Globalization and development

Includes bibliography

Equity, development and citizenship: abridged edition

Includes bibliography

Education and knowledge: basic pillars of changing production patterns with social equity

Includes bibliography

Shaping the future of social protection: access, financing and solidarity

Includes bibliography

Los mercados de trabajo, la protección de los trabajadores y el aprendizaje de por vida en una economía global: experiencias y perspectivas de América Latina y el Caribe

Incluye Bibliografía

Labour markets, worker protection and lifelong learning in a global economy: experiences and perspectives of Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Os mercados de trabalho, a proteção dos trabalhadores e a aprendizagem continuada em uma economia global: Experiências e perspectivas da América Latina e o Caribe

Incluye Bibliografía

Education and the labour market in Latin America: why measurement is important and what it tells us about policies, reforms and performance

Includes bibliography

New information and communications technologies for education in Latin America: risks and opportunities

Includes bibliography

Education in basic skills and training for productive work

Includes bibliography

Challenges for secondary education in Latin America

Includes bibliography

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

Includes bibliography

Adolescents and the right to education

The inalienable right of all people to education is enshrined in various international covenants, conventions and agreements, yet the actual fulfilment of this right varies in quantity and quality from one country to the other. On average, the compulsory length of schooling in the countries of the region is 10 years. Half of these countries have already made all secondary education mandatory, which is eminently reasonable since it is commonly accepted as a minimum threshold for lifelong well-being and skills-building. The main article in this edition of Challenges discusses this subject in depth, and shows how far behind we are in ensuring that all adolescents have access to the education to which they are entitled. It focuses on the low secondary school-completion rate and low level of learning acquisition, the strong socioeconomic and sociocultural stratification, the lack of citizenship skills, and the persistence of a relatively high dropout rate at all levels of secondary education. The main challenge in guaranteeing the right to education lies in reducing learning and attainment gaps by helping the groups that are presently lagging behind the most. As is customary, there are also reports on relevant meetings and conferences held in the region over the past half-year, together with the opinions of experts and adolescents and success stories in promoting school attendance in Uruguay and the Dominican Republic.

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.

Disaster risk reduction in the education sector among selected Caribbean small island developing states

Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS), by their very nature, are vulnerable to external shocks. Research shows that the Caribbean subregion experienced 165 natural disasters between 1990 and 2008 and the total impact of natural disasters on the subregion was estimated at US$136 billion. The impact on the social sectors was estimated at US$57 billion, or 42% of the total effect. As small open economies, the Caribbean SIDS are also vulnerable to the vagaries of the international economic system and have experienced declines in tourism, merchandise exports receipts, remittances and capital flows throughout the financial crisis. The negative impact of natural hazards exacerbates the capacity of Caribbean SIDS to overcome the development challenges, such as those posed by the current global economic and financial crisis. Disaster risk reduction (DRR), therefore, is of critical concern to subregional governments and their people. For the purpose of this study, six Caribbean SIDS were selected for detailed analyses on the macro socio-economic impact of extreme events to the education sector. They are the Cayman Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, and Montserrat. This paper proposes that better integration of DRR in the education sector cannot be easily achieved if policymakers do not recognize the social nature of risk perception and acceptance in Caribbean SIDS, which necessitates that risk reduction be treated as a negotiated process which engages all stakeholders.