Institutional Architecture
The institutional architecture of the programme consists of a large implementing consortium comprised of coordinating partners (with cross-cutting functions) and operational partners (with sectoral and executing functions).
In this sense, these two groups of institutions (coordinating and operational partners) have a different role in the development of the programme. The coordinating partners comprise the Programming and Coordination Committee, with responsibility for these functions, while the operational partners execute the programmed actions and place their public "know-how" at the disposition of the programme. Nonetheless, no rigid separation exists, and all the institutions involved participate to a certain degree in the design, formulation and execution of the actions identified, always in response to the demands and priorities of the Latin American institutions.
It should be noted that the programme has a Steering Committee as its strategic adviser which is made up of independent experts and international bodies (ECLAC, the OECD Development Centre and the EU-LAC Foundation) which supports the construction of the programme's vision and strategy.
For their part, the Latin American institutions involved in processes of design, reform or implementation of public policies oriented towards improving social cohesion are the beneficiaries and the main EUROsociAL stakeholders. Around 150 Latin American institutions are involved in the programme.
This complex institutional architecture is a management challenge, but it does contribute some very positive elements. On the one hand, the richness of the expertise made available to Latin American institutions; on the other, its capacity for maintaining the necessary equilibriums—national and regional, European and Latin American— and between supply and demand, and agile response and results.
