Javiera Toro: Social development in Latin America and the Caribbean: common challenges to strengthening the institutional framework

A few days ago, our country hosted the Fifth Meeting of the Regional Conference for Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Fifteenth Ministerial Forum for the Development of Latin America and the Caribbean, all at the facilities of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Three days of reflection and fruitful dialogue among international leaders concluded, with the Chilean Ministry of Social Development and Family assuming the presidency of the conference for the next two years.

The conference’s main theme was social enterprises, identifying common challenges to strengthening them: international cooperation, cross-sectoral coordination, and national and sub-national coordination of public policies, as essential elements of sustainable social policies. Likewise, we concluded that social information systems and One-stop shops It should be central to access to social protection, because it also improves interaction and communication between the state and the people. Among these challenges also include financial sustainability and adaptability, which must always be ensured through the comprehensiveness of our policies and the progress towards globalism.

Taking on this mission is essential to confront the challenges posed by the region’s social reality: structural inequality, gradual aging of the population, persistent gender gaps, the migration crisis, the effects of the Covid pandemic, and the regional setback in terms of improving poverty. .

In the state of Chile, we will seek to highlight the politics of care on our countries’ agendas. Efforts in countries such as Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica and Chile, among others, represent the region’s contribution to solving a global problem. For this reason, it is necessary to integrate learning from our experiences and joint assessment of how these systems contribute to greater social well-being, more autonomy for people and greater enjoyment of their rights and freedoms.

At this conference, I proposed to countries to strengthen our commitment to a common stance towards universality and inclusiveness, and to provide an appropriate response to the various vulnerabilities that our peoples suffer from today.

Incidentally, the tasks that this conference leaves to each of our countries are part of a larger and inevitable task: to address the relationship between social protection systems and development strategies in our region, in order to build new development models. This allows us to overcome productivity stagnation and achieve universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems.

This means returning to the difficulties that have been identified, not only to verify them, but also to promote new strategies that lead to better results, without losing sight of what has been achieved and with the necessary participation and openness to organized civil society. In the scenario of various crises and weak social conventions, trust between people and institutions is not a specific condition, but is constantly under construction. We need that renewed social trust to support joint efforts that allow us to make tangible changes in people’s daily lives.

With these goals in mind, during our presidency we will work to bring the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean to the 2025 World Social Summit and this message will be part of what I will present in the EU-OAS dialogue on poverty. Inequality and Social Inclusion, which will be held in the middle of this month in Washington.