55
Participation as an Essential Element of an Active Civil Society
mortality rates. There were significant projects in agriculture and an
industrial complex of micro-enterprises was established. Despite very
intense economic adversities, a solid productive, social and cultural life
unfolded, with results that were very different from other marginalized
populations.
Their experience has continually received worldwide recognition. The
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) recognized the Villa El Salvador project as one of the
most defining experiences in popular education. The United Nations
acknowledged it as an exemplary form of community life. Spain
awarded it with the Prince of Asturias Award as a model experience
in social development. In Peru it was awarded with the National
Award for Architecture for its urban design. Recently, with support
from civil society organizations, it has become one of the region’s first
municipalities to integrate information technology into democracy.
Public computer terminals and a closed circuit television network have
been installed. Through these, residents receive information about
the matters to be discussed by the municipal council and use these
channels to continuously deliver feedback.
15/16
In Colombia, the Network of Cities
Cómo Vamos
(How We Are
Doing) is an initiative that groups the programs
Bogotá Cómo Vamos,
Cali Cómo Vamos, Cartagena Cómo Vamos, Medellín Cómo Vamos and
Barranquilla Cómo Vamos
. These programs are led by the social sector,
businessmen, media and academia and work to evaluate changes in the
quality of life in each city, as well as assess the contributions made by
the district and municipal administrations. While this is an initiative
where many actors come together, including all levels of government,
private enterprise, social organizations, academia, non-governmental
organizations (NGO) and the general citizenry, a special emphasis
is placed on the performance of local governments because these
are responsible for the design and implementation of development
plans and budgets.
17
Citizens perform oversight of the cities in the
following areas: poverty and equity, public finances, education, health,
public services, culture, participation, road mobility, public space, the
