The Second Annual Governance for Development Conference took place during the High-Level Week of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024, a few days after the Summit of The Future.

Addressing the multiple development challenges and strengthening democracies in Latin America and the Caribbean requires rescuing dialogue and the value of politics as mechanisms to reduce polarization and achieve consensus around national priorities that respond to citizen demands. 

Under this premise, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and CAF - Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean- launched the “Governance for Development” initiative in September 2023, a space for high-level dialogue to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs, particularly SDG16, through recommendations that can improve the effectiveness of governance processes for development in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

During this Second Conference, public policy proposals were outlined as a result of a series of four subregional dialogues held in Antigua, Guatemala; Cartagena, Colombia; Santiago, Chile and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago between May and August 2024 with the participation of more than 100 people from different social fields such as academia, civil society, political actors and the private sector, among others.

The recommendations of the subregional dialogues were complemented by a massive online consultation, with a special focus on the youth of Latin America and the Caribbean, which made it possible to collect their main aspirations and concerns.

The Second Annual UNDP/CAF Conference on Governance for Development was a space to debate the different public policy proposals, rules of the game, and actors that must be worked on to strengthen governance for development in the region.