Digital Inclusion: Cetic.br Provides Documents Developed in Partnership with UNESCO and ECLAC for Public Policy Makers

In addition to coordinating the preparation of the policy briefs, Cetic.br was responsible for translating the documents into English and Portuguese

Public policymakers, researchers, and other interested parties now have access to the documents prepared by the Regional Office for Science of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the “Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean,” organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay (MIDES), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The policy briefs "ICT, Education, and Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean" and "Digital Society: Gaps and Challenges of Digital Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean," were produced under the technical coordination and editorial work of the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br), which was also responsible for the translations into English and Portuguese. All versions, including the original in Spanish, are available for download at: https://cetic.br/publicacoes/indice/unesco/.

The second meeting of the "Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean" took place in Montevideo (Uruguay) from October 25 to 27 and brought together representatives of countries in the region to discuss progress and challenges in overcoming poverty and reducing inequalities, as well as discussions to strengthen policies in this area.

To advance public debate on key issues in the fight against inequalities and poverty, strengthening social inclusion in the region, the documents were made available to ministers and authorities present at the meeting and were also presented during the panel on Public Policies for Economic and Social Inclusion. "The policy briefs are an important effort to strengthen a more strategic and multidimensional vision of sustainable development in the Latin American and Caribbean region. It is an immense satisfaction for Cetic.br to contribute to this work," points out Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

ICT, Education, and Social Development
Authored by Enrique Hinostroza, Director of the Institute of Educational Informatics at the Universidad de la Frontera in Chile, the policy brief "ICT, Education, and Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean" aims to provide elements for the discussion on developing policies for access and use of ICTs in education within the context of social policies and details the challenges to reduce the gap in access to computers and the Internet in the countries of the region to ensure that students and teachers have access to a computer connected to the Internet. The document also reinforces that educational systems can contribute to facing these challenges by providing schools with quality-connected computers and developing programs that allow the school community to develop the necessary skills to reap the benefits of digital culture.

Digital Inclusion
The policy brief "Digital Society: Gaps and Challenges of Digital Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean," authored by Hernán Galperin, Associate Professor at the University of Southern California in the United States, seeks to provide evidence and policy recommendations on how to tackle the challenge of connecting the over 200 million Latin Americans who remain off-line. To this end, the document recommends public policy initiatives in three priority areas: connectivity of educational institutions associated with curricular reforms and other initiatives for introducing ICTs in schools; development of online applications and content designed to meet the needs of low-connectivity groups, especially adults, people with disabilities, and indigenous language speakers; and finally, investment in human capital through connectivity subsidies directed at low-income households with school-age children conditional on meeting educational requirements.

Download the documents at https://cetic.br/publicacoes/indice/unesco/.

The policy briefs "ICT, Education, and Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean" and "Digital Society: Gaps and Challenges of Digital Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean" will also be made available in the reference document repository for participants of the 2nd module of the online course "Inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean: Research, Policies, and Management for Social Transformations" promoted by UNESCO, which will feature collaboration from Cetic.br. The initiative addresses the regional landscape of inequalities, warns about their consequences, and offers strategies for improving social policies and public management.

This content was automatically translated with the support of artificial intelligence.