The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with the technical support of the Latin American and Caribbean Demographic Centre (CELADE) - Population Division of ECLAC and the Open Society Foundations, announced the launch of the free, self-paced course titled “Population Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges and Opportunities,” aimed especially at officials, advisors, and technical teams of the region's parliaments. The course was presented by Facundo Torres, President of the Committee of the Future of the Legislature of Córdoba, Argentina, in a virtual meeting that brought together parliamentarians from the legislature and the Córdoba Strategic Planning Council (COPEC), along with Chilean Senator David Sandoval, the Director of CELADE - Population Division of ECLAC, Simone Cecchini, and authorities from the Province of Córdoba.

On this occasion, the Deputy Executive Secretary a.i. of ECLAC, Javier Medina Vásquez, highlighted that the region is going through “an unprecedented ageing process” and called for strengthening legislative capacities to guarantee rights and sustainability. “It is crucial that parliaments and their technical teams have foresight tools to legislate with a vision for the future, guaranteeing rights, social protection, and economic sustainability,” he stated. It is estimated that by 2050, one in four people in Latin America and the Caribbean will be over 60 years old. This scenario requires innovative legislative responses in terms of pensions, health, long-term care, and the economic inclusion of older people.

The course is part of the capacity-building initiatives in anticipatory governance and legislative foresight of the Network of Parliamentary Committees of the Future of Latin America and the Caribbean. Its objective is to provide legislators with conceptual and practical tools to address the challenges and opportunities posed by accelerated demographic aging in the region, with an anticipatory approach. The program is organized into four thematic modules: Demographic trends and population ageing; International framework of public policies on ageing; Public policies on ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean; and Cases of public policies to take advantage of the economic opportunities of ageing.

Each module includes audiovisual resources, selected readings, and partial evaluations. The course is specifically oriented toward officials, advisors, and technical teams of parliaments, and its launch will be replicated in other promotional instances with the region's parliaments. The training program is free and self-paced, and is available without deadline at the following link: https://agora.cepal.org/course/view.php?name=GAPE. This training resource adds to the successful introductory course on “Anticipatory Governance and Legislative Foresight,” launched in April 2025, which already has more than 3,000 enrolled participants and remains available at: http://gobernanza-anticipatoria.cepal.org.