Voices from the Sylff Community

In November 2023, Mauricio Artiñano (Princeton University, 2013) organized a transformative retreat for youth leaders from 37 Costa Rican political parties that led to the drafting of a groundbreaking Interparty Ethical Pact addressing campaign issues like hate speech and corruption. Culminating in a historic signing event by parties from across the political spectrum, the SLI-supported, media-acclaimed project produced a commitment to democratic integrity for the February 2024 municipal elections and beyond.

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Imagine sending almost 60 representatives of different political parties to a rural community for a weekend to live together and work to draft a pact of ethical principles for a campaign period. It sounds like an idea for a reality show, one that would likely end in fighting or scandal. Few people would guess that a social experiment of this nature would result in new friendships and a consensus agreement.

In November 2023, though, thanks to a Sylff Leadership Initiatives (SLI) grant, I worked with the civic association Costa Rica Íntegra—the Costa Rican chapter of Transparency International—to facilitate a retreat for 59 young men and women representing 37 local and national political parties from across the country’s ideological spectrum.

Many people we consulted about this project were skeptical about our chances of success. However, thanks to a unique, self-designed methodology, the support of an excellent facilitation team, and, most importantly, the hard work of the youth leaders, the group was able to draft a 25-point pact that they named Interparty Ethical Pact “Sitio Mata” in honor of the community where we held the retreat. The Pact includes commitments related to such controversial issues as hate speech, disinformation, corruption, attacks against democratic institutions, campaign finance, and the environmental impact of political campaigns.

Youth leaders (and the author, shown standing in the top photo) discussing and drafting the ethical pact.

An Environment Conducive to Building Rapport

According to the youth leaders, another factor that helped set the stage for a successful conclusion was the place we chose to hold the retreat. Most events of this nature are held in hotels or retreat centers, but our meeting was held at a rural community center, and the youth leaders and staff stayed with local families that run a rural community tourism project in the village of Sitio Mata, some 50 km east of the Costa Rican capital of San Jose. With this choice, we were able to support a thriving, women-led tourism venture and the local economy, while also giving the young leaders the opportunity to get to know the local community. The participants agreed that the hospitality and warmth of their adopted families helped promote a sense of community that fed into the negotiations for the Pact.

With the momentum generated by the retreat and the Sylff grant, we were able to obtain additional financial support from the Swiss Embassy in Costa Rica, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA International), the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Indefinido Design Studio, and the European Union Delegation to Costa Rica. These funds allowed us to work with the youth leaders to organize 11 different events to promote the Pact and give political parties and candidates the opportunity to sign it. We were also fortunate to have the support of four University of Costa Rica political science students, who chose this project as their professional practice (a graduation requirement).

The largest of the 11 signing events took place a few weeks after the retreat, at the University of Costa Rica’s main campus. Forty-two political parties signed the Pact at that event, which was also attended by representatives from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, organized labor, the business community, and academia.

In addition, we were honored by the presence of the ambassadors of Switzerland, Perú, the Netherlands, Canada, Chile, and the European Union, and a representative from the Embassy of Japan (who also happened to be a Sylff fellow!). It was especially noteworthy that we had representatives from nearly all the national political parties sitting side by side at the same table signing the Pact. Various observers remarked that they couldn’t remember the last time so many political parties signed the same document.

Representatives of political parties signing the Pact at the University of Costa Rica event.

The initiative also received widespread media coverage, including TV and radio interviews and even a mention on the front page of La Nación, Costa Rica’s largest newspaper. The press coverage was also a great opportunity for the youth leaders to engage with the press and learn skills related to public relations, interviewing, and dealing with the media.

In total, 53 political parties signed the Pact out of the 75 that presented candidates for the February 4, 2024, municipal elections in Costa Rica, representing 86% of all candidates. With the support of Indefinido Design Studio, we were able set up an online platform for individual candidates to sign the Pact. Only 467 out of more than 37,000 candidates signed it individually, however, prompting the youth leaders to note—during a lessons-learned retreat held two months after the elections—that the online platform may have been set up too late and that many candidates believed that there was no need for them to sign the Pact individually if their party had already signed it. This was an important lesson for possible future iterations of this initiative.

At the follow-up retreat, the youth leaders expressed their deep gratitude for the opportunity to participate in this initiative and for the skills, connections, and inspiration that they derived from the project. They were especially enthusiastic about continuing to work together as a network of youth leaders committed to democracy and electoral ethics and integrity. Together with some of the funders of the initiative, we are currently brainstorming ways of continuing to support the youth leaders and maintain momentum. We are also looking forward to leading a similar exercise for the 2026 presidential and legislative elections.

Youth leaders who participated in the retreat.

My two main objectives with this project were to foster ethical principles in the context of the Costa Rican municipal elections and to promote the leadership and initiative of the next generation of leaders in the country. In her speech announcing the preliminary results of the elections, the presiding magistrate of the Costa Rican Supreme Electoral Tribunal—the institution in charge of organizing and supervising Costa Rican elections—mentioned the Pact as a successful civil-society-led initiative to promote democratic values. I was very proud of that recognition and very proud of the results of this initiative, particularly of the network of youth leaders that was created. I also had an opportunity to give a TED talk in April about this experience. All this was possible thanks to Sylff, and I am deeply grateful for its support.