The Tavarandu program presents milestones reached in the department of Itapúa.
In the Municipal Art Center of the Municipality of Encarnación, representatives of the UNDPtogether with the coordinating organizations CyP, civic soul Y GirlsCode and with the support of the National University of Itapúa, the Autonomous University of Encarnación and with the Mayors of the Municipalities of Encarnación, Edelira, Fram, Mayor Otaño, Nueva Alborada and San Rafael del Paraná presented the progress achieved to date by the tavarandu program.
tavarandu opens spaces for training, practice and collaboration officials and citizens, focused on the effective application of research, development and innovation methodologies and tools for the participatory identification of local challenges of sustainable development and the co-design of solutions for those challenges.
In its first edition, it articulates, together with civil society organizations, a portfolio of interventions in 3 lines of action for the department of Itapúa:
- Táva Apo: Training in Participatory Governance
- Hechakuaa – Citizen Laboratory
- Civic Technologies Bootcamp and Hackathon
In the past months, different workshops and participation meetings of the different axes have been carried out, these are some of the milestones to date:
Táva Apo is a comprehensive training program in participatory governance and innovation, led by the organization civic soul. Its purpose is to promote citizen participation, public innovation, and effective governance. It was addressed to municipal officials of twelve municipalities of the department of Itapúa. During the months of October and November, workshops were held with 60 participants, all municipal officials from 12 Itapúa municipalities. The objective of the project was to work with 10 municipalities, however due to the number of interested parties, the program reached 12 municipalities in total, which would be: Capitán Miranda, Carlos Antonio López, Coronel Bogado, Edelira, Encarnación, Fram, General Artigas, Mayor Otaño, Nueva Alborada, Pirapó, San Pedro del Paraná and San Rafael del Paraná. The project generally lasted 3 months, of which two were months of classes and intense learning. In total, 11 classes were held, three of them face-to-face. In the virtual sessions they had 8 national and international professional teachers.
Hechakuaa, the citizen laboratory, lead by Culture and Participation, implemented an innovative work methodology developed for the Citizen Participation Laboratory, specifically two laboratories, one in a rural area in the districts of Edelira and Itapúa Poty and another in the urban area within the district of Encarnación. The implementation is in charge of 2 formed Driving Teams, 1 for each laboratory.
In Encarnación there are 40 direct beneficiaries: 20 Laboratory participants and 20 stallholders, of which 4 civil society organizations and 1 institution as a member of the Laboratory. To date, 1 basic document has been developed on the main problems identified and possible solutions elaborated with the participation of the Encarnacena citizenry. The co-created solution proposal that contributes to the mitigation of the identified and prioritized problem: 1 Community Fair and Conversation organized will be presented in January 2023.
While in Edelira and Itapúa Poty, the program has 30 direct beneficiaries, of which 8 are productive committees that are members of the laboratory, 5 productive organizations (cooperatives, producer associations, federations) adhered to and that support the Laboratory’s awareness campaign Edelira and Itapua Poty. As in Encarnación, 1 basic document was developed with the main problems identified and possible solutions elaborated with the participation of the citizens of Edelira and Itapúa Poty. The co-created solution proposal seeks to contribute to the mitigation of the identified and prioritized problems: 1 Awareness campaign on agroecological production, responsible consumption and fair trade on the development and launch of the new Oñoirū yerba mate packaging.
Civic Technologies Bootcamp
The Civic Technologies Bootcamp, led by GirlsCode Focused on training young people from Itapúa in programming, it was developed virtually for four weeks, using various programming languages, in which Ruby On Rails stands out, the basis for using the Decidim platform, a platform for citizen participation. The Bootcamp made it possible to generate spaces for the strengthening of the different citizen participatory processes. All the classes were given in a virtual format, 34 people participated and had international specialists who offered mentoring.
