August 2008: Civil society organisations and trade policy in Latin America

Civil society organisations, or CSOs, are central to making better trade policies in Latin America. This was the conclusion of the COPLA event hosted at ODI with researchers from Nicaragua, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. At the event, researchers presented initial findings on how CSOs could engage in the trade policy debate and an analysis of which groups are participating, who they represent and what impact they have had to date. The presentations from Francisco Perez (Nitlapán), Norma Correa (CIES) and Roberto Telleria (GNTP) highlighted not only very different contexts and strategies undertaken by CSOs but also different opportunities for COPLA as a programme.

Francisco Perez showed that evidence of social and market marginalisation relate to trade liberalisation in agriculture and food markets. Global players tend to concentrate and govern food value chains, including multi-nationals such as Wal-Mart and Cargill, while subsistence families tend to be excluded from value chains. Here, there are structural barriers preventing the poor from accessing markets. In a difficult context for CSOs to work in, Nitlapán is focusing on these most vulnerable actors.

Norma Correa illustrated changes in CSO engagement in trade policy processes. Before signing the FTA with the US, there was low demand for wider civil society participation, low media attention and little public interest. During the negotiations, a combination of issue-based campaigns and high media attention led to heightened public awareness resulting in social conflict. Since the FTA with the US was signed, however, new dialogue on how to implement the treaty has occurred with the government.

Roberto Telleria argued that a vicious cycle exists between highland CSOs and those in the lowlands of Bolivia. Highland CSOs tend to support the nationalisation of natural gas reserves and the use of their profits for social policies, while the CSOs in the lowland demand more autonomy and more progressive trade policies. To maintain its support, the central government needs to rely on ideologically driven policies and this tends to polarise CSOs across the country. In this context, the role of evidence is crucial.

Details of the event can be found at: http://www.odi.org.uk/events/2008/latin_america_series/080807/index.html