Venezuela

In 2016, IFIT launched the Venezuela Expert Group (GEV): an independent and multidisciplinary platform of 16 Venezuelan leaders seeking to advance dialogue and a peaceful solution to the country’s varied crises. The group meets continuously to analyse the prospects for a negotiated solution and to develop and disseminate policy proposals that take into account relevant international experiences and the specificities of the Venezuelan context. In carrying out these activities, IFIT and the Venezuela Expert Group speak with actors on all sides.

The work of the GEV is informed by analysis stemming from the members’ local activities, and complemented by the technical knowledge and support of IFIT’s global network of high-level experts, allowing for the transfer of key know-how from other contexts. The GEV’s ideas are then transmitted to key local and international stakeholders through non-papers, strategic outreach and policy events that help to diversify the narrative landscape as regards the value of negotiation as a pathway out of the crisis. The fact that the GEV’s members come from widely different sectors and are based in Venezuela rather than abroad gives extra salience to the group’s convenings, analyses and proposals.