Province of Córdoba: Neighborhood Councils for Prevention and Coexistence

Neighborhood Councils emerged in February 2016 in the province of Córdoba (Argentina), and are established by Provincial Law 10.732, forming part of the provincial system of public and citizen safety, and making their contribution in terms of prevention and coexistence. In this sense, they are mechanisms for citizen participation in which the community itself diagnoses its main problems, prioritizes them, monitors and co-manages the responses that the municipal and provincial governments must provide to different issues that each community prioritizes.

They play an important role, since they cooperate to strengthen community life by promoting social cohesion, the transformation of neighborhoods through infrastructure improvements and fostering a culture of peace based on consensus building.

There are currently 75 Neighborhood Councils for Prevention and Coexistence in operation in the Province of Cordoba, of which 63 are in the city of Cordoba and 12 in cities in the interior of the province.

The Neighborhood Councils involve 320 neighborhoods in the province of Córdoba and reach a population of more than 700,000 inhabitants. They involve 1300 institutions, including schools, health centers, neighborhood centers, community kitchens, sports clubs, work cooperatives, religious creeds, community kitchens and civil society organizations. More than 70% of the leadership in each institution participating in the Program is exercised by women.

The work agenda that is built in each Neighborhood Council, arises from the demands prioritized by the neighborhood institutions that make up each neighborhood participation space in a plenary session per quadrant that is held once a month.  During the first session of each year, a participatory diagnosis is made to detect the main emerging issues of each community. This work is coordinated by a neighborhood promoter, who acts as a link between the community and the provincial and local governments.

In order to respond to each of the demands that arise, the Program involves: 15 provincial ministries that are part of the Government of the Province of Córdoba, in coordination with the teams of the cities of: Córdoba, Río Cuarto, San Francisco, La Calera, Villa Allende, Estación Juárez Celman and Malvinas Argentinas and Los Cedros. 

Some of the results obtained were: 55 social sports centers built, more than 4,000 blocks of LED lighting, 6 Neighborhood Meeting Centers, 40 neighborhoods with community alarms and 4,000 actions in health, sports, culture, job training and others implemented in the territory in 2023.

The evaluation of the Program is carried out through two methodologies. Firstly, a quarterly internal evaluation of the work carried out by the work teams is developed based on the construction of a Georeferenced Information System (GIS) and on the other hand, citizens participate in the evaluation of the Program every year through zonal plenary meetings of Neighborhood Councils where more than 1300 institutions that are part of the initiative participate.

• More information: https://www.cba.gov.ar/programa/consejos-barriales/