Poder Ciudadano (English Version)

Who are we?

We are a non-partisan, non profit-making institution that was established in 1989 as the initiative of a group of citizens concerned about the defence of civic rights in our country.

From the outset, our founders had in mind for its integration, the issues of gender equality, and the diversity of political tendencies and of social classes. However, they shared a foundation of common values, considering that with such diversity, a public mindset could be created which would engage those members of the public distanced from politics and voting, casting differences aside in order to strengthen the true value of democracy. These objectives constituted the central core through which they built Poder Ciudadano. The ideological differences among the founders only strengthened their non-partisan status.

Our objective is to promote the participation of citizens and to make the population more aware of the problems of public interest that require engagement and the participation of all.

Poder Ciudadano is an organization that drives the cause for a good government of the state, transparency in the management of public affairs and commitment by breathing life into our democratic institutions.

For 20 years our work has had a profound impact on the lives of citizens that see in our organization, a reference for the control of governmental acts, and an effective channel for the participation and expression of the basis demands for respect of these institutions.

Since 1993 we have been the Argentine chapter of Transparency International, an organization that leads the fight against corruption on a global scale. Our mission is to promote civic participation, transparency and access to public information in order to strengthen our democratic institutions through collective action. What drives us is the vision of a network of people and institutions engaged in public issues at a local, national and international level in pursuit of democratic and inclusive societies.

What do we do?

We work along the following strategic lines: transparency and civic control; anti-corruption; monitoring of institutions, strengthening of education and civic participation; and the expansion of the channels of communication between civilian society and the state.

These strategic lines are operated through the following fields of work:

Construction of citizenship

We have built, starting with training, a network of citizens that know how to act before the state, how to get involved in public issues and how to have a bearing on public policies that define the quality of life in our society.

Currently we are working so that all citizens without a Documento Nacional de Identidad (DNI) can gain access to this tool since its absence means that the individual does not rely on legal proof of their existence, with the resulting difficulty, in order to be able to openly express their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. This seriously harms their involvement citizens, in comparison to what is established in the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

For this very reason we try to promote the universality to the right of identity for all citizens, without distinction, in all of Latin America with the objective of encouraging that the standards of the Organization of American States (OAS) are met, with regards to the register, identification and documentation. Currently we are working in nine countries – including Argentina – to encourage the exchange of learning, experiences and better practices, on the issues of identity mentioned previously.

For more information, contact María Batch, coordinator of the program at mery@poderciudadano.org

Education

Since the school program ‘Conflict Resolution and Goal Building’ we have applied the learning of collaborative negotiation for a resolution to conflicts in the classroom. The aim is to award young people the chance to interact directly and peacefully with others and, in such a way, the reach the solution to a problem or the achievement of an individual or group target.

This program is the result of more than 25 years of investigation and development coming from the Program of Negotiation from the School of Law in Harvard, directed by Dr. Roger Fisher, but applied to young people.

Since 1998, Poder Ciudadano has been able to implement this program in Argentina and since then, had qualified more than 600 teachers and 15,000 students in the whole country.

We create the skills for the building of goals and the resolution to conflicts in young people and teachers, at the same time that we promote interaction between teachers, young people, families and the community in order to favor the peaceful and joint resolution to conflict in schools in the country.

The main objectives are:

- To provide the participants with the specific tools that allows them to think in a different way regarding their stance to internal and external conflicts.

- To develop in the participants the skills to be able to consider their concerns, points of view, and to understand the point of view of another when confronted by a situation of conflict.

- To collaborate in the education of a group that can think along the same lines when it comes to planning particular interventions in the community.

- To establish networks that allows various actors to join in order to widen the impact on the community.

Political and Governmental Institutions

We develop actions and tools to improve the standard of political representation and transparency in the administration of the state at the same time that we encourage the citizens to have an impact on the definition of public policies and to contribute to the strengthening of our democratic institutions.

Our foci of action are the political parties, the transparency of elections – including the financing of the parties and their electoral campains – the National Congress and the Executive Power.

We seek to transfer our actions and tools to other organizations and democratic institutions on the sub national levels of government.

Currently we are working on the program ‘Transparent Municipalities’ which has as its objective to increase the transparency and the involvement of citizens in local and public management. This initiative encourages the municipalities the implement institutional advances with regards to the Access of Public Information, public integrity and ethics (Code of Ethics, Regulation of the Management of Interests and the System of Sworn Statements).

The intention is to apply it in all the municipalities of the Buenos Aires province. Up to now, work has been started with the municipalities of Azul, Carlos Casares, La Costa, Luján, Lanús, Marcos Paz, San Miguel, San Fernando, Quilmes y Mar del Plata.

The program is in line with the International Conventions against Corruption ratified by the Argentinean state; International Convention against Corruption, United Nations Convention on the Fight against Corruption; Agreement to fight against the Corruption of Foreign Public Agents in International Commercial Transactions. The area encourages the fulfillment of these regulations, together with the Area of Transparency and Anti-Corruption.

For more information, contact Facundo Galvan, Director of Political and Governmental Institutions, at fgalvan@poderciudadano.org

Transparency

Through diverse initiatives, we drive for the use of tools with the purpose of encouraging efficiency and control of citizenship in processes of public transactions.

In this way, we promote the opening up of the processes involved in transactions to society, securing the involvement of all the economic and social sectors of society.

Also it formulates the participation of Poder Ciudadano in international networks with its focus being anti-corruption (such as Transparency International, Inter-American Network for Democracy, International Budget Project) and brings together collective spaces (Table of Transparency of Argentinean Dialogue, Federal Monitoring Group and Promotion of the Inter-American convention against Corruption – OAS).

The initiatives include:

- Sectorial agreements

- Pacts of Integrity

- Monitoring of Transactions

Justice

We carry out actions in order to stimulate the participation of the nation in the construction of an administration of justice, which is more transparent and efficient through the debate about projects of reform, the proposal of public policies and the fulfilment of campaigns.

Through the Centre of Legal Anti-corruption Assistance (ALAC) we offer free means of advice and guidelines to citizens, victims or witnesses of these punishable crimes, allowing them to participate actively in the fight against corruption.

In order to make a report it is necessary to present your case in one of the following ways:

By free phone telephone:

0800-222-2684

By e-mail: denuncia@centroalac.org.ar

By post to:

Poder Ciudadano. Oficina ALAC Piedras 547 C1070 AAK Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Argentina

By means of the Red de Abogados, we coordinate the voluntary work of independent lawyers, legal studies and professional associations in the representation of cases of public interest (transparency, anti-corruption, access to information and the rights of collective incidence) or those cases in which people or groups with little access to justice might be involved. To contact the RAV, write to: infoabogados@poderciudadano.org.