Alice Abreu Director of the Office of Education, Science and Technology

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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