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Despite considerable political and economic reforms that have accompanied the advent of the 'Third Wave' of democratisation in Latin America since the early 1980s, the quality of democratic governance remains uneven and highly problematic throughout the region, and deep-rooted poverty is a persistent challenge. In fact, while economic growth has made great strides over the past few years, Latin America remains the most unequal region in the world. Based on the many changes that the region has undergone over the past few decades, Latin America is a rich laboratory of experimentation from which other areas in the developing world can draw lessons. In recent years, both national actors and international donors have gained a greater appreciation for the importance of context and politics in a development setting. A growing debate centers on the ways in which poverty and political systems inter-relate interact, and how the donor community and specialised agencies can best engage local actors in promoting a pro-poor development agenda. This Conference seeks to highlight the strategic and practical experiences, best practice and lessons learned by donor agencies in Latin America in promoting pro-poor development agendas aimed at reducing extreme poverty and inequality - and address their relevance in other parts of the developing world. It will also identify some of the common political factors that impact – positively and negatively – on progress towards these objectives. The objectives of the Conference are to: 1. Stimulate debate and discussion on the ways in which poverty and political systems interact in Latin America and elsewhere 2. Identify practical strategies for how the donor community and specialised agencies can best engage local actors in promoting a pro-poor development agenda 3. Contribute to the growing research on the subject by broadly disseminating the Conference results, findings and lessons learned The Conference is co-organised by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and made possible by the support of the Department for International Development (DFID). Speakers and participants will include representatives from these organisations as well as Parliament, political parties, think tanks, academic centres, other donors, NGOs, and the media. They will provide a range of disciplines and views that will help address the relevance of these lessons from Latin America for the rest of the world. Inauguration • Simon Maxwell, ODI Director The Relationship between Poverty and Political Systems: Global Perspectives for Donor Agencies Based on global research, the session will address the following: • Why is this relationship important for donors -and what lessons can they draw from Latin America for their work in other developing regions? Panel Tea & Coffee The State of Democracy: Political Systems and Poverty in Latin America The session will address the following: • How does poverty and inequality continue to affect the nature of democratic politics in Latin America? • What are the impact and politics of social movements in Latin America and the Andes in particular? What impact do these processes have on the nature and action of democratic institutions? • How do natural resources and extractive economies affect the dynamics of politics, policymaking and poverty? Panel Organisers: DFID’s Subregional Politics and Poverty Programmes The Department for International Development (DFID) is the part of the UK Government that manages Britain's aid to poor countries and works to get rid of extreme poverty. Since 2003, DFID has been supporting a programme in Latin America aimed at increasing the representation of the poor in political systems in order to produce more pro-poor policies and budgets. As part of this programme, DFID has supported studies, workshops, and dialogues on the themes of poverty, politics and international cooperation in Central America and the Andean countries. International IDEA The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is an inter-governmental organization that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. Democracy and Development and the complex links between the two concepts, has been included in International IDEA’s strategy 2005-2010 with the objective of fostering a more integrated and thus more effective participation of national political actors in developing countries on the one hand, and the international community and development cooperation agencies on the other, in the fields of democracy support and development cooperation: in other terms, to help establish between these two areas effective and mutually beneficial synergies that will serve the interests of both developing and developed countries. The issue has been at the heart of IDEA’s work in Latin America in recent years and it underpins work underway to support the African Union in the implementation of the AU Charter on Democracy, Governance and Elections. In Latin America specifically, the 2002 publication “Democracies in Development” by IDEA and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) highlighted the message that “politics matters” for development. In 2005, IDEA created the Andean Politics and Poverty Programme with DFID support and in alliance with the National Democratic Institute and the Asociacion Civil Transparencia which has included a series of dialogues with political, academic, civil society and international actors and technical cooperation to political parties for platform development. Overseas Development Institute ODI is Britain's leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Its mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. It does this by locking together high quality applied research, practical policy advice, and policy-focused dissemination and debate. The Latin America and the Caribbean Group (LACG) at ODI is an interdisciplinary group that draws together research on Latin America at ODI and seeks amplify lessons from other regions that could be useful in Latin America (and vice versa). LACG organises and supports private and public events on development issues both in the UK as well as in Latin America with the main the objective to share knowledge and experiences. A key focus of the LACG is study of politics in poverty reduction policies in Latin America, the role of evidence in policymaking and the role of civil society and other policy actors.
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