Dialogue in Pursuit of Development - Are you looking for one of ...

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During the third phase in 1999, activities focussed on the public agenda
that emerged from the Democracy Assessment along five major axes: (a)
electoral participation; (b) training for political parties; (c) fiscal reform; (d)
reconciliation; and (e) dissemination and dialogue of the public democracy
agenda. Policy advice was also provided to the international community.
The fourth phase began in 2000, with formal IDEA withdrawal from the
Guatemala programme and the handing over of responsibility for further
democracy promotion and development activities to the contact group.
There have been a significant number of outputs achieved during the
two years of the programming in Guatemala, mainly measured in terms of
forums, workshops, seminars, and publications. Within the Guatemala programme,
several outcomes can be noted: (a) IDEA-supported activities have
resulted in the articulation of a public agenda for democracy development
in Guatemala; (b) IDEA-assisted activities were instrumental in bringing
together diverse groups from the far left and the far right of the political
spectrum, the military, and the private sector to discuss and debate the democracy
agenda for Guatemala; (c) the availability of information on norms,
guidelines and practices from international and inter-cultural settings through
seminars, forums, and workshops was an important outcome in stimulating
broad-based political education at the national, regional, and municipal levels
and especially within indigenous communities; (d) IDEA’s stakeholder
network and key democratic institutions, such as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal
and the Congress, benefited from technical advice and expertise provided
by the organization in critical areas of the implementation of the
Peace Accords.
While the project activities have resulted in some positive outcomes, the
volatile political situation, highly complex social issues, and poor economic
conditions within the country have constrained contributions to overall
democratic development. Today, many of the strategic priorities for the successful
achievement of the Peace Accords remain merely topics of discussion.
IDEA has had limited influence in securing commitments at the highest
political levels and has been unable to mobilize broad enough support
within the various social strata in support of the democracy agenda.
Relevance: One of the principal goals of the Democracy Assessment report
and the dialogue strategy was to lay the foundations for an intercultural
dialogue on democracy in Guatemala, a critical element for sustaining
both commitment to and compliance with the Peace Accords. IDEA
was strategically positioned to facilitate this process, having established highlevel
contacts with political and private sector elites and a stakeholder network
that encompassed a number of respected and competent civil society
organizations. Thus, it clearly had leverage with critical democracy actors
with whom the dialogue process could be pursued. Nevertheless, throughout
1999, it was unable to capitalize on these opportunities for a number of
reasons.