REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COMMISSION

From January 2006 to December 2007

José Luis MachineaExecutive Secretary of ECLAC

Santo Domingo, 11 June 2008

www.eclac.org

ContentsOVERVIEW

Presentation of ECLACA Latin American and Caribbean perspective on developmentProgramme of work 2006- 2007Regional context and prioritiesCentral issues on the institution’s agendaECLAC agendas

SUBSTANTIVE ACTIVITIES

HighlightsPublicationsSeminars and workshopsTechnical cooperation missions

OTHER ACTIVITIES

EvaluationDissemination and communication

Presentation of ECLAC

Sixty years with Latin America and the Caribbean

• Innovative proposals for the sustainable economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean through:

– Facilitation of regional consensus: position documents, technical secretariat and substantive services provided to intergovernmental meetings– Applied research: publications, meetings of experts and seminars– Technical cooperation services: technical assistance, training and project

implementation

• Composition 44 member States and 8 associate members

Place within the United Nations system

• A forum within the region’s institutional framework• The analytical work and policy recommendations of ECLAC complement the operational

activities of the resident coordinator system at the national level to establish a conceptual and analytical framework for regional development

• Inter-agency coordination: – regional coordination mechanism and participation in UNDG– helping to strengthen the coherence of the system: “Delivering as One”

A Latin American and Caribbean perspective on development

Main areas of reflection in recent years:

• A broad vision of macroeconomic stability• Formulation of strategies for productive development

and integration into the world economy• Strengthening social linkages• Emphasizing the environmental sustainability approach• Promoting the debate on reforming the international

financial architecture• The importance of the regional aspect of development

Institutional documents presented at recent sessions of the Commission2006: Shaping the Future of Social Protection: Access, Financing and Solidarity2004: Productive Development in Open Economies2002: Globalization and Development2000: Equity, Development and Citizenship1998: The Fiscal Covenant. Strengths, Weaknesses, Challenges1996: Social Equity and Changing Production Patterns: An Integrated Approach

A Latin American and Caribbean perspective on development

Structural Change and Productivity

Growth - 20 Years Later.

Old problems, new opportunities

• Emphasis on the diversification of

production and innovation• Importance of medium- and long-term

strategies in the context of public-private

alliances to boost development in the region

Programme of work 2006-2007

Financing:

Regular budget approved by the General Assembly Extra-budgetary sources:

20% increase in resources mobilized since 2004-2005 Diversification of sources Qualitative leap: from individual projects to multi-year programmes 267 projects spread among the thematic areas of ECLAC

Associations for cooperation:

Multilateral sources: United Nations system European Commission, IDB, SEGIB, etc.

Bilateral sources: countries of the region countries outside the region (GTZ, CIDA, AECID, SIDA)

Others: Kellogg Foundation, Ford Foundation, etc.

Regional context and priorities

Regional context 2006-2007

Since 2003, period of highest consecutive growth with current-account surplus but:

- limited progress in the current round of multilateral trade negotiations

- need to transform the current growth trend into long-term assets that improve the region’s position in international markets

Reduced levels of extreme and general poverty but region still lags behind in terms of income and wealth distribution

Increased vulnerability to natural disasters and environmental challenges

ECLAC priorities in 2006-2007

Promotion of regional and hemispheric integration

Increasing the region’s productive potential

Promoting social cohesion

International migration

Extending sustainable

development policies

Central issues on the institution’s agenda: inter-agency coordination efforts to

follow-up MDGs

Inter-agency reports:• Millennium Development Goals: A Look at Gender

Equality and Empowerment of Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (2006)

• Objetivos de desarrollo del Milenio: la progresión hacia el derecho a la salud en América Latina y el Caribe (Spanish only) (2007)

Institutional report:

• The Millennium Development Goals and the challenges facing Latin America and the Caribbean in making progress towards higher levels of well-being, better human capital and more equal opportunities (Input for the nineteenth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the

member States of the Rio Group, Georgetown, Guyana, March 2007)

Central issues on the institution’s agenda: substantive services for high-level

intergovernmental meetings

• Nineteenth Summit of Heads of State and Government of the member States of the Rio Group, Georgetown, Guyana, March 2007 (MDGs and support for the definition of a common position between CARICOM and Latin America on the WTO multilateral trade negotiations)

• Seventeenth Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government, Santiago, Chile, November 2007 (social cohesion)

• Sixteenth Meeting of Ministers and High-level Authorities of the Housing and Urban Development Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (MINURVI) and the twelfth Ibero-American Forum of Ministers and High-level Authorities of Housing and Urbanism, Santiago, Chile, October 2007 (human settlements)

• Fifth Summit of Heads of State and Government from Latin America and the Caribbean and from the European Union, May 2008 (document on overcoming poverty through social inclusion)

Central issues on the institution’s agenda: integral follow-up to international conferences on

economic and social affairs

• Regional Implementation Forum on Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (2006 and 2007)

• Second Regional Intergovernmental Conference on Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean: towards a society for all ages and rights-based social protection, Brasilia, December 2007

• Second Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, San Salvador, El Salvador, February 2008 (Plan of Action for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, eLAC 2010)

Central issues on the institution’s agenda: technical secretariat services to subsidiary

bodies of the Commission

• Twenty-fourth session of the Committee of the Whole of ECLAC, New York, June 2007

• Tenth session of the Regional Conference on Women of Latin America and the Caribbean, Quito, August 2007 (Quito Consensus)

• Fourth meeting of the ECLAC Statistical Conference of the Americas, Santiago, Chile, July 2007 (Strategic Plan 2010-2015)

• Thirteenth meeting of the Regional Council for Planning, Brasilia, 2007 (ILPES priorities and programme of work)

• Thirteenth meeting of the Monitoring Committee of CDCC, Port of Spain, August 2007 (revival of the role of CDCC in the development of the subregion and follow-up to implementation of the work plan of the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean)

ECLAC agendas

Economic agenda Divisions:

International Trade and Integration Production, Productivity and Management Economic Development

Social agenda Divisions:

Social Development Women and Development CELADE - Population

Sustainable development agenda Divisions:

Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Natural Resources and Infrastructure

Training and statistics activities Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) Statistics and Economic Projections Division

Subregional activitiesECLAC subregional headquarters in Mexico and Port of Spain

ContentsOVERVIEW

Presentation of ECLACA Latin American and Caribbean perspective on developmentProgramme of work 2006- 2007Regional context and prioritiesCentral issues on the institution’s agendaECLAC agendas

SUBSTANTIVE ACTIVITIES

HighlightsPublicationsSeminars and workshopsTechnical cooperation missions

OTHER ACTIVITIES

EvaluationDissemination and communication

Economic agenda:results

Dissemination of information on trade agreements and disputes: Integrated Database of Trade Disputes in Latin America and the Caribbean (IDATD)Provision of technical cooperation services on the negotiation and management of trade agreements and regional integration in response to strong demand from the region’s countries (17 and 16 missions, respectively) Promotion of regional integration and coordination of macroeconomic policies: exchange of good practices (Macroeconomic Dialogue Network (REDIMA) project) Provision of technical cooperation services to 28 beneficiaries, including:

formulation of innovation plans and plans to improve national innovation systems (5 countries) design of methodology to set up industrial clusters and local networks of small and medium-sized enterprises (4 countries)

Follow-up to Plan of Action for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC 2007) and facilitation of eLAC 2010New thematic areas and emphasis:

ICTs and the information societyInnovation and growth

Social agenda:results

Dissemination of research results and provision of technical assistance services on social protection and social cohesion

Reinforcement of interactions with civil society and institutions related to social policy (such as RISALC and the project “Experiences in social innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean”, Kellogg Foundation)

Use of knowledge and information generated by ECLAC on demographic trends and population and development for their incorporation in social policies and programmes

Gender mainstreaming in public policy and in the collection and dissemination of statistical data and associated analyses

New thematic areas and emphasis:AgeingMigration (international and internal)Indigenous and Afrodescendent populations

Sustainable development agenda: results

Strong increase in technical assistance provided to the region’s countries on the sustainable management of natural resources (energy, water and mining)

Strong increase in technical assistance provided to the region’s countries on infrastructure and transport services (aspects of infrastructure connectivity and service regulation)

Development of a methodological framework and a set of indicators for the design and implementation of urban sustainability policies and provision of relevant technical assistance services

Consolidation of the leadership of ECLAC in assessing the socio-economic and environmental impact of natural disasters and risk management. Dissemination of ECLAC methodology by means of:

12 assessment missions in 10 of the region’s countries training of 414 professionals in 15 workshops

New thematic areas and emphasisClimate change: adaptation and mitigationEnergy efficiency, renewable energy and biofuels

Subregional activities:results

Caribbean: Regional Coordination Mechanism for implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States Cooperation to develop strategies for improving the integration of Caribbean economies in world markets Implementation of policies and programmes that use ECLAC methodology for gender mainstreaming

Central America (including Mexico, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic)

Cooperation on the formulation of national trade-capacity building strategies Facilitation of the integration of energy sectors in Central America

Action Matrix for Central American Energy Integration and Development, involving 64 projects in the subregion

Central American Sustainable Energy Strategy 2020 33 training activities in competition policy, macroeconomic modeling, trade- capacity building and disaster evaluation and risk management, benefiting a total of 949 participants, including 314 women (33%)

Capacity building and training activities

48 national, international and distance-learning coursesParticipants: 1,776 professionals from 29 of the region’s countries (45% women)

26 international courses: 756 participants from 18 countries in the region14 national courses: 433 participants and 3 short courses with 95 participants5 international distance-learning courses: 492 participants from 29 countries of the region

TOPICS

Planning Public budgeting and management Regional and local development

Statistics:results

• Satisfactory progress in implementing the System of National Accounts 1993 in accordance with international recommendations

• Widespread use of ECLAC methodology and indicators for measuring poverty and social well-being (differing use in 18 countries)

• 38 complementary indicators for the follow-up of MDGs were included in the annual publication Social Panorama of Latin America 2007

• New areas in the statistics work programme: environmental indicators and tourism and health satellite accounts

• CEPALSTAT- new one-stop shop for ECLAC statistical databases

Flagship publications: annual reportsannual reports

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean Social Panorama of Latin AmericaLatin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean Statistical Yearbook of Latin America and the Caribbean

For more information on ECLAC publications, visit http://www.cepal.org/publicaciones/

Other publications:

For more information on ECLAC publications, visit http://www.cepal.org/publicaciones/

• Social Cohesion: Inclusion and a Sense of Belonging in Latin America and the Caribbean

• Visiones del desarrollo en América Latina (Spanish only), José Luís Machinea and Narcís Serra (editors)

• Tributación en América Latina. En busca de una nueva agenda de reformas (Spanish only), Oscar Cetrángolo and Juan Carlos Gómez Sabaini (compilers)

• Espacios Iberoamericanos: Comercio e Inversión (Spanish only),

• Financiamiento para el desarrollo: América Latina desde una perspectiva comparada (Spanish only), Bárbara Stallings and Rogério Studart

• Fernando Fajnzylber. Una visión renovadora de desarrollo en América Latina (Spanish only), Miguel Torres Olivos (compiler)

Seminars and workshops

Regional seminar on fiscal policy, Santiago, Chile, 2006 and 2007 (in conjunction with IMF, World Bank, OECD, IDB and GTZ)

High-level seminar on strategic perspectives on sustainable energies in Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago, Chile, June 2007

Regional Seminar on Macroeconomic Policy and Social Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean, Lima, Peru, September 2007 (in conjunction with IMF)

Ibero-American meeting on Migration and Development, Madrid, Spain, July 2006

Meeting of experts on foreign trade, Santiago, Chile, May 2006 (experts from WTO, OECD, Andean Community, MERCOSUR, ALADI and ADC)

Meeting of experts on the impact of CAFTA-DR on agricultural and rural sectors, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 2007 (government, private-sector, NGO and academic participants)

Meeting of senior statisticians and specialized personnel of data-producing government agencies, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, June 2007 (in conjunction with OECS, University of the West Indies, PAHO, UNFPA, UNDP, UNICEF)

Technical cooperation missions

Direct collaboration with member States in specific areas of interest– Provision of technical assistance and other technical cooperation services to

national authorities, professionals and experts (means of feedback to keep the secretariat updated on the development priorities and specific interests of member States)

– Training: courses and workshops

1,541 missions in 2006-2007 covering all ECLAC member States in the Caribbean, Central America and South America

Thematic breakdown 49% on economic development 27% on social development 24% on sustainable development

Technical cooperation missions

Areas of work: Negotiation and implementation

of trade agreements Macroeconomic policies Social protection and social

cohesion Natural resource regulations and

policies Environmental indicators and

policies State modernization and

planning Improvement of household

surveys and economic and social statistics

Assessment of the impact of natural disasters

Gender mainstreaming in government policies and programmes

ContentsOVERVIEW

Presentation of ECLACA Latin American and Caribbean perspective on developmentProgramme of work 2006- 2007Regional context and prioritiesCentral issues on the institution’s agendaECLAC agendas

SUBSTANTIVE ACTIVITIES

HighlightsPublicationsSeminars and workshopsTechnical cooperation missions

OTHER ACTIVITIES

EvaluationDissemination and communication

REINFORCING EVALUATION

Why?

• Increased emphasis on results-based management• Increased transparency and accountability to member States• Organizational learning and innovation

How?

• Boosting measures that promote a culture of monitoring and evaluation in ECLAC– New monitoring and evaluation guidelines adapted to the Commission– Strengthening evaluation plans– Standardization and wide use of evaluation surveys

• Formation of a pool of certified evaluation officers, as part of an inter-agency effort in the region to promote evaluation in the United Nations system

Next stage:

• Dissemination of the results of evaluations on the ECLAC website

Dissemination and communication

2000 new documents, including:13 Libros de la CEPAL 3 Cuadernos de la CEPAL, 12 issues of the CEPAL Review 14 joint publications 255 conference documents over 250 press releases

The ECLAC portal includes 40 specialized sites

Visibility of the work of the Commission:

over 15,000 press clippings in the biennium 17 million visitors to the ECLAC portal 2007 35 million documents downloaded in 2007

Closing remarks

• ECLAC, which has been a part of the region’s institutional framework for 60 years, remains committed to ensuring that development issues in the region are addressed from the region’s own perspective, with a multidisciplinary approach that furthers integration

• ECLAC has formulated numerous recommendations on public policy options for economically, socially and environmentally sustainable development, and serves as a forum for technical debate and building regional consensus on global issues

• Demand for ECLAC services is constantly growing among national and regional entities (government agencies, the private sector, academic and civil-society bodies, NGOs)

• Emerging issues and new emphases are constantly being incorporated into the programme of work of the Commission

• The implementation rate of the programme of work is high and increasingly results-oriented, which has a strong impact on the direct beneficiaries.

THE SECRETARIAT WOULD LIKE THE SECRETARIAT WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE GOVERNMENTS TO THANK THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES FOR OF THE MEMBER STATES FOR

THEIR ASSISTANCE IN THEIR ASSISTANCE IN IMPLEMENTING THE IMPLEMENTING THE

PROGRAMME OF WORK IN THE PROGRAMME OF WORK IN THE 2006-2007 BIENNIUM2006-2007 BIENNIUM

www.eclac.org

22%

10%

9%

22%

37%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Other

Subregional focus

Sustainable development

Social development

Economic development

Projects implemented during 2006-2007, by thematic areas(Percentages)