Since the creation of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development, in 2016, solid progress has been made in promoting and strengthening the participation of civil society in the region, representatives highlighted this Tuesday, December 25. April at the opening of the Meeting of the Mechanism for Civil Society Participation (MeSCALC) in the Sustainable Development Agenda and in the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development.
The meeting was held in a hybrid way (face-to-face and virtual) prior to the official opening of the Sixth Meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development on Wednesday, April 26, at the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.
Mabel Bianco and Bárbara Jiménez, from the outgoing MeSCALC Facilitator Team, presented a report on the activities carried out, the actions planned for the Forum week and the pending challenges.
Both representatives thanked ECLAC for its support both for the creation of the Mechanism and for its consolidation.
“This is the beginning of deepening what we have done so far,” said Mabel Bianco and announced that they will continue to fulfill their role, which includes demanding new spaces and advocacy and contributing to the debate and solutions for sustainable development in the region. .
“We left the Table (Facilitating Team) and the Mechanism strengthened; there have been many advances”, summarized Bárbara Jiménez.
“In these years of collaboration between ECLAC and the Mechanism, we have made progress gradually, but solidly and forcefully, in promoting and strengthening the active participation of civil society,” said José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs. , Executive Secretary of ECLAC.
The highest representative of the Commission stressed that “together we have been generating new spaces for dialogue and exchange with the Presidency of the Forum, the governments of the region and other relevant actors. This, without a doubt, has contributed to the Forum meetings being considered a fundamental space for multi-stakeholder coordination in the follow-up of the 2030 Agenda”.
“I am convinced that the participation of civil society in sustainable development has greater strength and effectiveness in the long term if it is organized through a stable, continuous and progressive process, instead of being carried out through specific participation exercises and isolated. Institutional arrangements strengthen the capacities of civil society representatives and promote relationships of trust, support and collaboration,” said the Executive Secretary of ECLAC.
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs indicated that institutionalized participation allows different actors (governments, civil society, and others) to dialogue, exchange knowledge and experiences, plan actions, and make timely contributions to decision-making processes. “The work of the Civil Society Participation Mechanism in the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development is a clear example of this,” he remarked.
Along with reaffirming ECLAC’s commitment to the work of MeSCALC, the Secretary of the Commission, Luis F. Yáñez, highlighted that the sixth meeting of the Forum will not only have the traditional declaration of civil society, but also specialists from different organizations will participate as panelists in the tables in which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are being reviewed this year (SDGs 6,7, 9, 11 and 17) will be analyzed.
Additionally, with the support of the United Nations Development Coordination Office, a second meeting of the Mechanism with the Resident Coordinators of the region was facilitated.
In addition, ECLAC offered civil society to strengthen the work between each Forum, which means, for example, carrying out information or training activities in the areas that the organizations deem appropriate.
Replacing Mabel Bianco and Bárbara Jiménez, the new MeSCALC Facilitation Team will be made up of Sandra Castañeda, Marcela Browne and Mónica Jasis.
