Regional Seminar on Connectivity of Postgraduate Programs in Childhood, Rights and Public Policies

On September 23 and 24, in Panama City, the Regional Seminar on Connectivity of Postgraduate Programs in Childhood, Rights and Public Policies was organized by Equity for Children / Equidad para la Infancia América Latina.  The two-day session lay the foundation for a network of educators specializing in social policies aimed at decreasing poverty and inequality in the region.

Experts from academia and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) met to discuss postgraduate education in the region.   They emphasized the fields of political science, children’s rights and poverty studies. The group also reviewed the results of a preliminary mapping of higher learning institutions that systematically provide courses and seminars in these fields.

The deteriorating situation for children in the region, more than 20 years after the passage of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, highlights the importance of transforming social policy by integrating the child rights perspective and favoring national and regional efforts toward decreasing poverty and inequality. Further, the context of the past two decades of educational reform – in particular, the internationalization of higher learning and the tendencies to commercialize education and research – have exacerbated the challenges. For Latin American nations, intra- and inter-institutional dialogue will enable greater possibilities for positive impact on governmental, academic and regional social agendas.

Traditions within the various disciplines, and the resulting segmentation of education and research, frequently stand as obstacles to creating dialogue between the academic sector, areas of government and civil society. Usual concepts of postgraduate education and technical assistance must address the complex interaction between children’s rights, social policies and child and youth poverty.

The two-day session concluded with a shared work agreement, including the creation of a network for contributing to local and regional public agendas.  The goal of the network is to promote educational knowledge and the dissemination of ideas more visibly, as well as to encourage the transformation and interaction of participating institutions and researchers.

Participants: Alberto Minujin (The New School University, Equidad para la infanci and Equity for Children), Alfonso Poire (MINDI Red sociedad Civil), Daniel Vasquez (Maestria Derechos Humanos FLACSO México), Enrique Delamónica (UNICEF-Tacro), Freddy Justiniano (UNDP-Centro Regional), Guillermina Martín (UNDP Unidad de Gestión de Conocimiento), Lucero Zamudio (Universidad del Externado, Red Maestrías en Derechos de la Infancia), Mónica Gonzalez Contró (UNAM INJU), Sara Alvarado (Doctorado Cinde - Manizales, Red InJu CLACSO), Tammy Singer (Cluster ODMS, Pobreza y Desarrollo Humano), Valeria Llobet (Equidad para la infancia), Verónica Bagnoli (Equidad para la Infancia).