STORY

Civil Society and Government Align for Transparency in Central America

August 15, 2016

“Over the last five years of socio-political life in Honduras, we have witnessed … successes and setbacks. The public outcry … to allow space for transparency and accountability … culminated to an unprecedented scale.” — Counterpart International COO, Derek Hodkey noted some months ago in Tegucigalpa. And the citizens of the region are working proactively to see this through.

Dedicated to promoting transparency and open government, Programa Impactos, a program sponsored by Counterpart International, has partnered with civil society organizations throughout Central America for over five years.

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Citizens register for an Impactos sponsored event

Building bridges between the government and citizens, they have steadfastly worked to promote transparency and accountability at all levels of governance. This summer Programa Impactos efforts have reached even more citizens and organizations striving for government transparency and accountability.

Here’s some highlights from several key events:

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Participants listen closely at the Impactos relaunch event in early June 2016

June 1 – 2, more than 650 participants gathered at The Regional Meeting of the Americas of the Alliance for Open Government in Montevideo, Uruguay. This event united the many civil society actors in Central America. Having worked in this space since 2011, Programa Impactos held a lead role. Acting as a facilitator, the Honduran delegation invited representatives from Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama to join them. At the event, Counterpart representatives (from Honduras and Guatemala), led the networking discussions. Realizing that they each face similar challenges, the event ended with the groups deciding to create a large forum for regional cooperation and integration for Open Governance.

This new regional alliance, the Central American Alliance for Regional Initiatives, will be a learning network that enables civil society organizations to exchange experiences and important lessons learned for the designs of future Open Government Plans. It would also help citizens from these five countries share experiences from the field in their fight for transparency and governmental accountability. In July, representatives met again to continue their collaboration.

Building Bridges & Creating Positive Changes….

On July 18 – 21, the Sub-Regional Meeting of the Northern Triangle of Central America took place in San Salvador, El Salvador.

It connected the governmental delegations of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, with influential civil society organizations from their respective countries.

Working together, they developed strategies to strengthen cooperation between these two sectors and create a stronger monitoring system to ensure that citizens can hold their governments and officials accountable.

“We want to make sure the goals our citizens identified come to life and that this takes place within the framework of this initiative. This is something that positively impacts the daily life of our citizens. We need to make sure that we strengthen democracy,” explained Ismael Zepeda, a representative of Honduran civil society.

The Central American Alliance for Regional Initiatives is a strong bridge connecting civil society organizations across five countries, representing 39 million citizens.  It is a network that will help improve people’s lives building on a foundation of open and accountable governance, country by country.