Hemispheric Partnership for Development

ECLAC has been working on different aspects related to the mandate of Hemispheric Partnership for Development. Particularly with regard to the following specific topics:
a) Access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

ECLAC has continued to work on issues related to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. For example, during 2015 the Seminar "Development of water policies in the context of the Development Agenda Post-2015: Challenges and Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean" took place, where new water related laws were discussed for countries in the region that have adopted or amended them in the last decade. Water security was one of the main issues discussed during that meeting, as well as socio-environmental conflicts related to this resource, which have increased considerably in recent years.

b) Broadband access to overcome the digital gap

There have been several investigations and events related whit this subject. For example, the Workshop held on October 2015 on "Measuring the quality of Internet service", which aimed to analyze the models and tools used for measuring the quality of Internet service and the necessary institutional framework for its implementation. In addition, the publication on "The state of broadband in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2015," analyzed the degree of dissemination of the Internet in Latin America and the Caribbean and posed some challenges for public policy to overcome the digital gap with developed countries and with countries of the region.

Another significant event was the publication of the book "The new digital revolution: from the Internet of consumption to the Internet of production", where access and digital consumption in the region are surveyed, including their strengths and weaknesses, and major policy debates are reviewed and a more proactive action of countries is suggested, for example, in regulation, network neutrality, Internet governance and combat of cyber crime.

Similarly, ECLAC, together with the Government of Mexico, held the V Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, during the month of August 2015, where a balance was presented and the agreements established in eLAC mechanism for political dialogue were renewed, which began in 2005, strengthening the regional integration process in digital field.

c) The number of youth enrolled in secondary or technical education

Two events coordinated by ECLAC have been especially important in relation to this subject. The first was the International Seminar on "Social Inclusion and youth in Latin America and the Caribbean" that was held on October 2015, and represented the closing of the work carried out by ECLAC since 2013 under the project "Social Inclusion of youth in the context of increasing violence and insecurity ", supported by the Secretaría de la Integración Social Centroamericana (SISCA) and Organización Iberoamericana de la Juventud (OIJ).

The Second, the "University Reforms and new challenges in the region" forum (April 2015), aimed to start the discussion about reform processes in public universities in Latin American, discussing the role of public universities, in particular its relationship with the State and its role in social inclusion and cohesion, strategic management and research.

d) Investment in infrastructure and its effectiveness

In terms of infrastructure investment ECLAC has carried out different activities. For example, the XXXIV Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers of Transport of Central America (COMITRAN), held in Guatemala City on June 2015, where the progress was reviewed in relation to the Regional Policy on mobility and logistics, which seeks to reduce the high costs of mobilization of freight and people across Central America. During the event ECLAC presented the results of six national workshops of integrated and sustainable policies on logistics and mobility and the document "Key components of a policy of logistics and mobility in Central America" which along with further analysis of the state of logistics and mobility in the region, identifies the main features of the new sustainable paradigm and integrated development of logistics and mobility that benefit the economic and social development of the countries of the region and presents a basic proposal for public policy at the national level and their coordination at regional level.

Another major event was the High-Level Seminar on Transport and Air Policy in cooperation with the Latin American Civil Aviation Commission and the Civil Aeronautics Board of Chile, also held in June 2015. The workshop addressed issues of political and economic nature on air transport (regulation of international air transport and economic aspects, airport management, economic aspects of air transport services, airport facilitation and environment).


e) Access to credit geared toward human development.

In terms of access to credit for development, ECLAC published the document "Financing for development in Latin America and the Caribbean", the document analyzed the evolution of financial flows available to Latin America and the Caribbean to finance their spending needs in both public consumption and investment – public and private - including the mobilization of domestic resources and external resources. It also studies the nature of these flows in both public and private, the actors involved in these flows (i.e. donor countries, multilateral development banks, pension funds, investment funds) and the instruments through which they are channeled (traditional mechanisms such as loans - concessionary or not - , or the so-called innovative financing mechanisms among many other possible). The document also included a conceptual framework that identifies relationships between different categories of financing for development and, at the same time combines them with the basic macroeconomic identities of open economies.