- During the IDB Group’s Civil Society Forum in Panama, participants discussed ways to strengthen engagement and enhance the impact of the Group’s development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.
- The conversations focused on transforming current engagement practices from a primarily consultative approach into a more collaborative model that incorporates diverse perspectives, particularly those of young people and organizations in rural and remote areas.
- The discussions will help inform the IDB Group’s new Civil Society Engagement Plan 2027–2030, which served as the framework for the event’s discussions.
When more than 100 representatives of civil society organizations from across Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in Panama on September 8-9, alongside around 50 IDB Group specialists, we came together with a shared purpose: to strengthen dialogue, trust, and collaboration between the IDB Group and civil society.
It was fitting that the Forum took place under the symbol of the mola, the vibrant Panamanian textile tradition that weaves distinct colors, patterns, and stories into a unified design. Like a mola, the Forum brought together diverse voices, experiences, and perspectives, each contributing a unique thread to a shared vision. In this case, this translated into a shared commitment to improving lives in the region.
The discussions focused on how to make civil society participation more effective in helping IDB Group projects generate impact on the ground. Participants agreed that we need to move beyond consultation spaces toward engagement mechanisms that foster broader collaboration, incorporate diverse voices, and are more effective.
This means creating channels that allow earlier and more meaningful participation and promote greater transparency and accountability. Additionally, it is necessary to support civil society organizations through capacity building, knowledge sharing, and opportunities for engagement, while ensuring that participation is inclusive and representative, and building trust through follow-through and concrete results. Taken together, these priorities became the threads of the trama común, or the common theme that emerged throughout the Forum.
IDB Civil Society Engagement Plan
These discussions are helping shape the IDB Group's new Civil Society Engagement Plan 2027–2030, which served as the framework for the conversations in Panama. Importantly, the draft plan was built on evidence, following a nine-month consultation with civil society organizations.
The process included an independent stocktaking exercise conducted by American University's School of International Service, surveys of civil society representatives and IDB Group staff, regional consultations, workshops, internal dialogues, and operational pilots across several countries.
Together, these efforts gathered insights from hundreds of stakeholders and revealed recurring challenges: participation often arrives too late to influence decisions, pathways for engagement are not always clear, and feedback loops do not always close. Those findings helped shape the draft plan discussed in Panama.
Opportunity to Discuss and Test Findings
The Forum provided an opportunity to test those findings and identify practical ways forward. Participants emphasized that meaningful participation should happen from the earliest stages of policy, program, and project design, not after key decisions have already been made. They called for stronger accountability mechanisms, greater transparency around how recommendations are incorporated, and more systematic opportunities for engagement throughout the development process.
Importantly, the discussions moved beyond general principles. Civil society representatives and IDB Group teams engaged directly on participation mechanisms, consultations, Country Strategies, CONSOCs, and other channels for engagement, identifying concrete opportunities to make these processes more transparent, representative, and effective.
Many participants also highlighted the importance of recognizing the diversity of civil society itself. Effective engagement requires understanding the different realities organizations face and ensuring that participation mechanisms are accessible and representative, including for organizations working in rural and remote areas, Indigenous Peoples, youth-led organizations, persons with disabilities, and groups operating with limited institutional resources.
Youth Participation
Among the most powerful aspects of the Forum was the participation of young people from across the region.
In partnership with Plan International, the Forum created opportunities for youth representatives to engage directly with IDB Group specialists, ask questions, share experiences, and contribute ideas alongside other civil society actors. Their participation was not symbolic. They helped shape discussions and challenged us to think differently about how participation happens.
One of the most memorable moments came during the closing plenary, when several young participants volunteered to present the conclusions from their discussion tables before approximately 150 participants. Watching them take the floor with confidence and articulate the perspectives of their peers was a powerful reminder that young people are not simply future stakeholders. They are stakeholders today.
They also introduced many of us to a concept that sparked important reflection: adultocentrismo, the tendency to view decisions and participation primarily through an adult lens, often leaving younger voices with less influence over conversations that directly affect their futures.
The lesson was simple but important. Inviting young people into the room is only the first step. Meaningful youth engagement also requires creating the conditions for them to participate, ensuring that adults are prepared to listen, and recognizing young people as contributors to the conversations and decisions that shape development outcomes.
Better Engagement is About Achieving Development Results
The experience in Panama reminded us that inclusion is not only about who is present. It is about whose voices are heard and whose perspectives influence the conversation.
That lesson extends beyond youth participation. Better engagement is not only about strengthening relationships; it is also about achieving better development results. When policies, programs, and projects are informed by the experience, knowledge, and expertise of the communities they seek to serve, they are more likely to be responsive, effective, and sustainable.
More broadly, the Forum marked an important step toward a more open, systematic, and continuous model of engagement between the IDB Group and civil society. Rather than relying on isolated interactions, participants pointed to the importance of building enduring relationships based on trust, listening, collaboration, and shared accountability.
Building that common thread will not happen through a single event. It requires continuous engagement, ongoing listening, and a willingness to learn together.
The Civil Society Forum was one step in that journey. But it reinforced an important truth: meaningful participation is not a destination. It is an ongoing process of weaving stronger connections between the IDB Group and civil society so that, together, we can deliver better outcomes for the people of Latin America and the Caribbean.