Team of Agenda: PERU Foro Nacional Internacional receives first prize in international competition awarded by the Institute for Alternative Futures U.S.

In mid-November, the Institute for Alternative Futures released the results of the contest Scenarios for Inclusion (Pro-Poor Scenario Award). This international competition seeks to find ways of applying foresight which has a direct impact on poor and marginalized populations. A research team from the Foro Nacional Internacional was awarded the first prize in the contest organized by the institution.

This award was decided by an international jury of experts that evaluated prospective venues around the world (including countries in Asia and Africa), as part of an effort to find ways of applying foresight to have a direct impact on the poor and excluded.

In April 2011 a Foro Nacional Internacional team made up of Mayor Gonzalo, Ruth Bustamante Romeld Llacsahuanga and developed a joint workshop with a group of men and women of the Shipibo-Conibo community living in Cantagallo (located between the districts of the Rimac Fence and Lima) since 2000. In this workshop was a prospective in which it was implemented, completed and implemented, with some important settings, participatory foresight methodology (Pro-Poor Scenario Toolkit) at the Institute for Alternative Futures. At the end of the day, the community was able to write three scenarios (a "probable", another "visionary" that reflects the most optimistic scenario but doable, and a third "challenging") for the year 2039, also was able to identify and discuss the priority development issues for the community and expected trends. This exercise and its results were presented to the contest above.

This work is part of the efforts made in the framework of Agenda: PERU, which queries both experts and citizens to build a development strategy for Peru in the 21st century. Within this framework, the team sought to help a community affected by the exclusion to identify emerging challenges and opportunities that can be addressed to improve their lives and their future as an organized community.

Another important objective of this exercise (which was especially appreciated by community representatives) was to help better communicate the needs and aspirations of a group excluded from decision makers and relevant public authorities.

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Contributions to a new democracy and development agenda for Peru

Foro Nacional Internacional and National Center of Strategic Planning - CEPLAN, organized the conference Rethinking the Future: Contributions to a new democracy and development agenda for Peru, where Team Program Agenda: PERU of Foro Nacional Internacional, presented the results of updating and revision of proposals and statements made in the publications "Peru: Agenda and Strategy for the 21st Century" and "Democracy and Good Governance".

Francisco Sagasti, Founder of Foro Nacional Internacional and former program director of Agenda: Peru, said that our country is like an airplane "jumbo", fueled and ready to leave the track. "It depends on the pilot and his crew if aborted takeoff or takes off" also indicated that despite the uneven legacy of the past decade, it still can consolidate achievements and address the unfinished agenda, even in an uncertain global context.

Gonzalo Alcalde, coordinator of the current Agenda: Peru, said the advisory type methodology in this process to build consensus and to surface relevant information for the country. He indicated that the recent consultation that the priority issues that have become more important for democracy in the last decade are: i) decentralization and regionalization, ii) citizen participation, iii) environment, iv) the identity and culture, and v ) social conflicts.

Meanwhile Mario Bazán, Executive Director of Foro Nacioanl Internacional on the topic pointed decentralization and regionalization of devolution initiatives exist to strengthen central government to regional governments to be assessed and supplemented with resources (human, financial, infrastructure) also noted every time progress is made but sometimes these are lost with the change of government stressed that just as we are in a nascent stage, but with some valuable lessons: there is plenty to do, but you must continue on what is working and the agenda of decentralization and regionalization is broad and relevant in the current context.

Apart from the results presented by the Foro Nacional Internacional representatives commented on the different areas Alarco Germain, President of CEPLAN, Ivan Lanegra, Deputy Minister of Multiculturalism, Elias Ruiz, Director for Monitoring and Evaluation CEPLAN and Ricardo Franco Ahuanari, President of Housing Association in Lima Shipibos said the experience of your community for prospective work that won first place in the international competition for Pro-Poor Scenario Award. Also, a national forum Ruth Llacsahuanga International described the experience of conducting this workshop.

The conference was a massive participation of representatives of various spheres of national life and members of international agencies.

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Executive Director of National FORUM International participates in international events from Stanford University

In recent days traveled to Palo Alto, USA. Mario Bazán, Executive Director of the Foro Nacional Internacional to participate in a series of meetings to be held in the School of Law at Stanford University. The first one organized by the Rockefeller Foundation and Stanford University Dialogues Uncommon / Woods Institute for the Environment, aims to explore new approaches to understanding the link between ecosystem services and human welfare, as well as the new policy and funding mechanisms for interrelated in the decision making process to achieve better results for both. The Ecosystem Services Workshop & Human Well-Being, will be held on 07 and 08 December.

Similarly, part of the workshop Bazán "Discussion of a Standardized Approach to Evaluating Development Strategies of agricultural effects on human well-being and the environment organized by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Natural Capital Project to be held on December 9 at school laws of Stanford University. The objectives for this workshop are i) to discuss and begin to outline an analytical framework referred to prioritize management or a framework for policy questions in terms of agricultural development and issues related to poverty alleviation, (2) clearly define elements of the standard framework that encompasses multiple ecosystems and social impacts (indicators, criteria or thresholds to be tested, etc.).

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