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The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with central offices located in Santiago, Chile, is celebrating 75 years since its creation with a commitment to continue working for a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future for the region.

The Economic Commission for Latin America was established by a resolution of the United Nations Economic and Social Council on 25 February 1948 and began work in Santiago that same year. Later, in 1984, the Council decided that its name would be changed to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations.

In a video message, the ECLAC Executive Secretary, Costa Rican economist Jos? Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, noted that “we have reason to celebrate because the Commission’s contribution to the theory and practice of economic and social development in the region over the past seven and a half decades has been widely recognized in the region and throughout the world.”

According to the institution’s highest representative, “over the years, ECLAC has updated its thinking in accordance with changing realities, creating roadmaps and shedding abundant light on the options and priorities for the progress of our nations.”

Today, the regional commission launched a website that provides an overview of its origins, the evolution of its thinking and current institutional priorities. The site describes the centre-periphery and industrialisation model of the 1950s; the structural reforms for regional development in the 1960s; the development styles of the 1970s; the debt crisis of the 1980s; the productive transformation with equity of the 1990s; the triad of globalisation, development and citizenship of the 2000s; equality at the centre of sustainable development of the 2010s; and the transformation of the development model into one that is more productive, inclusive and sustainable in the 2020s.

“As we commemorate these 75 years, we begin a new phase in which we will carry out a series of activities that will allow us not only to celebrate our 75th anniversary but also to strengthen our abilities to continue our work and better serve Latin America and the Caribbean to build a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future,” stated Jos? Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, who took on his role on 3 October 2022.

The website also offers a section with photos of distinguished guests, personnel and the ECLAC building, considered a benchmark of modern Latin American architecture, as well as other resources with information on this regional commission of the United Nations.

ECLAC was founded to contribute to the economic development of Latin America, coordinate actions aimed at promoting this development and strengthen the economic relations between countries in the region and other nations around the world. Later, its work was expanded to the countries in the Caribbean.

In addition to its main headquarters in Santiago, ECLAC has two sub-regional sites, one for the Central American subregion located in Mexico City and the other for the Caribbean subregion in Port of Spain, established in June 1951 and December 1966, respectively. It also has national offices in Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo and Bogota, as well as a liaison office in Washington, D.C.

The 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are members of ECLAC, along with some nations in North America, Europe and Asia, which maintain historical, economic and cultural ties with the region. In total, there are 46 member states and 14 associate members, a legal status granted to some non-independent territories in the Caribbean.

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Energy sector stakeholders from across the Caribbean will meet in Barbados next week to strategise on how they can strengthen their regulatory frameworks to expedite renewable energy investments in the Region.

The two-day engagement is being led by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) as part of its Accelerated Sustainable Energy and Resilience Transition-2030 (ASERT-2030) framework, in partnership with the Organization of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR).It will take place on February 28 and March 1 at the Hilton Barbados Resort.

It will see decision makers and leaders from government energy ministries and regulatory bodies from CDB’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs), as well as regional and international development partners, come together to look at how best to pool efforts and resources to increase the speed and scale of the sustainable energy transition through improved regulatory frameworks.

The meeting comes as the Region continues to reel from the energy price shocks experienced last year, which further highlight the acute energy insecurity and economic vulnerability associated with over dependence on imported fossil fuels.

It also comes against the background of slow progress towards the achievement of the regional renewable energy targets.

Coordinator of the Sustainable Energy Unit at CDB, Joseph Williams, pointed out the figures which he said underscored the need for urgent and transformative action to rapidly accelerate the Regional sustainable energy transition.

“As of 2021, the total amount of renewable energy generating capacity was only approximately 12% of the total regional installed electricity generation capacity, which is a far way off from the goal of approximately 47% by 2027 (or 55% by 2030). To meet these goals, CDB’s BMCs, would need to install approximately 2,600 MW of renewable energy in the next eight years. This is a 1400% increase over the current rate.

To get near to this, we need to think big, work collectively and coordinate actions and funding. This is why CDB has conceptualised our ASERT-2030 framework – to promote bold decision making and transformative initiatives. Given the criticality of enabling regulatory environments this regional regulatory dialogue is intended to put plans into action,” said Williams.

In a sign of the commitment to coordinated efforts, the event is being supported by a wide range of the key development partners working in the energy space in the Caribbean. These include the the government of Canada, the government of the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE).

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The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), which advises on and coordinates climate change-related policies in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) have launched a virtual course on climate adaptation and risk management in the region. The course will enable decisionmakers and local communities to incorporate climate resilience into their planning processes.

The course provides a guide on how to utilize the Caribbean Climate Online Risk and Adaptation Tool (CCORAL). Created by the CCCCC, the digital platform allows for assessing the climate change risks that a project carried out in a Caribbean country could face.

The tool promotes a regional approach to risk management and supports climate-compatible development models.

“The virtual course, created with support from Willis Towers Watson and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, will enable participants to better understand the climate risks to which projects in the Caribbean may be exposed. It will also teach them how to utilize the CCORAL tool to identify these risks and design responses that boost the climate resilience and capacity for climate adaptation of those projects”, commented Willie Chan, Technical Coordinator of the IICA Delegation in Belize.

He also noted that the development of these online courses “demonstrates IICA’s ability to offer these types of services to partners, through teamwork and active communication”.CCORAL is available at https://ccoral.caribbeanclimate.bz/.

Users can select a specific Caribbean country to learn more about its climate and the tool features that are available for that country.

The CCCCC periodically delivers the course on how to utilize the tool, which was developed with IICA’s involvement. Course offerings are announced on the Centre’s website and social media, as well as on the CCORAL website.

Teamwork

CCORAL was developed in collaboration with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), for use by the public, private and academic sectors.

The CCCCC developed the tool in 2013 in the form of an in-person course, as part of its efforts to address Caribbean countries’ vulnerability to climate change and improve the incorporation of resilience strategies into their development planning. In 2022, IICA transformed it into a fully online course, which enables users to assess, address and analyze potential climate impacts for small-, medium- and large-scale projects.

The tool has been implemented in all CARICOM member countries. Approximately 800 partners in those countries have received training on the use of the tool.

Since 2006, IICA has been collaborating in transforming in-person courses to virtual ones, as was done with CCORAL.

Furthermore, since 2018, more than 18,000 individuals from more than 80 countries have participated in the Institute’s e-learning courses on topics such as family farming, animal health and climate change.

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The Commonwealth must work together to end the institutional care of children and reform protection services to ensure: “every child is safe, protected and able to reach their full potential”, the Commonwealth Secretary-General has said.

Her comments came during a roundtable meeting of government officials, stakeholders and experts on Thursday, to discuss the implementation of the Kigali Declaration on Child Care and Protection Reform – one of the four declarations unanimously agreed upon by Commonwealth Heads of Government in Rwanda last June.

The Declaration is a historic agreement among Commonwealth countries that focuses on ensuring and restoring the rights of children following the COVID-19 pandemic, paying particular attention to the most marginalised and excluded.

It contains commitments to phase out orphanages in the Commonwealth and opt for community care of children; to tackle the underlying causes that lead to separation of parents and children, to establish sustainable and effective safeguarding systems and to eliminate child labour in all its forms, including forced labour, trafficking, and sexual exploitation.

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland KC, said: “More than five million children around the world still live in institutions. Most of these children are not orphans – around 80% of them have at least one living parent.

“But their institutionalisation disproportionately exposes them to vulnerabilities and marginalisation, which can inhibit their development and life chances.

“The truth is that growing up in a family environment is critical to a child’s well-being and development, and every child is entitled to a happy and fulfilling upbringing under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.”

She added: “This is just one of many areas where the Commonwealth can make a real difference.

“We can all work together to prioritise support for, investment in, and reform of childcare and protection services – to enable children to live without abuse or discrimination of any kind; to enjoy their civil, political, social and cultural rights; and to flourish as equal, valued and productive human beings.

“We cannot afford to fail our children, so we must give their wellbeing the priority it deserves – and act together to ensure that every child in Commonwealth is safe, protected and able to reach their full potential.”

The far-reaching Declaration recognises that child protection and safeguarding are cross-cutting issues that have strong links to the Commonwealth Secretariat’s work on youth, disability, health, education and early childhood development.

Youth-focused action is being given a spotlight in 2023 as it is the Year of Youth – a seminal 12 months designated for the empowerment and inclusion of the 1.5bn under-30s living in the Commonwealth.

The roundtable meeting was set to build a consensus on a focus for the effective implementation of the Declaration and to agree on collabroation between Commonwealth governments and civil society organisations, with the support of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Other speakers at the meeting included Joseph Kabakeza, First Counsellor from the Rwandan High Commission, Mark Waddington, CEO Hope and Homes for Children – a civil society organisation working with the Rwandan government on the Declaration initiative, and David Jones, Chair of Commonwealth Children Interest Group, Children of the Commonwealth.

Kabakeza said: “The Kigali declaration on Child Care and Protection Reform highlights many of the areas where we must bolster our efforts.

“Rwanda will continue to collaborate with partners, and the Commonwealth network to champion the Kigali declaration, during our tenure as Commonwealth Chair-In-Office and beyond.”

Waddington said: “Eliminating orphanages is a precondition of developing effective child protection and care systems and a key to unlocking the hardest to reach Sustainable Development Goals.

“The Kigali Declaration, agreed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda in 2022, recognises this imperative for action and places the Commonwealth at the centre of this global movement. Countries across the Commonwealth are demonstrating that care reform is possible and there is much learning and experience to share. Today’s roundtable is an important step.”

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