La Gazeta 5

OAS,OEA ,Forum

Advances of the Civil Society in the national plane and origin of the FORUM

In the national plane, in the decade of the 80, to the interior of the Political Parties, the existing Civil Society Organized of that time and the Community the International, they initiate the search of agreement processes and consensuses to obtain some levels of gobernanza.

In 1989 they created a denominated structure the Platform of Fight by the Democratization of Honduras “PLDH”. In 1993 the National Council of Convergence “CONACON” happens to him. The 4 of November of 1994, by means of Decree Law 155-94 do not happen the National Forum to him of Convergence “FONAC” like an Office of the tie Government to Special Sectors of the Civil Society, properly presided over by the President of the Republic I articulate 3 of the Law of the FONAC- and administratively handled by an Executive Secretary I articulate 4 of the Law of the FONAC- whose direct superior, is indeed Titular of the Executive authority. Four years later, by means of Executive Agreement Not 168-98 of date 30 of March of 1998, the Regulation of the Law of the FONAC is emitted - According to Articulo 7 of the Law of the FONAC it must be emitted 90 days counted from entrance in use of the Law; in order to obtain so longed for search of Consensuses and agreements of public policies with Organizations of the Civil Society, whose leaders in their majority more are identified with the cause of the ancestry of the third Man of Plato. After the Hurricane Mitch, in general, the organizations articulate in favor of the efforts of the Reconstruction and Transformation of Honduras, by means of the support and subscription in diverse agreements:

· Agreement of the Declaration of Stockholm

· National agreement of Transformation for the Human Development of Century XXI.

· Strategy for the Reduction of Pobreza (ERP)

· Vision of Country and National Strategy of Transformation for the Sustainable Human Development (2002 - 2021).

In order to give pursuit to these commitments, in Assembly of the 14 of October of year 2001, an instance of coordination of the Civil Society was constituted, event that was summoned and installed by the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Interior and Justicia and with the participation of different representative sectors from organizations and regions of the Country, like being: Labor, Settler, Ethnic Gremiales organizations, Women, Social, Ambient Economy, Human rights, etc.

Among other aspects of transcendental importance for the national life, this Assembly solved the creation of the Permanent Forum of Organizations of Sociedad Civil (FPOSC) with character of a aglutinador Organism of all the sectors and of indefinite life, choosing to its Board of directors with express mandate to develop a Global strategy of Incidence and Support of the Transformation of Honduras; like also, to elaborate the Statutes and other Regulations of the Forum for its respective discussion and approval in the corresponding legal Instance; situation that had a long-haul by the typical characteristics of the national folklore and that happily culminated with the emission and authorization of the Statutes and Legal Personality according to Resolution of the Secretariat of State in the Offices of Interior and Justicia Not 51-2004, of date 8 of January of 2004, with Registry in URSAC Not 2003002586, Not 3304 Registry Public Tomo 164 and published in the Official Newspaper Newspaper Not 30,300

During the institutional life of the FPOSC it has made different Assemblies in where their instruments have been approved internal, their strategies and areas of incidence and diverse actions of transformation of the country; such as: The Reformation to the Judicial System, the Legislative Reformation, Reduction of Poverty, Transformation of the Education, the Political and Electoral Reformation, Transparency and Surrender of Accounts, Modernization and Decentralization, Environmental Vulnerability doing emphasis in the handling and administration of River basins and Hydrographic Micro-River basins, Governability, Human rights, Social and Political, Social Economy and the one of Territorial Ordering.

Like part of the strategy of socialization of the diverse assemblies and taken resolutions, the Forum has published them in diverse means written and spoken of the Country. The FPOSC from their creation established like mechanism of relations and communications the entailment with Titulares of the Powers of the State and Secretaries of State; in order to be able to establish the fulfillment in the Agreements of Transformation of the Country; also, it maintains permanent communication with the Group of Pursuit to the Declaration of Stockholm (G15, now G-17); similarly, the Forum assumes like own the Resolutions of Not 1996/31 the United Nations and (A/53/170) that establish the adjustments and practices for the interaction of the Organizations of the Civil Society in all the activities of the system of the United Nations and the entailment of the Organization of American States (O.A.S.) with the Civil Society according to resolutions AG/RES. 1539 (XVIII/098). Like institutional strategy of entailment and international action, the Forum has transacted his membresía by Honduras to the World-wide Organization of ONG `s (WANGO), organism with representativeness of the five continents; also, the Forum is promotional of the Constitution of the World-wide Forum of the Civil Society “FMSC” that initiated its organization in Julio of year 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland, date in which solved that in the 2004 their control elements in the next World-wide Assembly will be integrated all.

With base to the antecedents already indicated, the Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society “FPOSC”, has come acting in the national and international plane in order to manage to affect the formulation of consequent Public Policies with the high interests of the State and the defense of the communal property in Honduras; also and to internal it, it has defined a policy of Transparency and Surrender of Accounts with a Code of Ethics, applied to all the Organizations members of the FPOSC.

The Forum is an organism of third degree that acts within the framework of the Law. At the moment it agglutinates in his sine to diverse sectors and counts with more than 327 organizations of the Honduran Civil Society. It promotes and it participates in Mesas Sectorial like a strategy to arrange and to consensuar Political Public in the Strategy of Reduction of the Poverty, in order to manage to create the conditions so that the benefits of the Condonación of the External Debt and the consequent liberalization from the Resources of the State in the balance of payments of the External Debt, in its majority, arrive at the people objective goal from the Programs, Plans and Projects of the ERP and, that such is invested and executed with Described Audits and Certified to improve the levels of Transparency and Surrender of Accounts in the handling of the Resources of the State; conducive to obtain a better impact in the diminution of the Indices of Poverty and Extreme Poverty of and the Hondurans.

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF THE FORUM

Advances of the Civil Society in the world-wide plane

In the language of the today policy, the Civil Society generally is used like one of the terms of the great dicotomía Civil Society/Been. What means that its extension cannot be determined its meaning and be delimited but it is redefining simultaneously I finish State and delimiting his extension. Negatively, by Civil Society the sphere is understood of the social relations not regulated by the State, understood restrictively and almost always controversialally, like the set of the apparatuses that in an Organized Social System exert the Coercive Power. The origin of the Civil Society repair to August Ludwig von Schlozer (1794) in the difference between “societas civilis sine empire and societas civilis cum empire”, in which, the second expression indicates what in the great dicotomía it is designated with I finish State, in a context in which, not yet the contrast between Society and State has been born and is enough an only one I finish to designate both with an internal distinction in species.

In the most recent Sistémicas theories of the Global Society, the Civil Society occupies the space reserved to the formation of the demands (input) that go to the Political System and which the Political System must have to respond (output). The resistance between the Civil Society and the State is put then as the resistance between amount and quality of the demands and capacities of the institutions to give suitable answers. The subject today so debated of governability of the complex societies also can be interpreted under the light of this dicotomía. A society becomes so more unmanageable at the most increase the demands of the Civil Society and it corresponding does not increase the capacity of answer of the institutions; or rather, with the capacity of answer of the State reaching limits talvez not superable †“fiscal example crisis. On the other hand, the ungovernability generates legitimacy crisis; since the Institutions represent the Legitimate Power in the Weberiano sense of the word, this is, the power whose decisions are accepted and fulfilled in the measurement in which they are considered like emanated of an authority to which the right is recognized to him to make valid decisions for all the colectivity.

In a terrenal and generic concept, for different cultural levels, it is possible to be established that the Civil Society is the space where natural and/or legal people group themselves in a joint effort, it jeopardize by the defense of the communal property; they orient its thought and action, in order to obtain that the governors adopt conducive public policies to the optimization of the resources of the State to reach a sustainable development of excellence and quality with transparency and fairness; making an effort so that to create necessary and sufficient conditions so that the people manage to develop to fullness the totality of their potentialities. Under this order of ideas, one becomes necessary to make solids efforts so that in each one of the countries of the planet fortified organizations exist, responsible and consequent of Civil Society that, in their own operational range, conditions generate that lead towards one better defense of the communal property, that really, earth belongs to all the inhabitants of the planet.

At the present time, the organized world-wide Civil Society is articulating in increasing form and with a protagonism different from those from its génesis. From the summit of River 92 and subsequent summits of United Nations “the UN” and of the Organization of American States “O.A.S.”, they come promoting Resolutions and Agreements tending Mundiales and Hemisféricos to the fortification of the Organizations of the Civil Society, in order to obtain the conscience taking so that the towns of the world have a participation responsible for all the social sectors in the discussion, formulation and implementation of public, conducive policies to obtain a sustainable and incluyente development in benefit of the humanity and its surroundings; like also, creating the necessary, pertinent and sufficient conditions, so that all the citizens of the planet reach to develop to fullness the totality of their potentialities.

Some of these Resolutions and/or Agreements tending Globales and Hemisféricos to fortify the Organizations of the Civil Society, for special reasons, are ignored by the turn governments where a weak Civil Society exists or, in its defect, put under the aims of the people who hold the political power of the respective nation, action that avoids the development and fortification of Independent Organizations of Civil Society and the Belligerent Premises. Generally, these countries are a paradise where the Organizations of Civil Society of some countries proliferate cooperators, replacing the work that could well be developed by the Organizations of Local Civil Society and, consequently, the assigned aid to the country beneficiary, generally, in a high percentage, returns to the country cooperator by means of its Organizations of Civil Society which they have programs and projects in the country beneficiary “typical Example: Honduras Post-Mitch-.

This situation demands greater efforts and a deep reflection from the UN and of the O.A.S., in order that an effective pressure by the most suitable and advisable channels is exerted, in tries to obtain that the countries where these special situations happen deliver true attacks for the fortification of the Organizations of the Local Civil Society; like also, these Organizations of the Local Civil Society must tie with the different expressions from the Regional Civil Society, Hemisférica and Mundial; in order to manage to establish a Network of mutua and shared in common interests in the permanent effort of the defense of the communal property of all the inhabitants of the planet.

The Forum of Civil Society World-wide “FMSC” which I conclude in Geneva 2002, is a good beginning. It is product of the Declaration and the Plan of Action of the World-wide Civil Society Organized, presented/displayed to the General Assembly of the Millenium and to the Summit of the Millenium of the United Nations and the Declaration of the Forum of the Millenium of World-wide the Civil Society where one concludes with the Agreement to create a Permanent Forum of the Global Civil Society, democratically constituted.

Without a doubt some, in the world-wide plane, with the participation of the World-wide Federation of Assemblies of United Nations, “WFUNA”, of the Conference of ONGs of United Nations, the CONGO, CIVICUS, UBUNTU, the Union of International Organizations UOI, and other organizations and local, national and regional networks of the Society Civil and with an ample contribution of representatives of the Agencies of United Nations, the Union Interparlamentaria and observers, has given birth to the World-wide Forum of Civil Society “FMSC” like permanent forum, that two years before was approved in the Forum of the Millenium of the Nations United in New York, has taken a transcendental step for the future democratic joint of the representation of the Civil Society worldwide.

FMSC 2002 has chosen democratically between the present delegates, representing thousands of Organizations of the Civil Society, a World-wide Advice who will be to propose and to determine the other call and plenary control systems of the World-wide Forum between and the procedures of the next FMSC and, possibly, on the subject of the reform of the United Nations among other aspects, in collaboration with the Union Interparlamentaria; in order to treat and to solve problems that single an architecture of world-wide democratic policy can legitimately approach, equipping itself with global democratic institutions that can correct the deficiencies and inequalities of the present globalización. Also he is healthful to recognize that the states members of the United Nations are not all equal ones nor are governed by the same laws, the Organizations of the Civil Society have their concurrent and complementary diversity and objectives that there are to harmonize for communal property in the FMSC that now begins their walking on the germinated thing in the Forum of the Millenium. As they thought Cicerón to it about Rome, Jefferson in the Constitution of the USA. and the federal genitores of the Helvetic Confederation and other attempts, the Civil Society is in the origin of the democracy and the democracy renews and consolidates in the today world from the Civil Society.

Plan of Activities of the Forum

FORTIFICATION OF CAPACITIES:

1. Legal consolidation: Official process of approval of Internal procedureses of the Forum, Registries, countable books;

2. It visits Organizations Members of the F.P.O.S.C.: Socialization and institutional support of the Forum with beings members of the Executive Committee;

3. Strategic planning: To be made by members of the Executive Committee with the support of the Executive Director of the Forum and affiliated institutions;

4. Elaboration standard of the Forum: To being elaborated by the Executive Director coordinated by the President to put under the General Assembly;

5. Strategies of Sustainability: By means of the design and Implementation of programs, projects, strategic alliances and actions for the Sustainability

participativa, financier and technique of the Forum;

6. Documents of Presentation: Descriptive instrument of the Forum, strategic members, Mission, Vision, lineament, programs, projects and activities of the Forum;

7. Profiles of Projects: Representation of the characteristics of each one of the projects to be managed by the Forum;

8. Organizational consolidation (Profile): Reinforcement of the foundations on which one is based the institutional context for a suitable operation and operativity of the organizational structure of the members;

9. Revision of Laws: Document of support to operate the processes of evaluation of the proposed legal frame in projects of Law, the improved document writing that involves the participation of the Civil Society;

10. Systematization of the FPOSC Profile: Compendium of the actions, activities, maintained participants and processes in the Implementation of the Forum;

11. Sectorial analysis (Profile): Document to elaborate the study on the situation of the Civil Society, taking into account the legal, institutional, technical aspects, of policies and any other nature that offer a basic diagnosis and orient the definition of a strategic one of modernization of the sector;

12. Management of Knowledge and Communication (Profile): Document bases for the establishment of a Strategy of Communication that includes among others the generation, compilation and dissemination of knowledge and informative information on the thematic one of Civil Society, events, campaigns of awareness and other actions of incidence towards the promotion of the organization of the Civil Society and the Forum;

13. Visits to Cooperation the International: Management of resources before national and international beings of cooperation for the obtaining of bottoms that will support in the attainment of the objectives of the Forum towards the incidence in policies you publish, local fortification and the development of an information system on Civil Society;

14. Management of membresía: Program of promotion, maintenance and fortification of membresía of the Forum at local and regional level;

15. Qualification to members of the Forum: Process of fortification of technical capacities of the members of the Forum;

16. To create a Technical Committee of Qualification: With the purpose of fortifying capacities, donation of tools and knowledge of the members of the Forum, Technical Committees for the Implementation of the corresponding processes organize themselves; and,

17. Promotion of Alliances: With the purpose of taking advantage of the regional experiences and causing changes that affect towards the promotion of the development, strategic alliances with compatible and complementary beings at national and international level were implemented such as World-wide Association of nongovernmental organisms, World-wide Association of the Water, etc.

INCIDENCES IN POLICY:

1. Revision of Projects of Law: With the support of a team of Lawyers and other Specialistic Professionals in Specific Materias and Saberes, they are executing the revision corresponding to different initiatives from Laws that are in the National Congress.

COMMUNICATION:

1. Information systems: An information system of Civil Society will be generated and consolidated towards the members of the Forum, for aims of information, monitoreo and evaluation of the resource and the different related subjects;

2. Exchange of information, Page Web: The page stays and improves Web of the Forum: ; and,

3 Implementar other means: One will work in the matter of spreading and dissemination of knowledge through conventional and alternative mass media (Fairs, bulletins, murals, trifolios).

ORGANIC STRUCTURE AND OPERATION OF THE FORUM

General assembly Ordinaria and Extraordinaria

The Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society “FPOSC”, according to sends their Statutes, has like maximum Organ their General Assembly with deliberative and decision-making character. She is Ordinary or Extraordinary, summoned by the National Directory. Legally enrolled members of the Forum like such participate to the Representatives of each one of the Organizations of the different Sectors. Ordinarily one extraordinarily meets once a year and the times that are required. Par excellence, it is the space where the national problems struggle to generate spaces of agreement and consensus in benefit of the defense of the communal property and the nation.

National directory:

The Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society has the National Directory. It is the instance of coordination and pursuit of the work of the FPOSC. The National Directory consists of 13 propietary, elect members by the General Assembly by a period of four years. One meets at least once a month. Their members are Representing of different Sectors from the Honduran Civil Society. It is integrated by a President, five Vice-presidents, two Act Secretaries, a Secretary General who exerts the functions of Technical Secretary, a Treasurer, a Public prosecutor, a Secretary of Communications and Information and a Secretary of Cooperation the International. At the moment the National Directory is integrated by the people in representation of the Sectors down described:

PRESIDENT	ACT SECRETARY	ACT SECRETARY
JULIO CESAR GOATHERD H	AFRICO MADRID HART	JOSE LINEN SANCHEZ
INCADES	FDJD	COMUCA
SECTOR SOCIAL ECONOMY	YOUTH SECTOR	MUNICIPAL SECTOR
SECRETARY GENERAL	FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT	SDO VICE-PRESIDENT
JUAN RODOLFO QUIROZ	TULIO CROZIER	JOSE MALDONADO M
INDESEC	AHJASA	UCDAH
AMBIENT SECTOR	SECTOR WATER AND CLEANING	SECTOR FARMER
THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT	FOURTH VICE-PRESIDENT	QTO VICE-PRESIDENT
FREDY ALONZO MENDOZA	BLANCA CELIA BARAHONA	EDY MAC NAB
CPH	APANJE/CIARH	MASTA
SECTOR POPULATION	SECTOR DISCAPACIDAD	ETHNIC SECTOR
TREASURER	PUBLIC PROSECUTOR	SRIA OF COMMUNICATIONS
JORGE GALLO NAVARRO	FRANKLIN B. ANDURAY	OMAR SIERRA SOLORZANO
FUNDTECH/FIDESCA	ASD	COMDE
ACADEMIC SECTOR	HEALTH SECTOR AND ATMOSPHERE	SECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
SECRETARY OF RELATIONS AND COOPERATION THE INTERNATIONAL
ROY GUEVARA ARZU
AFRO AMERICA XXI
ETHNIC SECTOR

Sectorial committees:

The Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society integrates 12 Sectors of Organizations of Civil Society. By each Sector Integra a Sectorial Committee that directs to the organization leader to it of the Sector. In the Committee the most excellent subjects of the competition of the Sector struggle and, by means of its representatives, the Committee elevates them to the sine of the National Directory of the Forum for its knowledge and analyses or, in their defect, to the General Assembly of the Forum according to demand the circumstances; in order to obtain a greater endorsement for its fortification and direction on subjects of interest of the Sector.

At the moment it has integrated the Committees of: Governability and Human rights; Social protection; Human development; Macro Economy and Competitiveness; Social and Road infrastructure; Agro-alimentary development; Atmosphere and Management of Risk; Energy and the one of Education. The Sectorial Committees, through Forum, participate in Mesas Sectorial, that is a Tripartite Mechanism integrated by the Government, Community of Cooperators and Civil Society; like also, in the Consultative Council of the Strategy of Reduction of Poverty “CCERP”.

Organization of Departmental Civil Society:

In its Legal norm, the Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society has contemplated that at Departmental level will have a Representation, for which, will form the integrated Coordination of Departmental Civil Society with Departmental Organizations of Civil Society which they are members of the Forum. The Organs are the Departmental Assembly and the Board of directors integrated by seven members. To be member of this instance, it is required that the Organizations of Departmental Civil Society credit their Membresía in the Forum. In each one of the eighteen Departments of the Country it is had planned to gradually organize this Coordination, activity that will be developed according to the circumstances and necessities.

Organization of Municipal Civil Society:

Of equal way, at Municipal level, in his Legal norm she has contemplated the Representation, for which, she will form the integrated Coordination of Municipal Civil Society with Organizations of Civil Society which they have his seat in the Municipality and are members of the Forum. LosÓrganos is the Municipal Assembly and the Board of directors integrated by five members. To be member of this instance, it is required that the Organizations of Municipal Civil Society credit their Membresía in the Forum. In each one of two hundred the ninety and eight Municipalities of the eighteen Departments of the Country it is had planned to gradually organize this Coordination, activity that will be developed according to the circumstances and necessities.

Commissions AD-HOC:

The National Directory has the prerogative to create the Ad-Sickle Commissions that to their criterion create advisable. The Ad-Sickle Commissions will fulfill the functions and will exert the competitions that are assigned to them according to stipulates the respective agreement to it of creation.

Executive secretariat:

In its Legal norm, the Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society has directly contemplated the Executive Secretariat like an Organ of the Forum responsible for its Administration at national, tie level to the National Directory. The Executive Secretariat is par excellence the Organ that as much implements the Resolutions and Agreements of the General Assembly as of the National Directory. And, at the same time, he is a manager in the search of the fortification of the Forum and its Organizations member that an independent and belligerent Civil Society with responsibility sense guarantees

PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES OF THE FORUM

The Permanent Forum of Organizations of Organized Civil Society, has the Vision and Mission and is sustained

in the following principles:

VISION

To be an Institution of interlocution been worth between the Powers of the State and the organizations of the town, making sure the participation in the promotion political, economic, social and cultural the rights, fortifying the democracy, the justice and the freedom obtaining the reduction of the poverty by means of the sustainable development.

MISSION

To consolidate the mechanisms of I engage in a dialog between the Powers of the State, Community of Cooperators and Organisms of Civil Society, obtaining agreements that allow to improve the conditions of life of the Honduran family being fortified the organization of the town like sustainability mechanism.

PRINCIPLES

The principles that constitute the foundation of the Code of Ethics of the Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society “FPOSC”, are:

a) Representativeness: to guarantee the amplest expression of all the sectors of the tie Civil Society with the promotion of the Human Development.

b) Participation: To assure the total right the organizations who integrate the Forum, to participate in the analysis and agreement of policies, common elaboration of visions and positions for the management and the execution of the policies of the development.

c) Autonomy: Freedom to act, to govern its destinies and modalities of action like an independent organ of any instance.

d) Unit and Solidarity: Commitment with Honduran solidarity like expression of its deep independence, origin and common destiny.

e) Fairness: Obligation of not discriminating for sort reasons, race, economic, social or cultural; and,

f) Subsidiariedad: The Organizations member of the Permanent Forum of Organizations of Civil Society are responsible for their own decisions and performances, the single Forum contributes to their fortification and she gives a frame them of Ethics to act with Transparency and Surrender of Accounts before the Society, the Contralores Organisms of the State and Community of Cooperators; also, to internal it, each level of the Forum is responsible for the decision of its competition and the attribution of decisions cannot be taken corresponding to a superior level.