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The achievement of sustainable and equitable growth in the region, in addition to the economic goals of improving the well-being of the majority and of those who are disadvantaged, is also linked to two other interdependent objectives: greater political democratic stability and greater political inclusion that allows for more effective representation of large sectors of the population that are presently excluded or unequally represented. The strengthening of the democratic system, therefore, is essential to the development effort.
To further these objectives SOE-in partnership with European think tanks and international organizations-has developed seminars, studies, conferences and publications on governance and constitutional issues, such as "Decentralization as a Tool for New Local Governance”; "Constitutions and Integration"; "Participatory Democracy"; “The International Criminal Court and Iberoamerica”; and “Fighting Clientelism”.
SOE has also organized with the Regional Operational Departments activities to learn from the European experience in the field of participation by civil society in public policies. In Chile, SOE co-organized a Workshop on Citizen participation in Public Policies with the Regional Operations Department 1 (RE1). Accordingly, SOE supported, in cooperation with the Italian NGO Active Citizenship Network (ACN), a project on “Assessing and Reviewing the Criteria of Representativeness of Civic NGOs in Europe and Latin America”, in order to reflect a comparison between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean in the process of designing public policies with participation of civil society.
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