The seminar “International Cooperation and Political Parties in Latin America” was organized 26-27 September in Madrid by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and IDEA. The aim of the event was to engage academics, political party leaders and cooperation representatives in collective analysis on the situation of political parties in the Region and to lay the groundwork for enhanced coordination between actors in the field.
Special attention was paid to the situation of political parties in Central America and the Andean Region, with participants coming from more than eight Latin American countries and representatives from 11 organizations engaged in political party assistance.
IDEA Regional Director Daniel Zovatto, an instrumental member of the event planning team, said: “We do not see this seminar as a one-time event, but rather part of a longer term process aimed at ensuring enhanced analysis, dialogue and cooperation. We are grateful for the support of one of our member countries—in this case Spain—for this event. Although donor coordination in Central America is already underway, we are hopefully providing a solid base for a similar process of inter-institutional dialogue and cooperation in the Andean Region. The needs are great and resources are scarcer each year. Coordination is a must for resource optimization.”
“A relatively small but growing part of international aid to democracy-building is targeting political parties. Approaches differ: from bilateral or multilateral cooperation between like-minded parties to efforts in improving party systems by joint activities with all parties. IDEA aims to promote an open exchange of experience, opinions and learning about party aid, its impact and methods” says Roger Hällhag, Head of IDEA political party team.
Leire Pajin, the Spanish Secretary for Cooperation participated in the Seminar and closed it formally.
In Latin America, IDEA has prioritized work with political parties as its principal thrust, and including the following sub-areas: dialogue promotion, political reform, technical cooperation, training, and women’s political participation. In the Andean Region, work has focused in recent weeks on campaign training for women candidates and a study on political parties in the Andes (see both news items below).
Contact: Daniel Zovatto, IDEA regional director for Latin America and Roger Hällhag, head of the political party team. Or vist AECI's Web page on the seminar.
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