ICTs in public agricultural institutions in Latin America: Uruguay, Costa Rica and Paraguay case studies

Includes bibliography

Toward an integrated transport policy: institutions, infrastructure and logistics - the case in Chile

This edition of the FAL Bulletin presents a summary of the major outcomes of the workshop, “Toward an integrated transport policy: institutions, infrastructure and logistics”, which was organized by the ECLAC Infrastructure Services Unit, in late 2009. The objective of the event was to analyse the various government bodies involved in the transport sector, Chile’s experience in formulating transport policy and the challenge that formulating and executing integrated policies entails.

Informe de la reunión de expertos sobre vínculos entre proveedores de servicios locales y las cadenas globales de valor (México, D.F., 13 de marzo de 2014)

1. La conferencia sobre “Vínculos entre proveedores de servicios locales y las cadenas globales de valor” se enmarcó en la Reunión titulada “Internacionalización e innovación de servicios: nuevas fuentes del desarrollo productivo en América Latina”, organizada por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), el Colegio de México (COLMEX), el Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF), el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OECD), la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo (UNCTAD) y el World Trade Institute (WTI). 2. Los servicios desempeñan un papel predominante en las estructuras económicas de América Latina, que se expresa por su gran peso económico (más del 50% del PIB) y por la generación de empleo (más de la mitad del total), junto con una proporción creciente en el comercio internacional, sobre todo cuando este último se mide por valor agregado. Los servicios, lejos de constituirse como un sector autónomo con respecto al industrial, deben su crecimiento a la progresiva racionalización iniciada durante los años ochenta en la cadena de producción manufacturera. En la actualidad, la competitividad de los países, vinculada con su capacidad para atraer o conservar en su territorio parte del valor generado en el sistema mundial, depende del grado de escalamiento del sector servicios en la cadena de valor global. 3. El papel que tienen los servicios genera una serie de retos y oportunidades para el diseño de políticas públicas y para los estudios académicos, principalmente en lo relacionado con: el desempeño de la productividad en los servicios; la participación en cadenas globales de valor y en su escalamiento; el impacto de los marcos regulatorios en el desarrollo del sector; su vinculación con los procesos de innovación, y la calidad de los empleos generados. El objetivo de esta reunión fue dar respuesta a algunos de estos planteamientos y promover el diálogo entre investigadores y diseñadores de política pública. En seguida, se incluye la información sobre la organización, la dinámica y las conclusiones de la reunión.

Research on policies and institutions to support small and medium scale enterprise in the Caribbean: Trinidad adn Tobago report

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago continues to provide support to SMEs in order to enhance their international competitiveness. The increasing effects of globalization and the reality of several trade agreements require that local businesses attain and maintain a level of competitiveness which ensures their continued survival and growth. This report examines in detail the policy environment within which these enterprises operate. It also examines the role of the key implementing agencies such as the BDC and NEDCO for government’s policy on the sector and also the role of the respective line ministries. These organizations strive to deliver value added technical, financial and export promotion services to its clients on a subsidised basis. The services offered reflect five key business areas such as financing, training, technical assistance, trade assistance, business re-engineering, project management and export promotion. In the case of the BDC its services target six sectors: food and beverage, metal processing, leisure marine, including yachting, information and communication technology/electronics, printing and packaging and entertainment. These said sectors are identified by the government, on the basis of a study which was done by TIDCO, for the promotion of a cluster development strategy. In the case of NEDCO it targets the following sectors: art and craft, food and beverages, fashion and fashion accessories, culture and ecotourism, bed and breakfast operations, indigenous entertainment and light manufacturing.

Education system institutions and educational inequalities in Uruguay

This article shows how certain aspects at the secondary level of Uruguay’s public school system produce inequalities in student achievement. The 2006 edition of the Programme for International Student Assessment (pisa) (oecd, 2006a) points to three key aspects of the institutions that regulate secondary education that play a part in reproducing inequalities of origin, hindering the equalizing role that guides the education system. First, the teacher assignment mechanism has the dual effect of sending a revolving door of young and inexperienced teachers to schools in unfavourable sociocultural contexts as well as concentrating teachers with more experience in schools in favourable contexts. Second, the geography-based system for assigning students to schools reproduces the residential segregation process. Lastly, the centralized system for supplying educational and technological materials is inadequate to the needs of the schools.