengthen democracy in the region. To this effect, the conceptual analyses | and methodological tools used by the Project, were discussed. Six case studies were presented for Argentina, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, and Ecuador, as well as an overview of the relations among Mexico-Latin America and Brazil-Latin America. This seminar was framed in a process fostered by RBLAC to generate discussion around the problems and challenges faced at present by governance in the region. | |
