Diapositiva 1

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CONGRESO VISIBLE
Universidad de los Andes Departamento de Ciencia
Política Facultad de Ciencias Sociales Bogotá 2008
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Who We Are

• Congreso Visible Candidatos Visibles CV
• started in 1998 in the Department of Political
  Science at the Universidad de los Andes, in
  Bogotá, Colombia.
• This initiative was made possible through
  alliances with organizations of the private
  sector and the media.
• It seeks to provide citizens with information
  about the profiles and campaign proposals of
  those running for a seat in the National
  Congress, and about the legislative activity and
  the performance of congresspersons

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Our Goal
In an attempt to reduce the gap between citizens
and their institutions, particularly the National
Congress, CV has developed different activities.

• Our goal is to foster the growth and
  consolidation of a new democratic culture in
  which citizens exercise their right to vote while
  being actively engaged in the monitoring of their
  representatives performance.

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Specific Goals

• To create greater public awareness in
  traditionally marginalized communities about
  National Congress and the legislative process.
• To bolsters the capacity of Congress to respond
  to the needs of its constituency.
• To promote greater transparency and
  accountability in Colombias Congress.
• To increase public access to objetive and
  trustworthy information on candidates
  participating in national and regional elections.

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We are financed by

• CV has been financed by the National Endowment
  for Democracy
• For small projects we have received resources
  from different agencies such as the National
  Democratic Institute, the Konrad Adenauer
  Stiftung, the International Republican Institute,
  the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the Canadian
  International Development Agency and the German
  International Agency (GTZ).

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What We DO

• Monitoring and ongoing analysis of the National
  Congress
• Visible Congress compiles
• and systematizes all the information related to
  the National Congress and all its members.
• We have built an up-to-date database of
  legislative information which is available to
  guilds, public institutions, the media, students,
  researchers and citizens in general.

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Contents of our DATA BASE

• Personal, professional and political background
  of all congresspersons who have occupied a seat
  in the national Congress since 1998
• Personal, professional and political background,
  campaign financing of Visible Candidates
• Bills, laws and Constitutional amendments and
  their status
• Checks and balances
• Voting records
• Attendance records
• Resumes of all Visible Congresspersons
• Online publications
• Pedagogical articles

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What We DO

• Articles and press releases
• We issue press releases and write articles in
  which legislative activity is analyzed.
• We write reports about the results of the
  legislature and about different aspects of
  Congress.
• Our purpose is to inform citizens about the
  behavior and activities of congresspersons and
  about the legislative process.

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CV Publications

• Our quarterly Magazzine Observatorio Legislativo
  (Legislative Observatory)
• is a periodical publication in which CV presents
  and analyzes the results of Congressional
  activities
• All publications can be found online at our
  website. They can also be read by clicking on
  the following address
• http//cvisible.uniandes.edu.co/quienes/boletines
  .html

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CV Publications
The informational booklet entitled Conociendo y
Evaluando al Congreso de la República

• It presents the results of several workshops in
  which different social and political actors have
  participated in the construction of criteria to
  evaluate the work of Congress.

• The booklet explains in a simple language the
  functions and structure of Congress, the types of
  bills and the legislative process.

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CV Publications
This booklet is an easy access tool for all
Colombian citizens who want to understand the
electoral rules for the regional elections that
will take place the 28th of October.
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REGIONAL FORUMS ON LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY

• In these regional forums we present an overview
  of legislative activity carried out by
  congresspersons of that region.
• The main objective is to create spaces of
  accountability in which citizens are able to
  receive an independent and rigorous analysis of
  the activity of their representatives.

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REGIONAL FORUMS ON LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY

• Their specific purposes are
• to awaken citizens interest in what their
  congresspersons do and in what happens within
  Congress.
• to break the breach between the community and
  elected functionaries and thus foster the
  principle of accountability between citizens and
  congresspersons.

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CITIZEN EDUCATION WORKSHOPS

• Political education workshops are aimed at public
  and private institutions, social organizations
  and schools interested in promoting a democratic
  political culture.

• The main objective of the workshops is to foster
  a place where participants can discuss about
  topics related to participatory and
  representative democracy, the structure of the
  state, the Congress, within others.

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VISIBLE SCHOOL GOVERNMENTS

• Given the importance of schools in the political
  socialization process of Colombian youngsters, CV
• Carries out a program that seeks to strengthen
  School Governments and promote student
  participation in school and community affairs.

• With the Visible School Governments program we
  aim to enrich students civic education through
  practical exercises that help them become aware
  of the importance of voting in an informed and
  responsible way and of the need to hold their
  representatives accountable.

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Our Team

• We are a group of professionals and students
  from various disciplines such as Political
  Science, Law, Literature, History, Economy and
  Journalism.
• The project is directed by Elisabeth Ungar, full
  professor in the Department of Political Science
  at the Universidad de los Andes, in Bogotá,
  Colombia

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Congreso Visible

• Carrera 1 Este No. 18 A 10 Of. G 302
• Tel (57) (1) 339 4949
• Ext 3203 3212
• Fax Ext. 3212 3202
• Bogotá - Colombia
• Web Page http//cvisible.uniandes.edu.co
• email cvisible_at_uniandes.edu.co