12/01/2022
One hundred representatives from Latin America meet in Valparaiso to discuss and build new political and social pacts for the region
One hundred diverse representatives, those of women and men from different sectors and territorial levels of governments, institutions and civil society organisations, are meeting in Valparaiso from 12 to 14 January to answer the same question: What political and social pacts do we need for a new, post-pandemic Latin America? For three days, these representatives, responsible for formulating public policies, will search for answers and build options guided by social cohesion.
The “Political and social pacts for a new Latin America” meeting, which will start tomorrow and continue until 14 January, is being organised by EUROsociAL+ , the European Union’s flagship cooperation programme with Latin America, led by FIIAPP for fifteen years. The EUROsociAL+ consortium is coordinated with FIIAPP by the Expertise France institutions, the Italo-Latin American International Organisation and the Central American Integration System.
The meeting has been organised in two symbolic spaces in the Valparaiso Cultural Park: Plaza de la Cohesión Social and Calle de la Gobernanza. The former has been chosen because town squares have a historical collective decision-making significance, and will host the open, plenary sessions. The opening session will feature Enrique O’Farrill, deputy executive director of the Chilean Agency for Development Cooperation; Jorge Sharp, mayor of Valparaiso; Anna Terrón, director of FIIAPP and León de la Torre, EU ambassador to Chile, and virtually, a representative of the European Commission‘s Directorate-General for International Partnerships. The opening ceremony will be followed by a discussion between Latin American representatives on the pillars necessary to build new social pacts.
A knowledge fair will be held on the second day with stands and round table discussions in Calle de la Gobernanza, a road occupied by buildings such as the Casa de Justicia, the Barrio, the Museo (where there will be an art installation), the Quiosco (for debates between journalists on topics such as the polarisation of discourse) and the Café (place to meet the general public). They will all host activities and role-playing games to work on legal assistance to people in detention centres, the recreation of a forum considering the SDGs, a corruption allegation or a budget evaluation with a gender perspective.
The highlight of the third day will be the signing of the Ibero-American Declaration for Access to Justice , which will be signed by the regional justice networks: the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Ibero- American Countries, the Inter-American Association of Public Defenders and the Ibero-American Association of Public Ministries . The closing ceremony will feature Quentin Weiler, Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Chile, Rodrigo Mundaca Cabrera, Governor of Valparaiso and, virtually, the Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela.
The Democratic Governance area of EUROsociAL+ has worked with more than 200 Latin American institutions and shared challenges and opportunities with European institutions and between countries in the region, assisting with strategic processes.
More than 700 exchanges between the European Union and Latin America and countries in the region have helped to improve people’s lives, particularly women and vulnerable groups, because social cohesion is the means and the end to achieve new social pacts.
