Under the USAID-funded Local Capacity Development Activity (LCDA), LINC will launch a series of multi-stakeholder dialogues in February to identify areas of focus for systemic change on four complex social problems in four target locations. As part of USAID’s Northern Border Integration effort, the dialogues will embrace a systems thinking approach to capacity development. Through the dialogues, stakeholders will work to improve understanding and to address USAID’s development priorities, including crime and violence prevention, criminal justice and penal system reform, human rights protection, and transparency and integrity.
LINC will facilitate the dialogues in partnership with four local partner champions: Fundación Merced, Tijuana Innovadora, Cómo Vamos La Paz, and El Instituto Mexicano para la Competitividad. Through a series of workshop sessions in each location, LINC facilitators will guide the multi-stakeholder groups to visualize the structural factors and dynamic forces that impact the complex problem they’ve chosen and identify potential high-leverage points for intervention. Each group will use their collective knowledge and experience of their development objective to map the enabling and inhibiting factors and feedback loops that influence the present state of the system, and pinpoint opportunities to affect long-lasting change. Based on the leverage points identified, the LINC facilitators will work with each group to develop a collective vision and action plan for system change.
The first multi- stakeholder dialogues are expected to launch in Mexico City on February 13, followed by the dialogues in La Paz on February 15, and Tijuana on February 21. While dates for the Satillo dialogues have yet to be set, we look forward to being able to report on their progress and development soon.