Description

We have examined advocacy coalitions around the issues of (a) governance of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve on which the Canton of Cotacachi abuts, and (b) whether open-pit mining will occur in the semitropical part of Cotacachi in northern Ecuador. These issues will be assessed in the context of governmental decentralization and privatization.

The central concept in the decision making approach we have adopted is that of advocacy coalitions. Advocacy coalitions are groups of organizations that may come together, either because of commonly

held values or so-called marriages of convenience to achieve a commonly desired end.