The Latin American Regional Networks for Youth and Adult Education provided several important contributions to the ongoing debate and preparation for CONFINTEA VII, to be held next year in Morocco. In this brief report, we highlight three of these activities.
Firstly, the Latin American Platform of Regional Networks for Youth and Adult Education, set up during the preparations for the Latin American sub-regional consultation in July, organised a Webinar on 11/11/2021 with representatives of the principal networks speaking on the theme of “The Road to CONFINTEA VIII”, with the goal of qualifying civil society participation in the Conference.
Also in November, CEAAL’s Group of Incidence on Educational Policy (GIPE) elaborated and launched a document, coordinated by Nélida Céspedes Rossel, with the provocative title of “For a public, popular, intercultural, transformative, inclusive, publicly financed Youth and Adult Education: Reflections and Proposal on the road to CONFINTEA VII”. This was presented during CEAAL’s General Assembly also held in November.
Finally, on 18/11/2021, CLADE launched the report of a research project promoted by the Campaign, with support from DVV International, during the 2021 edition of the Regional Congress of Educative Experiences (Congreso Regional de Experiencias Educativas), organised by the SES Foundation (Fundación SES, Argentina). The report presents the results of the investigation carried out in 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries during the months between June and September to examine the situation of Adult Learning and Education in the region in the context of the current COVID pandemic. It was researched and written by Gloria Hernández Flores María Eugenia Letelier Gálvez and Sara Elena Mendoza Ortega. It represents one of the few regional studies which focus exclusively on how ALE has fared during the pandemic. The report concludes that “In times of pandemic, the invisibility of ALE in Latin America and the Caribbean, became more accentuated. Not only due to the low priority that governments give to ALE, but also even on the part of the international organizations. During the pandemic, UNESCO forgot about ALE in LAC. It did not appear in its reports, its name is not mentioned not even to record its omission”.
We await with great interest the report from our sub-regional consultation and look forward to being able to access the reports from other regions. (Timothy Ireland, ICAE Vice President Latin America)
