The Working Groups of the Inter-American Commission on Social Development (CIDES) carry out their work in compliance with the mandates derived from the Political Declarations adopted at the ministerial meetings on social development.

The most recent Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Social Development (REMDES) of the OAS was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on November 17 and 18, 2022. At this meeting, the ministers adopted the “Inter-American Declaration of Priorities in Social Development” entitled "Strengthening Hemispheric Cooperation towards Resilient Reconstruction and Sustainable Social Development in the Americas", and the Plan of Action of the Dominican Republic 2022, with the purpose of defining concretely how they plan to implement the lines of action outlined in the Declaration in a period of three years until the celebration of the Sixth REMDES in 2025.

The execution of this Plan of Action is carried out through the work of the Working Groups that make up CIDES. To this end, last December 2023, CIDES approved its Work Plan for the period 2023-2025, detailing the activities and initiatives that each Working Group would implement according to the topic addressed by each of them, namely:

• Working Group 1 (WG1) "Measurements of multidimensional poverty and design of public policies focused on guaranteeing well-being and the enjoyment of a good quality of life": whose objective is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Member States in the implementation of multidimensional poverty measurements and their application in the design of national public policies.
• Working Group 2 (WG2) "Social protection systems that lead to social development, through poverty and inequality reduction, and expand social protection with a comprehensive approach": focused on strengthening the capacity of Member States in the implementation of their social protection systems with a human rights approach, taking into account the principles of universality, solidarity, equality, non-discrimination, participation and inclusion, accountability and transparency, ensuring access to rights and services, particularly for vulnerable groups.
• Working Group 3 (WG3) "Partnerships, financing and strengthening of hemispheric cooperation and technical assistance to promote social development through the Inter-American Social Protection Network (RIPSO)": with the purpose of promoting dialogue, synergies and cooperation with other international, regional and subregional organizations and mechanisms to strengthen technical cooperation on social development issues.

These Working Groups have a president and vice-president and are made up of representatives of the Ministries of Social Development and equivalent institutions of the OAS Member States.

The execution of these activities is subject to the availability of the necessary financial resources; that is why in 2019, the OAS General Assembly created the “Voluntary Fund for Social Development”, to which Member States, Observer Countries and other donors are invited to make contributions that facilitate the implementation of the agreed activities for the benefit of our region.