Antigua Guatemala hosted a workshop with civil society representatives from Latin America and the European Union, organised in collaboration with Oxfam Intermón and with support from the Delegation of the European Union in Guatemala.
In collaboration with the non-governmental organisation for development Oxfam Intermón, the EUROsociAL+ Programme promoted a workshop with civil society actors from Latin America and Europe with the objective of building a more inclusive agenda for cooperation between both regions and public policies that address inequality gaps.
The initiative is aligned with Goal 17.17 of the Sustainable Development Goals: to “encourage and promote effective public, public-private, and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships”, creating spaces for dialogue between different non-institutional actors.
EUROsociAL+ held this workshop at the Training Centre of Spanish Cooperation in Antigua Guatemala, which was attended by 50 civil society representatives from Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Attendees talked of the need for civil society involvement throughout the public policy cycle, and not only in implementation; recommending the incorporation of innovative methodologies involving collaboration, territoriality and new leadership; and the possibility of incorporating emerging media by raising awareness of public policies aimed at improving social cohesion.
As well as organising the EUROsociAL+ programme that it leads, the FIIAPP took part through two other programmes: Adelante – EVALUA, with its coordinator Miguel Ángel Lombardo; and Bridging the Gap, with its communication officer, Carmen Serrano.
This workshop received valuable support from the Delegation of the European Union in Guatemala. The opening session was opened by the Ambassador of the European Union, Stefano Gatto, who was accompanied by the director of EUROsociAL+, Juan Manuel Santomé, the general coordinator of Spanish Cooperation, Miguel González, the secretary general of the SISCA, Alfredo Suárez; the sector planning analyst of the General Secretariat of Planning of Guatemala Ana Matilde Menéndez, and the director of Oxfam in Guatemala, Ana María Méndez.
