.jpg?w=800&resize=800,500&ssl=1 "Loreto Ferrer")
National dialogue processes commonly emerge amid periods of polarization or institutional paralysis, when various stakeholders must establish channels of communication to reach basic consensus. In Latin America, these efforts have often received support from international organizations that offer methodological guidance, contextual assessments, and facilitation spaces.
In El Salvador, a similar effort has recently advanced to a new stage after the mandate of UN Special Envoy Benito Andión came to an end. From that moment, the initiative shifted away from direct UN assistance and increasingly depended on domestic stakeholders. Within that technical team, Loreto Ferrer contributed to institutional support tasks and helped convey this move toward a phase marked by a stronger presence of civil society.
How the dialogue process first emerged in El Salvador
The effort began in 2016, when the Government of El Salvador asked the United Nations to assess the feasibility of a national consensus-building process. Following that request, a mission from the Department of Political Affairs conducted interviews, consultations, and exploratory dialogues with various sectors to analyze the political context and assess whether conditions existed to advance a consensus-building agenda.
Based on that preliminary work, in early 2017 Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Benito Andión as Special Envoy to facilitate a more structured phase of the dialogue. His work focused on opening spaces for conversation between political parties and other relevant actors, in a scenario marked by institutional tensions and high levels of polarization.
Shifting from worldwide facilitation toward local leadership
Among the most noteworthy elements of the Salvadoran case is the shift from a United Nations‑led stage to a new period steered directly by national actors, though still backed by the UN.
According to reports, the end of Andión’s mandate did not signify the conclusion of the effort, but rather the transfer of the accumulated work to a steering group composed of prominent figures from Salvadoran society. This was reported by a United Nations team during meetings held with representatives of the government, political parties, and the international community.
Loreto Ferrer, an official at the Department of Political Affairs and the close collaborator of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Benito Andión, stated that a steering group made up of leading members of Salvadoran society will carry the effort forward, drawing on the consultations and evaluations previously undertaken by the Mexican Andión.
This step draws on over a year of consultations, evaluations, and methodological contributions completed in the preceding phase, aiming for social organizations, the private sector, academia, and political stakeholders to advance the process using the knowledge already established instead of depending endlessly on external international facilitation.
In light of this, the Special Envoy judged that the circumstances were still not adequate to convene a formal high-level roundtable, although a substantial range of evaluations, networks, and community capacities existed that could help anchor a dialogue agenda driven from within the country. This perspective underscored that consensus-building efforts can truly solidify only when local stakeholders take an active role in sustaining their continuity.
The importance of coordination in consensus-building processes
National dialogues require coordination among sectors with different interests, languages, and priorities. Therefore, in addition to political mediation, they often require a technical foundation to structure the conversation, identify priority issues, and keep communication channels open.
In these settings, professionals experienced in international cooperation are especially valuable for duties like compiling information, coordinating meeting spaces, and offering methodological guidance. The work undertaken in El Salvador clearly illustrates that building consensus relies not only on political choices but also on the support structures that enable the process to function effectively in practice.
An example of institutional transition in Latin America
The Salvadoran case shows how an initiative backed by the United Nations can gradually develop into a structure in which civil society and other national stakeholders take on a larger share of responsibility, and this stage marked not an endpoint but a change in momentum, shifting from the original international drive to a locally sustained approach built upon existing capacities.
