Alice Abreu

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Learning Communities The experience of
Puente-Chile Solidario In the framework of The
Inter-American Committee on Social Development
(CIDES) of the OAS July 18 22, 2005, Viña del
Mar CHILE
Alice Abreu Director of the Office of Education,
Science and Technology
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The Organization of American States
What is the OAS?
It is the political fora for consensus building
among 34 independent Member States of the Americas
What does the OAS do?
Summit of the Americas
Supports and promotes opportunities for
political dialogue
Ministerial and High Level Meetings
Inter-American Committees
Reports to the political fora with technical
knowledge
Translates the informed dialogue into concrete
cooperation strategies
Horizontal Cooperation Mechanisms
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The Organization of American States
Governing Mandates and bodies on social
development at the OAS

• III Summit of the Americas
• Special Summit
• - IV Summit of the Americas
• High Level Meeting on Social Inclusion, Equity
  Poverty

Summit of the Americas
Ministerial and High Level Meetings
Inter-American Committees
- Inter-American Committee on Social Development
Horizontal Cooperation Mechanisms
Cooperation Workshop on Chile Solidario
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The Organization of American States
The Office of Education, Science and Technology
(OEST)
The OEST, through its Division on Social
Development and Labor, is the Technical
Secretariat of

• The Ministerial and High Level Meetings on Social
  Development
• The Inter-American Committee on Social
  Development
• The Social Network for Latin America and the
  Caribbean

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Social Development at the OAS
The Summits of the Americas

• III Summit of the Americas, Quebec, April 2001
• We will spare no effort to free our fellow
  citizens from the dehumanizing conditions of
  extreme poverty. We commit to further efforts to
  reach international development goals, especially
  the reduction by 50 by the year 2015 of the
  proportion of people living in extreme poverty.
• Declaration of Quebec, April 2001
• Long term objectives for poverty reduction in the
  region were established . Heads of Government and
  State manifest their commitment and effort to and
  systematize and make their actions operational,
  through the compliance of the Millennium
  Development Goals

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Social Development at the OAS
The Summits of the Americas

• Special Summit of the Americas, Monterrey January
  2004
• We recognize the urgency of strengthening the
  mechanisms of the Organization of American States
  for fighting poverty, such as the Inter-American
  Council for Integral Development, the
  Inter-American Committee on Social Development,
  and the Inter-American Program to Combat Poverty
  and Discrimination. We also recognize the
  importance of the promotion and observance of
  economic, social, and cultural rights.
• Declaration of Nuevo León, January 2004

Specific Mandate given to strengthen the OAS
instruments on social issues, and generate
concrete actions
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Social Development at the OAS
The Summits of the Americas

• IV Summit of the Americas, Mar del Plata,
  November 2005
• We reaffirm our resolve to () to foster
  well-being and a more equitable distribution of
  economic growth, generate new employment
  opportunities, promote decent work, eradicate
  hunger, and raise the standard of living in the
  Hemisphere....
• The problems associated with inequality and
  poverty cannot be solved with purely
  welfare-oriented social policies. () we will
  strive to avoid consolidating societies divided
  between those who have work and those who are
  assisted. . ...
• Draft Declaration of Mar del Plata

The theme of the IV SUMMIT Creating Jobs to
Confront Poverty and Strengthen Democratic
Governance places the social challenges at the
core of the hemispheric dialogue
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Social Development at the OAS
The Summits of the Americas
IV Summit of the Americas, Mar del Plata,
November 2005

• The Draft Guidelines for the Plan of Action of
  the IV Summit includes a chapter for
  Generating public policies to eradicate poverty ,
  which, among other things, calls to
• Promoting a social agenda that integrates health,
  education, housing and social development
  programs, and reduces the vulnerability of all
  households.
• Ensuring sufficient and adequate social
  protection mechanisms, based on the principle of
  the universality of benefits

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Social Development at the OAS
High Level Meetings
Meeting of Poverty, Equity and Social Inclusion,
Isla Margarita, October 2003
... we reiterate the importance of promoting
the sharing of expertise and best practices that
help to eliminate poverty and narrow social gaps
in our countries . We declare The
importance of the Inter-American Committee on
Social Development for the formulation of
policies related to social matters and the
strengthening of existing instruments and
cooperation initiatives to fight poverty, social
exclusion and inequity... Declaration of
Margarita, Octubre 2003
The sectoral authorities recognize CIDES as a
political and technical body of the OAS for
addressing social issues and they give specific
mandates to the Committee
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Social Development at the OAS
The Inter-American Committee on Social
Development (CIDES)
Background

• The Inter-American Committee for Integral
  Development (CIDI) establishes the Committee on
  Social Development
• The Committee holds its sessions until 1997
• The General Assembly modifies its name to
  Inter-American Committee on Social Development
  and gives it the mandate to strengthen the
  Inter-American dialogue to support policy design
  and develop cooperation actions on social issues.
• 2004 First CIDES Meeting, Santiago de Chile

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Social Development at the OAS
The Inter-American Committee on Social
Development (CIDES)
First CIDES Meeting, Santiago, April 2004

• Approval of its Rules of Procedure
• Election of Authorities (rotating every 2 years)
• President Chile
• Vice-president El Salvador and Jamaica
• Guidelines for the Work Plan
• Implementation of a cooperation workshop on the
  program Puente Chile Solidario
• Joint effort with INDES-IDB to organize a seminar
  on social policies
• Update of the Inter-American Program to Combat
  Poverty and Discrimination

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Social Development at the OAS
The Horizontal Cooperation Workshop in the
framework of CIDES
Puente Chile Solidario

• Main goals
•  
• Strengthen the horizontal cooperation mechanisms,
  vis-à-vis the need to consolidate and optimize
  collaboration channels among social development
  authorities, in addressing the Summit of the
  Americas mandates
• Exchange experiences among member States of the
  OAS, using the experience in Chile as a framework
  and providing elements to reflect upon management
  policies in each country.

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Social Development at the OAS
Perspectives towards the Future
OEST Commitment, Technical Secretariat of CIDES

• Offer follow-up to the dialogue that will be
  started at this workshop, analyzing and
  implementing the lessons learned
• Support the implementation of the Work Plan of
  CIDES, as well as its future Meetings
• Support the organization of the First Meeting of
  Ministers of Social Development of the OAS. El
  Salvador has offered to host this meeting

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Technical Secretariat of CIDES Office of
Education, Science and Technology Executive
Secretariat for Integral Development
(SEDI) Organization of American
States http//www.oest.oas.org