From 21 to 23 March, Gérard Karlshausen, on behalf of the Board of CONCORD, represented the confederation at a series of meetings organised in Santiago, Chile, by the "mesa de articulación" (liaison / links table) of the Latin-American NGOs. Twelve national associations and four regional networks currently belong to this initiative. The French, Portuguese, Spanish and Belgian platforms were also represented. With their active participation, the "Mesa" held a remarkable seminar at the University of Chile on "social cohesion and development financing: the role of civil society", which was attended by over a hundred participants.
It also provided an opportunity for several work meetings, which led notably to two initiatives between CONCORD and the Latin-American platforms. One involved discussion about participation by the European Confederation in the resource centre set up at the initiative of Coordination Sud (France) and Acción (Chile) with CONGAD (Senegal) and Vani (India). This is a website, due to be inaugurated in June, aimed at stepping up synergies and the adoption of common positions by NGOs from the four continents. The other was the idea of a meeting between European and Latin-American platforms in Brussels in September: this initiative was agreed in principle, and its main practical aspects were decided on. It is due to be held on 11 September, the day after the annual meeting of CONCORD's platforms. These two activities belong under CONCORD's policy of drawing closer to similar organisations in the South, as included in our strategic plan.
Source: CONCORD Flash - March 2007.
See also Euforic dossier on Latin America and Europe.
