Panama

Panama's National Youth Council

City/State/Region
Begin – End: 1998 – 2017
Name of organization in charge: Ministerio de Desarrollo Social
Type of organization in charge: government
Level: national

Impact

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Implementation: was the innovation effectively, partially or not put into practice at all?

Fulfillment of Aims: were the goals of the innovation completely, partially or not achieved at all?

Output: has the innovation generated recommendations, initiatives, decisions or policies?

Outcome: if there were a policy output, was it enacted or implemented?

Implementation: partial
Fulfillment of Democratic Innovation’s aim: partial
Output: yes
Policy Outcome: yes

The National Youth Council was created in 1998 with the purpose of building a platform that articulates and empowers the youth of Panama, as well as points out to the need for the development of policies for youth and the involvement of young Panamanians in policy formulation. The Council seeks to identify, reflect, and develop solutions to the problems that youngsters face. Its main goal is to be the entity that, representing the youth, advises the National Government on issues that concern youth and monitors the policies the State implements in this regard. In 1999, the Council developed the National Pact for Youth, supported by the United Nations, which in turn awarded the Council the ?World Youth Prize?. The Council has been in charge of various programs, such as the development of Interprovincial Youth Councils, and managed to get presidential candidates to commit to installing a youth policy agenda. However, for periods the Council remained inactive and various interlocutors highlighted it should be strengthened.

Institutional design

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Formalization: is the innovation embedded in the constitution or legislation, in an administrative act, or not formalized at all?

Frequency: how often does the innovation take place: only once, sporadically, or is it permanent or regular?

Mode of Selection of Participants: is the innovation open to all participants, access is restricted to some kind of condition, or both methods apply?

Type of participants: those who participate are individual citizens, civil society organizations, private stakeholders or a combination of those?

Decisiveness: does the innovation takes binding, non-binding or no decision at all?

Co-governance: is there involvement of the government in the process or not?

Formalization: only backed by a governmental program or policy
Frequency: sporadic
Mode of selection of participants: restricted
Type of participants: citizens civil society
Decisiveness: democratic innovation yields a non-binding decision
Co-Governance: yes

Means

Deliberation
Direct Voting
E-Participation
Citizen Representation

Ends

Accountability
Responsiveness
Rule of Law
Political Inclusion
Social Equality

Policy cycle

Agenda setting

Formulation and decision-making

Implementation

Policy Evaluation