Sixth Regional Seminar on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean "Inequality and digital Inclusion: challenges and opportunities for inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean"
Work area(s)
Topic(s)
Event information
Date
16 - 18 Jun 2026, 09:00 - 18:00Event type
Participation
In a global context marked by technological acceleration and structural changes resulting from digital transformation, Latin America and the Caribbean face the urgent challenge of ensuring that these processes effectively contribute to promoting inclusive social development and overcoming the three traps of development: low capacity for growth; high inequality and limited social mobility and cohesion; and low institutional capacity and ineffective governance.
Gaps in access, use and appropriation of technologies threaten to reproduce and even widen the structural inequalities that limit inclusive social development in the region. In this context, there is an urgent need to move towards digital inclusion, which implies recognizing the social dimension of technological transformation and placing people and their rights at the center.
Within this framework, ECLAC, together with the activities of the Inclusive Societies project, implemented through the CEPAL–BMZ/GIZ Strategic Alliance and the Team Europe Inclusive Societies Initiative, the Republic of Korea and the Ford Foundation, is organizing the Sixth Regional Seminar on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, entitled “Inequality and Digital Inclusion: Challenges and Opportunities for Inclusive Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean”, to be held on June 16th, 17th, and 18th, 2026. The seminar seeks to present and discuss new evidence and studies that will help advance the reduction of social inequalities and promote inclusive social development in the digital era.
This meeting will continue the discussions initiated at the Sixth Meeting of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean and the commitments made at the Second World Summit on Social Development, held in Qatar in 2025, seeking to create a space for dialogue and analysis that brings together specialists, think tanks, representatives of civil society and authorities on social development in the countries. This effort will be aimed at generating strategic inputs that not only diagnose the challenges but also identify recommendations and transformative proposals that articulate inclusive social policies, universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems, and effective mechanisms to strengthen labor inclusion. The seminar will provide a space for sharing experiences, good practices and proposals aimed at closing the digital divide and moving towards more inclusive societies.
Programme of work
DAY1 ǀ Opening Panel Sixth Regional Seminar on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean
Room
Moderator: Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division, ECLAC
• José Manuel Salazar Xirinachs, Executive Secretary, ECLAC
• Representative of the European Union (to be confirmed)
• Representative of German Cooperation (to be confirmed)
• Ximena Andión, Mexico and Central America Director, Ford Foundation
• Representative of the Republic of Korea (to be confirmed)
Keynote speech: “Inherited Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean”
Room
Moderator: Mariana Huepe, Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
• Prof. Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies and Director, International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science
High-Level Panel: “Multidimensional inequality and the challenges of digital inclusion for inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean”
Room
Moderator: Claudia Robles, Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
Presentation: “Multidimensional inequality and the challenges of digital inclusion for inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean”
• Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division, ECLAC
Panel
• Wellington Dias, Minister of Development and Social Assistance, Family, and Fight Against Hunger, Brazil (to be confirmed)
• María Jesús Wulf, Minister of Social Development and Family, Chile
• Zaida Rovira, Minister of Human Development, Ecuador (to be confirmed)
• María Inés Esquivel, Technical Secretary of the Social Cabinet, Panama
• Miguel Tadeo Rojas Meza, Minister of Social Development, Paraguay (to be confirmed)
• Gonzalo Civila, Minister of Social Development, Uruguay (to be confirmed)
Side event: "Universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient health systems: a requisite for advancing towards inclusive social development
Room
Panel I: “Towards a multidimensional measurement of inequality”
Room
Moderator: Daniela Trucco, Senior Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
Opening remarks
• José Manuel Salazar Xirinachs, Executive Secretary, ECLAC
Presentation "Proposal for a regional multidimensional inequality index"
• Andrés Espejo, Economic Affairs Officer, ECLAC
• José Joaquín Prieto, Consultant, Social Development Division, ECLAC
Comments panel
• Professor James Foster, Oliver T. Carr Professor of International Affairs and Professor of Economics at the George Washington University (to be confirmed) (virtual)
• Professor Francisco H. G. Ferreira, Amartya Sen Professor of Inequality Studies and Director, International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science
• Professor Nora Lustig, Samuel Z. Stone Professor of Latin American Economics, the founding Director of the Commitment to Equity Institute (CEQ) at Tulane University and President of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ) and President Emeritus of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) (to be confirmed) (virtual)
Side Event: "Eradicating poverty in old age: design options to strengthen then the impact of non-contributory pension systems in Latin America and the Caribbean"
Room
Presentation(s)
DAY 2 ǀ Keynote speech: “The challenges of digital inclusion for reducing inequalities”
Room
Moderator: Nincen Figueroa, Research Assistant, ECLAC
• Prof. Ellen Helsper, Professor of Digital Inequalities, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
Panel II: “Inequalities and digital inclusion: towards inclusive social development in Latin America and the Caribbean”
Room
Moderates: Carlos Maldonado Valera, Social Affairs Officer
Presentation “Digital inclusion and inequality: a growing challenge for inclusive social development”
• Amalia Palma, Senior Research Assistant in Social Affairs, ECLAC
Comments panel
• Ana Veneroso, Programme Coordinator, ITU – International Telecommunication Union (to be confirmed)
• Gonzalo Civila, Minister of Social Development, Uruguay (to be confirmed)
• Miguel Tadeo Rojas Meza, Minister of Social Development of Paraguay (to be confirmed)
• Fernando Rojas, Senior Economic Affairs Assistant, ECLAC.
Cora Steinberg, Education Specialist, UNICEF Argentina
Panel III: “Digital social protection: challenges and opportunities for integrated health”
Room
Moderator: Ernesto Espíndola, Research Assistant, ECLAC
Presentation “The importance of digital social protection for advancing integrated health”
• Maria Luisa Marinho, Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
• Soledad Cubas, Consultant, Social Development Division, ECLAC
Comments panel
• Luis Tejerina, Health and Social Protection Division, Inter-American Development Bank (virtual)
• Alejandro Vargas, Head of the Planning and Health Innovation Unit, Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS)
• Representative of Colombia (to be confirmed)
Panel IV: “Digital technologies and childhood: uses, opportunities and risks”
Room
Moderator: Amalia Palma, Senior Research Assistant, ECLAC
Presentation "Comparative study of Kids Online Latin America results"
• Daniela Trucco, Oficial Superior de Asuntos Sociales, CEPAL
• Magdalena Claro, Director of the Centre for the Study of Policies and Practices in Education (CEPPE UC)
Comments panel
• Sonia Livingstone, Professor in the Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics (virtual)
• Matías Dodel, Professor in the Department of Social Sciences, Catholic University of Uruguay; member of the Kids Online Network.
• Ana Laura Martinez Tessore, Regional Technical Cooperation Coordinator, Cetic.br/NIC.br
Side event: "Education, inequality and inclusive social development"
Room
Presentation(s)
DAY 3 ǀ Keynote speech: “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work in Latin America and the Caribbean”
Room
Moderator: María Luisa Marinho, Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
• Dr. Fabian Stephany, Departmental Research Lecturer, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford (virtual)
Panel V: “Labour policies and social mobility in the age of artificial intelligence”
Room
Moderator: Andrés Espejo, Economic Affairs Officer, ECLAC
High-level panel
• Tomás Rau, Minister of Labour and Social Security, Chile (to be confirmed)
• Mónica Recalde de Giacomi, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Paraguay (to be confirmed)
Comments panel
• Kirsten Sehnbruch, Deputy Director for Impact and Engagement, International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science (virtual) (to be confirmed)
• Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division, ECLAC
Panel VI: “School-to-Work Transition and Social Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean in the Digital Era”
Room
Moderator: Raquel Santos Garcia, Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
Presentation “School-to-work transition in the digital era: the role of technical and vocational education and training for social mobility”
• Mariana Huepe, Social Affairs Officer, ECLAC
Comments panel
• Ancell Scheker, Vice-Minister for Technical and Pedagogical Affairs, Ministry of Education, Dominican Republic (virtual)
• Felicitas Acosta, Lecturer at the National University of General Sarmiento, Argentina, and NORRAG’s Regional coordinator for Spanish-speaking Latin American countries
• Representative of the Youth Institute, Ministry of Education, Peru (to be confirmed)
Presentation(s)
Closing Panel
Room
• Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division, ECLAC
Presentation(s)
Side event: "The state of social cohesion in Latin America from a comprehensive perspective: regional trends and national profiles"
Room
Practical information
Santiago, Chile
Sala Celso Furtado
(Hybrid event)
Organizing institution
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
- https://www.cepal.org
- 56 222100000
