Photo: ECLAC

The final deadline being on 1 November 2012, ECLAC is receiving research articles on topics such as Latin American development, transformation of the State and planning. This call for papers, addressed to researchers and students, was open by the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES).

The selected papers will be incorporated into a special publication to commemorate the Institute's 50th anniversary since its foundation and will be presented during the first sessions on economic and social planning to be held on 25-26 April 2013 at the headquarters of ECLAC in Santiago, Chile.

Special attention will be paid to articles focusing on topics such as development policies in Latin America and the Caribbean with a historical perspective; planning for development, forecasting and country visions; public administration and transformation of the State for development; convergence, gaps and public policies for territorial development; and climate change and public policies for sustainable development.

The works, to be evaluated by a group of experts from ILPES, should not have been previously published and a maximum of three authors per paper are allowed.

ILPES was founded on 2 July 1962 and its first director was the renowned Argentinean economist Raúl Prebisch, who served as Executive Secretary of ECLAC, one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations, between 1950 and 1963.

ILPES was created with the purpose of supporting governments of the region in the areas of planning and public administration by providing them with capacity development services, advise and research aiming to contribute to national and subnational efforts for improving the quality of public policies and strengthening institutional capacity.

One of its main tasks is to promote discussions and thinking on the challenges currently faced by countries concerning their development strategies.

As part of the commemorative activities, a new meeting of the Regional Council for Planning (RCP) – an intergovernmental forum integrated by 40 countries of the region – will take place in Brasilia, Brazil, in November.

In 2012, the Institute will launch a series of books and compilations on the organization's history, its accumulated expertise and input provided to the countries of the region along its 50 years of existence.