THE SURVEY FOR
PUTTING TOGETHER THE 2007-2012 PND, A SIMULATION

Within the consulting process that the federal government followed with the civil society for putting together the 2007-2012 National Development Plan, Fundar assumed a clear dialogue commitment and participated in the National Forums with presentations on health, transparency for the social sector and citizen participation in the PND.

About health topics, Fundar presented three papers, which were also handed to the Ministry of Health. The first, related to an approach of health access as a human right; the second, about the strengthening of sanitary infrastructure, and the third related to maternal death and public budget. Among the specific proposals, Fundar planned to establish the development of health infrastructure as a strategic priority for PND, to modify the criteria for assigning resources according to the needs of the more marginal municipalities, as well as the creation of an emergent fund for fortifying health services.

Other suggestions were: to position maternal death as an urgent problem of public health in the sector’s National Plan and which must be solved; a real visibility and accountability in the budget assigned to maternal attention; considering the costs of obstetric urgencies when calculating the budget; and that budget assignment for the latter, done through the Popular Insurance, be linked to the program proposal of maternal health in general and particularly, via an effective rectory of the Federal Ministry of Health.

Among Fundar’s presentations, an important paper was “Clear rules for the exercise of a right: proposals for citizen participation in the PND”, at the forum “Legal framework for the relevance of citizen participation”, held last April 20th at the Ministry of Interior.

Likewise, it was extremely important that Fundar, along with feminist organizations of national reach (linked to sexual and reproductive rights and gender equality), summoned an extra forum, exclusively focused on women’s health, since, regardless of the topic’s importance, it wasn’t contemplated in the original agenda of the Executive. The forum was developed with the presence of the Secretary of Health, on March 28th in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, with an important participation of those organizations which have been promoting topics and initiatives related to women’s health rights. This event is a concrete guideline of the follow up of public policy that expresses and accomplishes the federal scenario until 2012.

On the same day, in the northern part of the country, Fundar presented “Implications of accountability and transparency for the social sector of the reform proposed on article 6 of the Constitution” at the “National Forum of Accountability and Transparency”, summoned by the Federal Ministry of Health and by Coahuila’s same ministry.

The process of elaborating the PND lacked an effective participation of society because the dialogue was summoned on short notice. The parties and parliamentary coordinators received the PND’s draft less than 15 days before it was published.

The Plan not only didn’t consider Human Rights as a State Policy, but also left out economic, social, environmental, cultural, sexual and reproductive rights, as well as gender equity; invisible topics in public policies. Indigenous people, women, girls and boys were not taken into account in the PND, since no policies for the population in unequal conditions were implemented.

The PND lacks an overall concept of social development. The only transversal topic in public policies was security. The achievements for citizen participation in the PND were very limited, and the commitments proposed in the guidelines do not include necessary topics to move towards a better democratic governance.

Fundar will maintain its vigilant position in order for the citizen proposals to be real in the sector and special programs. Furthermore, it will continue analyzing and debating the content of the Sector Development Plans with experts, social organizations and with the different people’s representative powers, such as the Federal Legislative and the Executives of the states.

 

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