Propuesta de construcción metodológica del sistema de participación ciudadana del cantón Cuenca

Abstract

ABSTRACT Citizen participation has been recognized in each of the levels of government; however, nowadays, it has lost an important place despite of the legal framework that oblige both, the Local and the National Government, to identify and execute, plans, programs and projects in collaboration with local people. This effort seeks to address the needs identified jointly; in addition, it plays an important role in local development. This situation has motivated the approach of a system of citizen participation for Cuenca Canton. For this purpose, the investigation began by defining the main elements of citizen participation. Right away, it was necessary to identify the legal framework that endorses the participation. The analysis of the history of the territorial planning and the development plans that Cuenca has had in the past years, plays an important role in this research. Three main social actors have been identified: “civil society”, “regional branches of the government” and “local authorities”. The main investigation techniques besides bibliographical research were: documental review and personal interviews. The conversations with people related with the topic led to answer some interrogates related to local participation efforts and its incidence in the territorial planning. The main goal of this work remains in the conformation of a citizen participation system that works basically with the lower level of participation in the canton, distinguishing rural and urban habitants. At this level of participation it is necessary to provide the conditions for them to come together and discuss their needs and possible ways of action that would allow them to reach a true participating planning process. Thus, civil society, regional branches of government and local authorities must join these dialog spaces. It is also well known, that the real impact of this proposal no depends mainly of the authorities; it involves the real participation of the citizens. The participation process should be leaded by the Mayor and the Municipality, who have the role of motivate and encourage greater citizen participation instead of a social exclusion that characterizes the current times.