Welcome to the FOCAL archive
The Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL) is no longer in operation. This website documents FOCAL's activities and accomplishments throughout its existence. Thank you for your interest in the work of FOCAL.
| Summit of the Americas Follow-Up |
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Active Democracy: Citizen Network for the Implementation of Summit Mandates
FOCAL played a leadership role in the Active Democracy Network projects to build and improve civil society participation and government implementation of summit mandates. Between 2002 and 2008, FOCAL executed two projects to follow up on the 2001 Summit of the Americas’ Quebec City Plan of Action. The project built civil society participation and capacity, and monitored governments’ implementation of the following Summit mandates:
1. Access to Public Information
Working in collaboration with several regional organizations, these projects developed a methodology for civil society in 21 countries to monitor progress in these areas, produce national reports and share information and recommendations with their respective governments. An Americas-wide report was shared at both the Fourth and Fifth Summits.
Our partners during the project included the Active Democracy Network, Corporación Participa (Chile), the Regional Co-ordinator for Economic and Social Research (Coordinadora Regional de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales, CRIES, Nicaragua), Instituto Venezolano de Estudios Sociales y Políticos (INVESP, Venuzuela) and the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia).
The final phase of this project is for select countries to build a National Alliance for the Fulfillment of Summit of the Americas Mandates with the goal of catalyzing concrete action and bringing together national expertise to strengthen the Summit process and the implementation of mandates. FOCAL held consultations in Vancouver and Calgary with key stakeholders in advance of the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009. Following the Fifth Summit, we met with a diverse cross-section of Canadians interested in foreign policy issues in Latin America by participating at the Canada’s World Foreign Policy Camp. The project successfully increased Canadians’ awareness of the Summit of the Americas and of Canada’s role in the hemisphere.
This project was funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) based in Ottawa, Canada. Reports:
Regional Reports: North America
FOCAL Summit of the Americas Bulletins:
Fifth Summit Bulletin 1, March 27, 2009 Fifth Summit Bulletin 2, April 14, 2009
More information can be found at http://www.sociedadcivil.net/
Participating civil society organizations: The summit follow-up project was managed by the Canadian Foundation for the Americas (FOCAL, Canada), Corporación Participa (Chile) and Instituto Venezolano de Estudios Sociales y Políticos (INVESP, Venezuela). A total of 24 organizations implemented the project. Those marked with an asterisk were involved in forming National Alliances. North America |
