on municipal round tables where social issues were discussed. More impor-
tantly, these discussions focused on how the HIPC II resources would be
allocated so as to have the largest possible impact on poverty. Most observ-
ers seem to agree that Bolivia organized quite an impressive participatory
process.
2.1. Organization of the Participation Process
The potential impact of a nationwide participation process is
largely determined by the organizational format or the institutional design
of the process itself. The way in which such a process is organized there-
fore -- in scope, in depth, who is to be consulted and the extent to which
the government is tied by the end result of such a process -- is an important
issue that can lead to profound disagreement and conflict. This is exactly
what happened in Bolivia. Fierce discussions and sudden changes in govern-
mental strategy preceded the final format of the National Dialogue 2. Before
making a critical analysis, we will give a short chronology of the participa-
tory process and how it was set up.
When the word got out that a nationwide consultation was going to
take place, many civil society actors immediately and pro-actively tried to
influence the preparatory process. An independent group of professionals
had several contacts with Vice-President Jorge Quiroga to discuss poverty
reducing strategies and organizational matters of the Dialogue. The Church
and several social organizations expressed in an open letter to the govern-
ment their concerns about the intentions of the government, while making
propositions on the organizational aspects of the process and announcing
their own nationwide consultation process called Jubilee 2000. Govern-
ment contacted networks of non-governmental development organizations
(NGOs) on the organizational aspects of the process and the latter prepared
a document on the minimum conditions to be satisfied for participation not
to turn into a mere formality. A group of associations of small entrepreneurs
from the informal sector, distrustful about the intentions of the government,
decided to found their own Federation - Comité de Enlace - and organize
their own National Consultation (Consulta Nacional), which was intended to
feed into the National Dialogue.
At first, the government and the Technical Secretariat of independent
consultants that was entrusted the task of organizing the consultation pro-
cess, opted to do so along functional lines, mainly involving nationally or-
ganized NGOs, movements and institutions. This format had also been used
during the National Dialogue 1 in 1997, organized by the government of
President Banzer at the beginning of its term in office5. Many CSOs however
were very dissatisfied with the way the Banzer administration had selected
the participants (without consultation), the brevity of the consultation (three
days) and the unwillingness of government of having in-depth discussions
on development strategies.
5 Banzer who had ruled Bolivia
as a military dictator during the
1970s was elected with only 23%
of the votes. Setting up a consul-
tation process involving national
CSOs and social movements
may well have been inspired by a
desire to increase the legitimacy
of his administration.
8 • IDPM-UA Discussion Paper 2002-05