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Lessons from Ecuador's Citizen Participation Law

December 13, 2011 by the polis blog
with 131 views
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In April 2010, Ecuador's National Assembly passed the Citizen Participation Law — an excellent compendium for anyone interested in participatory democracy. The law defined mechanisms for direct democracy through which Ecuadorians are participating in government decision-making and controlling public affairs. These mechanisms, many of which were already functioning in some parts of the country, constitute, in the law's own words, "a progressive setting of new spaces that make the direct exercise of citizen power possible." [read more]

Decentralization for Development: a Learning Process

May 29, 2010 by the polis blog
with 963 views
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In the past months, I've been participating in several public debates in Ecuador about the policies and laws that will define the country's decentralization model and the role of local governments in the development of their localities. In theory, almost everybody understands the need for managing public affairs close to the public,... [read more]

Quito's Historical Response to 1987 Earthquake

January 22, 2010 by the polis blog
with 165 views
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It has been estimated that the earthquake in Haiti has killed over 200.000 people. This figure is terribly high, a massive tragedy almost comparable to the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It would have been much less of a tragedy if Haiti wasn’t an extremely poor, unstructured country with a dysfunctional government. The earthquake in... [read more]

Cars vs. Quality of Life in Quito

December 27, 2009 by the polis blog
with 225 views
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Quito, capital of Ecuador, is a city dominated by cars. Walking is not considered a means of transport, but an unavoidable problem between the car and the building you’re coming from or heading to. Cycling is simply too dangerous. Public transport is good only through the North-South trolleybus corridors, and it is a total mess if you’... [read more]

Water inequality

December 11, 2009 by the polis blog
with 122 views
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In Ecuador, like in many countries around the world, the urban poor pay much higher prices for drinking water than the wealthy. After an extensive survey on the water sector, the Ministry of Urban Development came out with the following average data: those who do not have access to piped water pay 70 times more than those who have... [read more]

Water and Sanitation in Ecuador

November 26, 2009 by the polis blog
with 399 views
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Water and sanitation has been recognized by all international development agencies as one of the main challenges in the developing world. Indeed, it is now explicitly assumed by all that the lack of adequate water and sanitation is a main contributor to the perpetuation of poverty. This problem affects directly one third of the world’s... [read more]