Program on governance and consensus launched

The Andean Development Corporation inaugurated in Bolivia its regional program on Governance and Consensus Building, with the academic backing of Harvard University. Representatives from the political, economic, social and labor sectors are participating in the program, which has generated considerable expectations, particularly in the municipalities, where the CAF has already held a successful training program.

The program is designed to provide social actors with a series of instruments and tools on negotiation, strategic communication and leadership to increase the efficiency of the processes of consensus building and generation of value in the exchanges that necessarily take place between sectors of society.

The program, which is organized into three modules, has two versions - one for national institutions and another for local and departmental institutions.

The first module on "governance and consensus building" was held on January 17-18 for national institutions, and for local and departmental institutions on January 18-24. The second module on "strategic communication" will be held on February 6-7 for national entities, and on February 8-9 for local and departmental entities. The third module on "leadership and persuasion" will take place on March 5 and 6 for national institutions, and on March 7 and 8 for local and departmental institutions.

The modules take the form of face-to-face workshops with dynamics aimed at the practical application of the new tools to the problems that leaders at all levels of the public administration and institutions of civil society deal with everyday.

The CAF initiative is intended to complement the actions taken to strengthen governance in the countries of the region. The series of courses will be repeated later in other Andean countries.

The program is developed jointly by the CAF department of governance and technical cooperation and the firm Cambridge International Consulting, in three key areas: negotiation, strategic communication, and leadership and persuasion, which are pillars of the capacity of the parties involved to have a strategic influence on their work as leaders of society, reducing levels of confrontation and promoting consensus building among the different views that each sector contributes to national life.

In the area of negotiation, the basic model used in the program was developed by Harvard University, a practical model of proven effectiveness which has been used internationally, especially in Latin America. The leadership model in this program is derived from new developments that deal directly with new challenges, where democratic participation is an urgent need. Since these processes take place between persons and institutions, the area of strategic communication is critical, and new and practical tools are included in the program to achieve more efficient communication.

The face-to-face workshops are supplemented by follow-up activities designed to allow the participants to adapt the application of the tools to real life.

Cambridge International Consulting has focused its research and practice on the generation of influence and strategic power. The firm is formed by well-known professionals from Latin America who are familiar with the regional situation and have used similar processes in very varied contexts of public interest.

The program is integrated into the CAF´s field of action of governance and is complemented by other programs being executed in the region, including project financing, training, technical assistance and orientation of leaders and their teams in national and municipal governments.

The Corporation has formed strategic associations with prestigious international institutions such as George Washington University with the Governance and Democratic Sustainability Program; the Organization of American States through the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD) with the Integrated Program for Municipal Development in the Andean Region; Cambridge International Consulting (CIC) with the Tools for Governance and Consensus-Building Program; and the IDEA Foundation of Bolivia with the Leadership Program for Transformation: Youth Training with a vision of country and democratic values.