BACKGROUND

The Third Meeting of Ministers of Education, in the framework of CIDI, was held in the city of Mexico, on August 11 -13, 2003. The meeting was held in compliance with: the mandates received from the Heads of State and Government through the Plan of Action of the Third Summit of the Americas; Resolution CEPCIDI/RES.84 (LXXXVII-O/03), which convokes the Meeting; General Assembly Resolution AG/RES1859 (XXXII- O/02), which requests that the Department of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (DECST), in coordination with the Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), supports the meetings as Technical Secretariat and provides follow-up on the Summit mandates in education.

The following activities were carried out in preparation for the Meeting:

  • The Preparatory Meeting for the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education in the framework of CIDI, held on April 9-11 2003 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Delegations from 24 member states participated in the meeting, as well as representatives from international organizations. The purpose of the meeting was to analyze the progress made and the pending challenges of the actions taken in compliance with the Summit of the Americas mandates. The schedule and declaration of the Third Ministerial Meeting were discussed. The Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Committee on Education, approved through resolution CEPCIDI/RES.81 (LXXXVI-O/02) in November 2002, were also discussed. The delegations proposed a change in the Rules of procedure, with regards to the creation of an Executive Committee. The delegation agreed on the elaboration of three hemispheric projects focused on teacher education, equity and quality, and secondary education.

  • The inauguration of an On-line Forum. The Unit for Social Development and Education, in its capacity as Technical Secretariat of the Meeting of Ministers of Education, opened an on-line forum to follow-up on the commitments reached at the Preparatory Meeting for the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education and to draft the three Hemispheric Projects.

  • The Hemispheric Dialogues on Equity and Quality, Teacher Education and Secondary Education. Three Videoconferences were implemented in cooperation with the Secretary for Public Education of Mexico and the World Bank Institute. The purpose of the videoconferences was to deepen the discussion on the Hemispheric Projects. The ministers of education, of the coordinating countries of these projects, shared their analysis and presented the specific challenges faced in each sub-region of the Hemisphere.

  • The Civil Society Meeting. The Ministry of Education of Colombia, with the support of the Summit Process Secretariat and the Unit for Social Development and Education, convoked a meeting on "Participation of Civil Society in Education", which has held in Bogotá on July 28 - 29, 2003. The goal was to receive feedback from civil society on the activities developed through the OAS, with special reference to the themes of the three Hemispheric Projects.

  • The Inter-Agency Meeting. This meeting was held on July 18-19, 2003, at the facilities of the Americas' Institute for Advanced Studies (INEAM) in Miami, Florida. Its main objective was to provide an opportunity for international organizations to add contributions to the countries efforts in drafting the Hemispheric Projects. All the contributions from the Agencies were placed within an Inter-Agency Matrix for each project.

  • The seminar on Bilingual Intercultural Education (Web Page only in Spanish), held in Mexico City between December 4-13, 2003. Governmental representatives, leaders from indigenous groups, and researchers from countries with higher numbers of indigenous populations were convoked. The result of the seminar was the drafting of the Declaration of the Indigenous Peoples to be presented at the Third Meeting of Ministers of Education.