This week, members of the CoST Board are in Lusaka, Zambia for their 60th Board meeting, bringing together representatives from government, civil society and the private sector to review programme progress and agree priorities for the year ahead.
The meeting takes place alongside a series of engagements with Zambian government institutions and development partners, reflecting the Board’s commitment to supporting CoST Zambia following its relaunch in 2025.
CoST Zambia rejoined the initiative in July 2025 under the stewardship of the National Council for Construction (NCC). Since then, the programme has re-established its Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG), strengthened institutional capacity and advanced plans for its first Independent Review of infrastructure projects.
The Board welcomed the strong government ownership of the programme, including the appointment of Hon. Eng. Charles Lubasi Milupi, Minister of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development as CoST Zambia Champion, and the programme’s growing engagement with civil society, media and technical training institutions.
During the meeting, the Board also confirmed the appointment of Cynthia Cantero Pacheco as CoST’s new Latin America (LATAM) representative.
Cynthia currently serves as Secretary of Planning and Citizen Participation in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, and brings more than two decades of experience in public administration, transparency and citizen engagement. She has played a leading role in positioning Jalisco as a regional reference for open government and infrastructure transparency since the state joined CoST in 2019.
Under her leadership, Jalisco launched an infrastructure data publication platform aligned with CoST’s standards and became the first government globally to publish validated data using the Open Contracting for Infrastructure Data Standard (OC4IDS). The state has also pioneered social accountability initiatives with universities and civil society organisations, enabling students and academics to participate directly in monitoring public works projects.
Previously, Cynthia served as President of the Institute of Transparency, Public Information and Protection of Personal Data of the State of Jalisco (ITEI), where she led efforts to strengthen access to information, protect personal data and promote citizen oversight. She was the first woman to hold this position.
Commenting on her appointment, Cynthia said:
I would like to thank you for the warm welcome and say I am very honoured to collaborate with all of you. I am very keen to push this work forward and to add value to the important work that is being done through this initiative internationally.
As Latin America representative, Cynthia will support the strategic development of CoST across the region, contributing her experience in institutional reform, open government and multi-stakeholder collaboration.