Towards an information society measurement instrument for Latin America and the Caribbean: getting started with census, household and business surveys

Includes bibliography

Structural change and productivity growth 20 years later: old problems, new opportunities. Summary

Includes bibliography

Women in the digital economy: breaking through the equality threshold

Prepared by ECLAC for the twelfth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, this document systematizes and describes various dimensions that shape the way the region's women participate in the labour market and how they access and use the different elements of the digital economy. Information and communications technologies (ICTs); provide essential support across all economic, political, cultural and social activity, as well as being a production sector in their own right. As such, they are potential allies in the drive to achieve equality by helping reduce the gender inequities which constitute not only a gender digital gap but also a social divide. Public policies on gender equality must take into account the key and interconnected dimensions of economy, well-being and technology if they are to be capable of providing an ambitious and innovative response to the challenges of today's society. The core argument in the reflection on ICTs and gender equality thus has to do with how women engage in processes of change and sustainable development in the countries, which cannot be achieved without equal participation by men and women. From this perspective, the gender digital gap offers a specific opportunity to tackle gender inequalities in the region.

Women in the digital economy: breaking through the equality threshold. Summary

Prefacio Prepared by ECLAC for the twelfth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, this document systematizes and describes various dimensions that shape the way the region's women participate in the labour market, and how they access and use the different elements of the digital economy. Information and communications technologies (ICTs) provide essential support across all economic, political, cultural and social activity, as well as being a production sector in their own right. As such, they are potential allies in the drive to achieve equality by helping reduce the gender inequities which constitute not only a gender digital gap but also a social divide. Public policies on gender equality must take into account the key and interconnected dimensions of economy, well-being and technology if they are to be capable of providing an ambitious and innovative response to the challenges of today's society. The core argument in the reflection on ICTs and gender equality thus has to do with how women engage in processes of change and sustainable development in the countries, which cannot be achieved without equal participation by men and women. From this perspective, the gender digital gap offers a specific opportunity to tackle gender inequalities in the region.

ECLAC Notes Nº 40

Region Will Meet Some Millennium Goals, But Antipoverty Fight Lagging Education Remains a Challenge Opinion by José Luis Machinea: There's Still Time to Meet the Millennium Goals by 2015 Highlights. Information and Communications Technologies: Tools for Development with Equity within Regional Integration Approaches Indicators Price of Copper Reflects Scarcity Recent Titles Calendar

ICT and gender

Information and communications technologies: essential tools for achieving gender equality. By UN-WOMEN, Andean Sub-Regional Office. -- “Training telecentre operators as technology leaders in their social environment is an ongoing task”, interview with Olga Paz Martínez. -- For an information society with gender equity. By Dafne Sabanes Plou. -- “Including women in ICT can make a big difference in narrowing the digital divide”, interview with Zoraida Franco. -- “We see the potential of ICT for rearranging family communication networks”, interview with Juan Eduardo Rojas .-- “ICT might be the most tangible tool we have right now to fight gender discrimination”, interview with Martin Hilbert.

Global value chains and world trade: Prospects and challenges for Latin America

Foreword by Alicia Bárcena.

Children’s rights in the digital age

The digital divide exacerbates inequalities in access to information and knowledge, making it more difficult to socialize with peers and limiting awareness of and the ability to use basic tools for life in society. Reducing this gap sets in motion virtuous synergies of social and cultural inclusion for children and adolescents, facilitating skills development and generating lifelong opportunities. Although the younger generations are connected digital natives, inequalities persist among socioeconomic groups, though these have been tempered by connectivity programmes in public schools in the region. The main article of this edition of Challenges uses current information to examine the progress made and the gaps that remain in this area. Providing children and adolescents with access is merely a first step. They then need to be protected from the risks associated with information and communications technologies (ICTs), which must be harnessed for purposes of meaningful learning, promoting uses that are more in line with the educational curriculum. Lastly, the article posits that connectivity policies must be linked to the fulfilment of children’s rights in the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As is customary, this issue also contains information on meetings and conferences held in the region during the year and recent publications in this field. Mention is also made of good practices from Peru in reducing gender gaps and a joint initiative between mobile operators and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to protect children in the digital age. Viewpoints includes expert opinion on the potential of ICTs as tools that can facilitate the exercise of the rights of children and adolescents, but also lead to violations of these rights.

The tourism sector and the global economic crisis: development implicatins for the Caribbean

Over the past two years the global economy has experienced substantial economic turmoil, resulting in severe economic contraction. While there has been a recent return to growth, this situation has impacted all economic sectors worldwide. In the highly tourism-dependent region of the Caribbean, the impact of the global economic crisis has been most notable on the tourism sector, which, from the early 1990s, became the key driver of economic growth for the region. The eventual emergence of this sector reflects an economic development history which was previously underpinned by the export of agricultural commodities, and subsequently by the adoption of the import substitution industrialization model as promulgated by Arthur Lewis. This was further stimulated by spectacular economic contraction in Caribbean economies during the 1980s as a result of changes in the global terms of trade for commodities, generally low levels of competitiveness for manufactured goods, as well as weak institutional and governance frameworks. Ultimately, many economies began to reflect fiscal and balance of payments constraints. By the end of the 1990s, too, evidence of declining competitiveness even in the tourism sector began to become apparent particularly when evaluated under the framework of the Butler Tourism Area Life- Cycle (TALC) model. The recent economic crisis, therefore, provides an opportunity to reflect on the overall approach to economic development in the Caribbean, and to assess the implications of the region’s response to the crisis. This analysis makes the case for the future development of the sector to be based on two broad strategies. The first is to deepen the integration of the tourism sector into the broader economy through the diversification of the regional tourism product, as well as the enhancement of linkages with other sectors, while the second is to expand the tourism sector into a total service economy through the introduction of new services. Considering linkages, the development of clusters and value chains to support the tourism sector is identified with respect to agriculture and food, handicraft, and furnishings. Among the new services identified are education, wellness, yachting and boating, financial services, and information and communications technologies (ICT). This overall strategy is deemed to be better suited to the macroeconomic realities of the Caribbean, where high labour costs and other structural rigidities require a high-valued specialty tourism product in order to sustain the sector’s global competitiveness.

Working paper on the eLAC 2018 Digital Agenda in consideration of Caribbean priorities for technology-supported development

eLAC 2018 will coordinate the implementation of programmes to support the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in achieving social and economic development goals for Latin America in the Caribbean during the 2015-2018 timeframe. The conceptual framework for this programme of work is described by the eLAC 2018 Digital Agenda, which is anticipated to be ratified by the fifth Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean, to be held in August 2015 in Mexico City. There is a need for broader input from Caribbean countries to the eLAC 2018 Digital Agenda. Accordingly, this working paper reviews the document’s current draft, considering each of its objectives in the context of Caribbean development needs. Amendments are recommended to 12 of the objectives. Two additional objectives are also proposed, in the areas of regional coordination on universal service funds, and the establishment of a spatial data infrastructure to support the use of geographic information systems. Representatives of Caribbean countries are invited to use the contents of this document as an input to the development of their own proposed amendments for inclusion in the final version of the eLAC 2018 Digital Agenda.

Digital inclusion in education in Tarija, Plurinational State of Bolivia

This study analyses digital inclusion in secondary education in the Tarija School District in the Plurinational State of Bolivia for the 2012-2013 school year, using the indicators in the Plan of Action for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (Plan of Action elac). This is an exploratory and descriptive analysis based on a sample of 311 students, 108 teachers and 15 school principals. According to the findings, teenagers use the Internet to look for information and entertainment; the expansion of mobile technology among them offers numerous educational opportunities; and insufficient training for teachers on how to integrate information and communications technologies (icts) into the learning process is a top challenge. The existence of icts in schools has been confirmed, but not their use. Local and national efforts are helping to reduce the digital divide and promote equality of opportunity for young people.

Resolutions adopted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean at its Thirty-Sixth Session

Resolution 697(XXXVI) Horizons 2030 resolution .-- Resolution 698(XXXVI) ECLAC calendar of conferences for the period 2017-2018 .-- Resolution 699(XXXVI) Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- Resolution 700(XXXVI) Mexico resolution on the establishment of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development .-- Resolution 701(XXXVI) Support for the work of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES) .-- Resolution 702(XXXVI) Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean .-- Resolution 703(XXXVI) Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- Resolution 704(XXXVI) Programme of work and priorities of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean for the biennium 2018-2019 .-- Resolution 705(XXXVI) Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee .-- Resolution 706(XXXVI) Application of Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- Resolution 707(XXXVI) Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- Resolution 708(XXXVI) Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean .-- Resolution 709(XXXVI) Committee on South-South Cooperation .-- Resolution 710(XXXVI) Conference on Science, Innovation and Information and Communications Technologies of the Economic Commission for Latin America and The Caribbean .-- Resolution 711(XXXVI) Implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024 .-- Resolution 712(XXXVI) Regional integration of statistical and geospatial information .-- Resolution 713(XXXVI) Regional follow-up to the outcomes of conferences on financing for development .-- Resolution 714(XXXVI) Place of the next session.