Proactive debate on social management and youth policy is taking place at IDB headquarters during a course specially designed by the Bank's Institute for Economic and Social Development (INDES) for ministers and high-ranking public officials from Latin America and the Caribbean. Participants are brainstorming approaches for tackling their countries’ social needs to better develop or implement social policies and programs.
Dynamic classes with intensive dialogue make the best of each country’s experiences and perspectives on social issues. Economic indicators, graphics, lessons learned and other tools are placed on the discussion table to guide and strengthen public officials’ efforts, participants agreed.
“These classes are essential for the development of our future actions in public policy,” according to the general secretary of the Iberoamerican Youth Organization, Yuri Chillan Reyes. “The opportunity to meet, discuss and analyze the latest advancements is a valuable tool, invigorating our public officials’ management capacity. Improved performance quality can benefit more than 100 million young people living in Latin America.”
Carmen Vegas, president of the National Youth Commission of Peru, described the seminar as timely and encouraging public youth institutions responsible for developing policies and monitoring their implementation. “We are receiving knowledge and tools that will help us on the job, not as public administrators but as social managers,” Vegas noted. “This seminar gives us a more thorough and creative view for managing youth organizations, and teaches us how to manage in a more strategic way.”
A workshop on communication of social economic policy reviewed topics such as inflation, budget deficits and macroeconomic stability to figure out how poor people can be better incorporated in society. On this issue, educator Diana Alarcón identified the importance of poverty reduction and equity for economic progress. Participants appreciated the given concepts and methodology for working on poverty reduction.
Sebastián Chocca of Uruguay’s Sports and Youth Ministry is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this seminar: “It will help us redirect the policies of the National Youth Institution and we will also take innovative ideas from other youth institutions or ministries gathered here from all over Latin America.”