Event Summary
Chile is advancing a structural reform of Law No. 20.500 on Associations and Citizen Participation in public management, originally enacted in 2011. While the law represented a milestone in formalizing participatory mechanisms, its impact has been limited: implementation has been uneven across institutions, mechanisms remain mostly consultative, and historically excluded groups—women, Indigenous peoples, youth, and persons with disabilities—have lacked meaningful inclusion. To address these deficits, the government launched the “Let’s Talk About Participation” process (2023–2024), engaging over 6,600 citizens, civil society leaders, experts, and local officials, whose recommendations shaped the reform proposal.
The bill, submitted to Congress in August 2025, defines participation as a legal right and strengthens the institutional architecture for its implementation. It introduces binding principles (accessibility, equality, transparency, territorial relevance), establishes deliberative and decision-making influence mechanisms, such as participatory dialogues, strengthens the COSOC with elected presidencies and binding consultative functions, and establishes annual participation plans in all public institutions. It also modernizes the Civil Society Strengthening Fund to ensure parity, decentralization, and accountability. If approved, the reform would mark a decisive shift from consultative to binding participation, generating a substantive improvement in the enabling environment for civil society.