Responding to a crisis of confidence in political parties, 15 years ago NDI and the then Ministry of the Presidency of Chile brought together senior political party leaders from 14 countries in Latin America to consider how to boost popular support for party reform.
They focused on generating more leadership opportunities for women and young people, internal party democratization, and establishing links among political movements and parties in the hemisphere so they could share ideas.
The result of their efforts was the Political Leadership Program (LP), launched by NDI in 1999 to help emerging political leaders strengthen their management and organizational skills to promote political party renewal.
Selected Leadership Program Profiles
Maria Eugenia
Campos Galván
Campos is a federal congresswoman for Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN) representing the state of Chihuahua. As her 1999 Leadership Program assignment, Campos, the PAN secretary of youth in Chihuahua, carried out a state voter mobilization project that increased youth registration with the party and raised voter participation.
“The lessons that I was able to share with my colleagues helped the PAN youth movement in Chihuahua greatly,” Campos said. “There was no budget for youth activities and no youth representatives on the party’s state committee. Using ideas I gained from the Leadership Program seminar, I obtained a budget for the youth movement, two seats for youth representatives on the state committee and coordinated a campaign to promote the youth vote in the presidential election of 2000. As a result, we won the youth vote in the state - increasing youth voter participation from 30 to 50 percent.”
As a congresswoman, Campos continues to implement the best practices she learned in the LP program regarding outreach to young people and women. She also places her financial information on her Web site as an exercise in transparency. (See campaign videos)
Carlos Daniel Fernandez
Fernandez is coordinator of the parliamentary group of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the Mexican state of Sonora. He previously served as the president of the state committee of the PRI. Under his leadership and as part of his 2006 Leadership Program project, the PRI parliamentary group in Sonora implemented a number of innovative transparency and constituency outreach initiatives, including establishing 14 district offices and developing outreach projects such as job placement, health campaigns and directing needy constituents to appropriate federal and state programs. During his tenure, the PRI parliamentary group of Sonora began publishing all of its expenditures online and began broadcasting all of its deliberations via webcam. (See Web site)
Juan Carlos Guerra
Guerra is the youngest of 21 vice presidents of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD). He previously served as vice president of the Dominican Revolutionary Youth (JRD) and president for the province of Santo Domingo, and official spokesperson and member of the national political commission of the JRD. He recently campaigned to be president of the party. As vice president, Guerra decided to focus on improving the ethics of the party and successfully developed an ethics code that was passed by party leaders in November 2005. This code was developed and implemented as part of his 2005 Leadership Program project. (See Web site)
In the decade since, young political leaders have come together annually under NDI auspices to study international best practices. Participants from 56 major political parties and movements across the ideological spectrum have worked on behalf of party renewal and reform in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
As one of the Mexican participants said, “The Leadership Program seminar taught me the importance of strategic planning, how to handle crises, and most importantly, the importance of ethical, strong leaders. The seminar gave me a new perspective on what a leader should be – the importance of leading by example and being open to change and new ideas.”
Through the years, program participants have developed hundreds of projects with real world applications that have reached up to 40,000 people.
- In Mexico, Liliana Rojero, secretary general of the Mexican Ministry of Women and formerly national director of the women’s division of the National Action Party (PAN), organized a nationwide network of female party activists to support women candidates. In the 2003 and 2006 election cycles, the PAN elected more women to federal legislative positions than any other party in Mexico.
- Mayor Carlos Contreras of Barrancabermeja, a perennial conflict zone in Colombia’s oil region, is involving the public in city spending decisions through a participatory budget process he developed during the 2006 Leadership Program that helps local governments more effectively address issues of popular concern and make democracy deliver for citizens.
- Juan Carlos Guerra, vice president of the Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), developed and carried out a new ethics code for his party in the Dominican Republic as part of his 2005 Leadership Program project. This initiative helped address public criticism that political parties were not addressing corruption or sanctioning leaders guilty of ethics violations.
The LP has evolved considerably since its beginnings, taking into account feedback from participants and a comprehensive evaluation conducted in 2005. This year’s program includes three phases:
First, national academies were held in each of three participating countries – Ecuador, Mexico and Peru –that engaged a total of 69 emerging leaders, 41 men and 28 women, representing all major political parties and movements. Participants analyzed the role of political parties in a democracy and how they function, looking at internal democracy, transparency, outreach to new sectors and project planning. Applying their new skills, participants submitted proposals for reform projects within their parties.
Second, six participants from each of the three countries attended a regional seminar in Quito, Ecuador, to learn additional skills to help implement their proposed projects. These participants were selected based on the quality of their project design and proposal.
In the third phase, still underway, Quito participants have returned to their countries to share what they learned with academy participants and other party members, and to carry out their projects with the help of party leaders or other mentors.
Participants this year included national party secretaries of youth, gender, organization and international relations; municipal council members; state party presidents; and the president of an indigenous movement. According to one participant, “The seminar allows you to consolidate ideas, strategies and action plans to become a change agent within the party structure.”
Topics in the Quito seminar included how to design and implement participatory training sessions, develop a message, identify project allies, raise funds and negotiate project activities and goals across sectors. Alumni from previous LP programs talked with participants about how to strengthen party structures and initiatives that target youth engagement in politics, improve internal party communications and employ door-to-door strategies to mobilize new voters.
Two representatives of the Obama for America presidential campaign discussed new methods for grassroots outreach, including the use of new technologies such as Web sites, databases and online social networking sites that were used to engage new sectors and recruit donors, volunteers and voters in both the primary and general election campaign in the United States.
Some of this year’s participants are now working to increase their parties’ relationships with civil society organizations, while others will identify new voters or work to bring more people into the party platform development process. NDI will assist during the coming year by providing technical advice and visiting experts to participating countries, and by providing case studies and materials from successful efforts from other political parties in Latin America and around the world.
The last 10 years have shown the LP to be an effective instrument for supporting the home grown initiatives of emerging political leaders to promote more transparent, inclusive and responsive organizations of political representation throughout the Americas. Many LP alumni, hailing from 11 countries and representing diverse political ideologies, have risen to senior positions as elected and party leaders.
Plans and participant countries for the 2010 LP are in development. Information will be posted on ndipartidos.org, where party reform resources and former LP participant news are available.
Pictured at the top: 2009 Leadership Program participants from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru debate outreach strategy for a fictitious political party.
Pictured beneath: 2009 Leadership Program staff, trainers and participants from Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
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Published on July 31, 2009
