Sharing good practices applied to the work on women's and young people’s rights

In a highly interactive day full of testimonies and examples, International IDEA shared its work experience on the rights of youth and women in Bolivia with a delegation from the Swedish Embassy who arrived from Guatemala to learn about the good practices that have been in place in Bolivia.

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Among some of the issues that have been addressed are: the advocacy strategy aimed at diverse and pluralistic organizations of young people for the development of a youth driven Public Policy Agenda, the coordinated work to strengthen their capabilities and the unfolding of their potential activism.

These efforts are made so that Bolivian youths enhance their knowledge about the mechanisms for developing public policy. We believe that this is a very important contribution for the new generations,” stated Alfonso Ferrufino, Senior Advisor of International IDEA.

In turn, the Coordinadora de la Mujer, our partner for several years in this work, shared the advocacy processes carried out with a view to the development and implementation of a women driven Political Agenda, in a line of continuity with the achievements of the Constituent Assembly process (2006-2009), through various initiatives such as: Listas para las Listas, Parity Is Now and, during the process of the 2019 General Elections and the 2020 Regional Elections, #PROTAGONISTAS: Parity - Power - Youth.

During the event we were able to share lessons learned from the work of International IDEA in Bolivia ranging from the Constituent Assembly, and show how from a coordinated work with various institutions and organizations, it was possible to contribute both during the constituent process itself as well as during the post-constituent phase, in the development and citizen deliberation of the main structural, national and regional norms so as to include a gender perspective.

In addition, the shift to the impact on public policies was addressed at national, regional and municipal levels.

The #PROTAGONISTAS: Parity-Power-Youth campaign and the CandiDAT@S tool were presented in this context, which enhances learning through digital and offline initiatives in the run-up to the 2019 General Elections, which will be held in Bolivia this upcoming 20 October 2019.

We underscored the importance of follow-up, currently underway through the #PROTAGONISTAS campaign, in order to guarantee parity and alternation in the candidacies, with a view to deepening the progress of democracy in relation to the participation of women and also in relation to the visibility of youth as stakeholders of power.

At the end of the exchange, Ms Outi Karppinen, representative of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) in Guatemala, highlighted the importance of sharing such experiences and asked for the continued strengthening of some the practices linked more directly to the work they do in Guatemala.