LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGIONAL CONSULTATION: KEY ISSUES FOR THE DEBATE

1. LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEANREGIONAL CONSULTATION:KEY ISSUES FOR THE DEBATE Por: RUBÉN FERNÁNDEZ Medellín, Colombia

2. Some key issues for the debate • Concept of International Development Cooperation - The Right to Development • Three parameters to measure the effectiveness • Multiple Roles of CSO, including the political role of defending democracy • Other principles beyond the Paris Declaration • Cooperation in cases of disasters and emergencies (Caribbean)

3. International Development Cooperation Concept vs AID 1 • AID: a relationship in which in one side are resources and in the other side are only needs. • But in reality in both sides of the bind we find different kind of resources and needs; therefore there is inter-dependency: what is needed here is COOPERATION

4. International Development Cooperation as a Global Public Good 1 • Resources of International Development Cooperation are public founds which goes to produce public goods. • Must be treated as an open, transparent and accessible good in a new global space, constructed in its core orientations through public debate.

5. International Development Cooperation for the realization of the Right to Development • International Development Cooperation is a political tool and part of an international development financing structure. Is one among many othersinstruments available to nations for the fulfillment of the right to development. • The cooperation with middle income countries: the problem of internal inequality. 1

6. The parameters to measure the effectiveness of International Development Cooperation • It is a triangle: • Human rights • Gender equality agenda • Sustainability • This measurement must also be a broadly participatory process. 2

7. Roles of CSO 3 We must acknowledge the enormous diversity of CSO in terms of interests, methodologies, type of organizations and territorial scope • CSO are key actors in the architecture and daily actions of Development Cooperation, as donors, intermediaries or receivers of the cooperation. • And as mobilizers of local resources and of the social solidarity energy of society (both in North and South).

8. Political role of CSO: defenders of democracy 3 • Democracy –if is genuine- is the best institutional, political and cultural environment for the fulfillment of the rights of the majorities. • CSO are essential for the strengthening and reinforcement of democracy, play a key role in: • struggling to overcome inequalities and poverty, • defending public interests, • promoting the economic, social and political rights for all citizens.

9. Other Principlesbeyond Paris Declaration 4 • The guiding principle of International Development Cooperation must be solidarity among nations and peoples (common problems-common solutions). • It is necessary to ensure coherence as a principle between cooperation, commercial and foreign relations policies of States. • Decentralization must be a principle, both in its practice and in taking into account the particularities of local needs and strengthening the decentralization processes within the States.

10. Cooperation in cases of disasters and emergencies (Caribbean input) • The intervention of International Cooperation in cases of emergency and disaster deserves special attention, preventing a lack of coordination among donors and receivers with regard to mechanisms and priorities, reducing high transaction costs. 5

11. http://www.alop.or.cr/ GRACIAS THANK YOU MERCI