On average, 9% of those aged 15 and over are completely illiterate in Latin American and Caribbean countries (about 38 million people), according to estimates based on official data from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, says a study prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which examines the main relevant strategies currently developed in the region.
If we consider functional illiteracy (which means the lack of skills and abilities that people need to function in various life situations), the figure is significantly higher - according to the documen…
(28 October 2013) On Monday, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, stated that the challenge of insecurity made it essential to promote social covenants for equality, with initiatives that recognize citizens as autonomous but also vulnerable subjects, as they depend on others to realize their life plans.
The senior United Nations official delivered this message as she took part in the commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Declaration on Security in the Americas, which was held at the Headquarters of the Organizat…
On Thursday 12 September, India's Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Farooq Abdullah, visited the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in Santiago, Chile, where he met with Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, and other experts from the United Nations regional commission.
During the meeting, Minister Abdullah and his delegation joined ECLAC officials in analysing recent trends in the use of renewable energies worldwide and especially in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The ECLAC Executive Secretary thanked the Minister for his visit, and highl…
(15 January 2013) The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) overhauled its CEPALSTAT statistical information website in order to improve the dissemination of indicators relevant to the analysis of the economic, social and environmental situation of the region's countries.
The new CEPALSTAT website systematizes and documents statistical information produced by countries' official agencies and international agencies, as well as relevant indicators on the regional situation produced by ECLAC Divisions.
The website, which is in Spanish and English, provides access to peri…
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Access to quality energy services is a vital factor in reducing poverty and improving the environmental conditions for the most socially vulnerable groups, according to Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Antonio Prado, speaking on Thursday 31 October in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The senior United Nations official took part in the launch of the study Energy: a vision of the challenges and opportunities in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was jointly produced (in Spanish) by various regional agencies linked to the energy sector.
The document analyses the current situation and main …
Government officials from Latin America and the Caribbean, representatives from civil-society organizations and the community met in Lima, Peru, on 17 and 18 September 2013 to explore innovative models in health, education, youth, child labour and school/family violence, with a view to replicating them in their countries of origin to benefit the most disadvantaged groups in the region.
The Workshop on replicating social innovation models was organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), with support from th…
The Third Regional Strategy on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM 3) will be officially launched at the 8th Annual Conference on the subject, which will be held in Jamaica from 2 to 6 December 2013. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and its partners are behind this initiative.
The ECLAC Subregional headquarters for the Caribbean in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, has been working closely with the region's countries, in association with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
In September this year,…
The situation of Latin American and Caribbean women is once more at the heart of regional debate thanks to the meeting organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to review fulfilment of national gender equality commitments in a few weeks time.
The twelfth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean will be held from 15 to 18 October 2013 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to bring together authorities, experts, international officials and representatives from civil society and the business sector.
Organized b…
Why is a covenant important? And how does consensus come about in terms of social policy? These are two of the questions that ECLAC seeks to answer in a new study on this recurring topic in the work of the United Nations Commission.
The document Building covenants and consensus in social policy: notes for a framework of analysis , which was produced by officials from the Social Development Division, is based on a practical concern and a paradox.
According to the authors Carlos Maldonado and Andrea Palma, "The paradox is that, despite the importance of re…
This course will be designed for the officers within government departments who have responsibilty for guiding the country’s energy policy and energy management framework. Other stakeholders also will include private sector representatives who have interest in providing energy efficiency equipment and renewable energy solutions to the market towards advancing improvements in both energy efficiency and meeting renewable energy targets.
The course will provide insight into all aspects of energy management with specific emphasis on energy efficiency as well as renewable energy. Emphasis will be p…
The Secretary-General's Special Representative, Ad Interim, and Head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), Nigel Fisher, will visit the headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile, on Monday 20 May.
At 11.00 a.m., the senior official will deliver an address on the activities of MINUSTAH and the development challenges in Haiti, to an audience made up of UN officials, academics and diplomats.
He will be received by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, who will welcome him on behalf of this regional c…
Around 40 public policymakers and business sector representatives from Costa Rica met on Monday 18 February in the capital, San José, to discuss the relationship between the productive development of economic growth sectors that introduce technological innovation and the level of female labour participation in such sectors.
This is the main focus of the ECLAC project on the Promotion of productive development through the inclusion of women in quality jobs in Central America, which will be implemented in the next few months in Costa Rica and El Salvador with funding from the German Agency for T…
Fiscal panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean
(05 March, 2013) Over the past decade (in particular since 2002), most countries in the region witnessed a substantial increase in their tax burden as a percentage of GDP, together with far-reaching structural changes, including consolidation of the value added tax (VAT), a significant improvement in the share of direct taxes in total tax receipts and a decline in tariffs on international trade. A number of factors contributed to this increase in the tax burden (albeit conditions varied significantly from one country to the other): strong…
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(16 October 2012) The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, joined by ECLAC's Directors Osvaldo Rosales and Raúl García-Buchaca, met with high-level officials of the People's Republic of China as part of the first visit that the senior United Nations official carried out to the Asian country.
Ms. Bárcena held meetings in Beijing with Vice Premier Hui Liangyu and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Vice Premier Hui stated that China values its relationship with ECLAC highly, and announced that his Government will…
(12 July, 2013) The medium-term challenges and the shaping of a post - 2015 development agenda in the Caribbean were discussed during the Sixteenth Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in Georgetown, Guyana.
During the High- level meeting, held on 11 July 2013, government representatives and officials discussed three issues. Presentations were made on the outcome of the Caribbean regional preparatory meeting for the 2014 third international conference on Small Is…