Intercultural Dialogue and Conflict Prevention in Ecuador

This project aims to build capacity for intercultural dialogue on a national level and to prevent conflicts in Ecuador. This must be achieved through the effective participation of indigenous peoples particularly women. To achieve this objective the project will first build the capacity of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) to help monitor the implementation of agreements between the government and indigenous organizations. The project also seeks to strengthen the capacity of actors at national level to put in place and maintain a permanent dialogue network. The project's implementation activities include: (1) contributing to the smooth running of the monitoring mechanism for agreements between the government and indigenous organizations. In this respect the final beneficiaries are the indigenous peoples of Ecuador who will have an official platform for monitoring the fulfillment of their demands; and (2) creating a network of gender experts of men and women in dialogue and facilitation. This network will provide access to consensual facilitation and mediation solutions for indigenous peoples women youth and other social groups in Ecuador. Solutions must be based on local experience and approaches that promote social cohesion and peaceful conflict resolution.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) the consolidation of PUCE’s capacity to monitor the Implementation of agreements between the government and indigenous organizations. This component is intended to ensure that the agreements reached between the Government of Ecuador and indigenous peoples who led the June 2022 uprising are respected. In addition the component aims to support continuity and stability of open channels for dialogue and conflict resolution. The current dialogue mechanism consisting of eight thematic tables and a coordination table must not only be maintained but must also be reinforced. This applies to conflict resolution as well as to the prevention of the possible emergence of other manifestations or phenomena of social violence. A strategy will be put in place to empower women and promote their participation in the dialogue process; 2) strengthened the capacity building of actors at national level to set up and maintain a permanent dialogue network. This second component of the initiative has a long-term perspective. It aims to foster multicultural interaction between different groups in society especially those living in vulnerable conditions. These include the aboriginal population women the LGBTIQ+ group youth and other disadvantaged groups. An attempt has been made to design the two components sequentially with the aim of ensuring continuity of the results of the first part. The PUCE has taken a strategic role using a participatory social dialogue platform that must be supported by the expertise of post-secondary educational institutions.