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    REGIONAL CENTRE - PANAMA
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    United Nations Development Programme's Regional Centre offers support to Country Offices to strengthen their capacity in project management, and to endorse the creation of strategic alliances and distribution of knowledge in high-priority areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.


    The Centre is integrated with a growing team of professionals and experts working in initiatives that promotes human development in focus areas such as Democratic Governance, Energy and Environment, Crisis Prevention and Recovery,  HIV/AIDS, Capacity Development, and Poverty Reduction and MDG. Additionally, the Knowledge Management team in the Regional Centre Office in Bogota and the Regional Centre Office in Port of Spain are also consolidated to fortify the capacity of governments and communities, to promote the sustainable development, and to support the completion of the Millennium Development Goals.

     

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"Poverty and inequality are issues that should be a priority for governments"

27/07/2010 

Despite the economic growth of recent years, inequality between rich and poor remains a serious problem in Latin America and Caribbean, said Heraldo Muñoz RBLAC director last Thursday, July 22 during a meeting with the media at his first visit to the Regional Centre in Panama.

 

During the interview, appointed to preview the presentation of the HDR 2010 "Act on the future: Breaking the intergenerational transmission of inequality" in San Jose, Munoz said the report identifies the current inequality in the region not only as a bad distribution of income, but also as gender gap, the disadvantages of some rural areas compared to urban centers, and the constraints faced by some ethnic communities.

 

"In my view, inequality is a political priority that should be a primary issue on the agendas across Latin America ," he said. "In Latin America we are the champions of inequality if we compare our region with other areas of the world," continued the director adding also that this problem is a legacy of centuries which is necessary to reduce along with specific public policies, before they lead to the erosion social cohesion.

 

"We have noticed in the report that in 12 of 17 countries, inequality has tended to decline and this has been because this countries have applied social protection and access to education and health, for example," he said. "Without policies to address the reduction of inequality, the problem will persist and could become a boomerang at long term", Muñoz warned.

 

The report "Acting on the Future" says that countries such as Bolivia, Brazil and Haiti currently holds very high levels of inequality. At the opposite extreme are Costa Rica, Argentina, Venezuela and Uruguay.

 
Latin America and the Caribbean, the world's most unequal region

26/07/2010

The Regional Human Development Report for Latin America and the Caribbean 2010, presented on Friday July 23 in San Jose (Costa Rica), proposes a new way to understand and address the current state of inequality in Latin American countries and Caribbean. The study is divided into six chapters that explore the factors that explain the persistence of inequality and questions how they could end this situation and what public policies can be designed to prevent the further transfer of inequality from one generation to the other. The document also aims to become a useful tool to develop specific policy proposals that fit the environment of each country and a call for action today on the future. Read the report (in Spanish).


 
 
The Regional Centre will carry out a Fair of Good Practices in Cali

19/07/2010

The Regional Project UNDP- Afrodescendant Population of Latin America, is organizing a Fair of Good Practices on the Social Inclusion for the Afrodescendant Population from Colombia, Ecuador and Panama. This will be held in the framework of the Petronio Álvarez Music Festival in Cali (Colombia) from August 11-15, 2010. It will deal with issues relating to knowledge generation and learning associated to social inclusion and the extension of citizenship for the afro population in order to strengthen their capacities and their networks within the Project.

 

To achieve all this, seven good practices have been systematized and documented by civil society organizations of afro-descendant populations from Colombia and Ecuador, who have developed basic and non formal education and income generation in the fields. The Fair will be held within the framework of the Petronio Alvarez Festival, which will be held for the thirteenth year, and will feature various activities including a Workshop on Institutional Strengthening and Knowledge Sharing exercises for afro organizations of civil society.


In addition to the above, a conference on Social Inclusion of the Afrodescendant Population has been organized to take place on August 13, 2010 at the Auditorium located in Cultural Centre Building at Cali's City Hall. It is the first time the Afrodescendant Population Project is organizing a Fair, and United Nations working with the Petrona Alvarez Festival. The Social Inclusion Fair will be an open event to all public.
 

  • Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
  • Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
  • Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
  • Goal 5: Improve maternal health
  • Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  • Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
  • Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
  • Millennium Development Goals
  • Address: UN House, Building 128, City of Knowledge
    P.O Box: 0816-1914, Panama, Republic of Panama
    Telephone: (507) 302-4500
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