Mayra Alvarez and Kay McGowan have front-row seats at a historic event. Through a three-year technical assistance program that will help consolidate democracy in Guatemala, the two LBJ School students are participating in various projects that will eventually lead to the modernization of the Congress of Guatemala. The program is funded by a $3 million U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) grant to UT Austin that involves the LBJ School, the Law School, and the Institute of Latin American Studies. The effort will ultimately strengthen the Guatemalan legislature by improving the ability of lawmakers to meet their constitutional responsibilities as legislators, representatives, and overseers of the other branches of governments. More important, the program will help implement the 1996 Peace Accords, which ended nearly 40 years of civil war in Guatemala.

Alvarez and McGowan became involved in the project last September, when they began working with UT Austin Vice President for International Affairs Richard Lariviere in assembling the proposal that landed the grant. This spring, in making the announcement that the university was the winner of the competitive award, UT Austin Ad Interim President Peter Flawn called it an "exceptionally important event" and said that the project is one way that "UT is making a real and tangible contribution to self determination and democracy in our world."

A key feature of the program is the establishment of the Legislative Technical Assistance Committee, consisting of UT Austin faculty members who are experts in the fields of public policy, Latin American studies, law, sociology, environmental issues, international trade, political science, and electronic information systems, among others. These experts will work with UT Austin and Guatemalan graduate students who will conduct studies on topics of interest to Guatemalan legislative leaders. The Legislative Technical Assistance Committee will also foster exchange programs between UT Austin and Guatemalan universities as well as between the Texas State Legislature and the Congress of Guatemala. Other initiatives of the three-year program include the development of a master's degree program in public policy to be offered by a Guatemalan university, the creation of a special legislative technical assistance unit to recodify specific areas of the Guatemalan legal code, the development of a congressional hotline to encourage public participation and improve constituency service, and the creation of a legislative outreach pilot program to establish congressional offices outside of Guatemala City.

"This is the first contract that UT has ever had with USAID. It will provide opportunities for a select group of students to contribute to institution-building in Guatemala while sharpening their own policy research skills." LBJ School Dean Edwin Dorn

Currently, Alvarez and McGowan are the liaison team between the UT-based Legislative Technical Assistance Committee and other program staff in Guatemala. They are also working with the USAID Office of Democratic Initiatives in Guatemala. In addition to their administrative duties, Alvarez and McGowan are involved in two individual special projects. Alvarez is analyzing Guatemala's congressional committees as part of an evaluation of the legislative structure, and McGowan is working with LBJ School Professor Chandler Stolp in developing the master's degree program in public policy at the Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala City. "This is the first contract that UT has ever had with USAID," LBJ School Dean Edwin Dorn said. "It will provide opportunities for a select group of students to contribute to institution-building in Guatemala while sharpening their own policy research skills." This is not the first time that Alvarez and McGowan have been involved in a hands-on democratization project. In 1994 the two students participated in a similar USAID program in Costa Rica. Alvarez, who has worked with the Texas Legislature for approximately five years, most recently as the Chief Committee Clerk for the Texas House Committee on Higher Education, participated in that program through a legislative exchange between the governments of Texas and Costa Rica. McGowan joined the program as an intern and continued as a local staff member during a 15-month period. She then worked on USAID-funded justice sector reform programs in El Salvador and Russia.

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