About us
LAC Coordination Mechanism
The Regional Coordination Mechanism is an ecosystem of support for implementing SDG 4. It particularly emphasizes educational recovery and transformation as a platform that leads the technical and political dialogue in education. We cover 33 Ministries of Education serving approximately 1.25 million students and 6.9 million teachers.
The coordination mechanism aims to strengthen, deepen, and make the regional cooperation agenda more efficient to support the implementation of SDG 4.
Latin America and the Caribbean have the deep conviction that coordination and cooperation between countries and other educational actors should and can contribute to responding to the urgent challenges and needs faced by the region in education, marked by strong inequalities and injustice.
Structure
The SDG 4 Regional Coordination Mechanism is composed by:
An Assembly of Ministers of Education from 33 Member States, this body heads the mechanism.
A Regional Steering Committee (RSC): comprised of 9 countries from the subregions of South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, with 8 regional organizations.
UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Santiago, as Executive Secretariat.
Working Tables or Teams (ad hoc).
Advisory Council.
Current聽Regional Steering Committee聽members
9 countries
Chairs (representatives to SDG 4 High-Level Steering Committee):
Brasil and Chile
2 representatives from South America:
Chile and Ecuador
2 representatives from Central America:
El Salvador and Dominican Republic
3 representatives from Caribbean States:
Cuba, Anguilla and Saint Lucia
2 E-9 members:
Brasil and Mexico
9 organizations:
4 intergovernmental agencies: CARICOM, CECC-SICA, OEA, and OEI;
3 civil society organizations: Campa帽a Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educaci贸n (CLADE), Internacional de la Educaci贸n, students organization.
UNICEF
UNESCO Multisectoral Office in Santiago as Executive Secretariat
The RSC is co-chaired by the LAC member state representatives to the High-Level SDG 4 steering committee, which allows for a strong articulation with the work and goals of the global mechanism and gives the region the opportunity to have a truly representative voice in the global setting.
Background
For more than 60 years, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has developed an important tradition of multilateral cooperation in education through major programmes and the establishment of coordination mechanisms.
Major Regional Programmes
The major programmes facilitated a great production of knowledge and technical productions that contributed to the achievement of regional goals such as the reduction of illiteracy, the increase of years of compulsory schooling, or the promotion of educational public policy frameworks (ten-year education plans).
UNESCO Santiago has been promoting, convening, and facilitating integration and cooperation in education among all 33 LAC Member States and Associated Member States and serving as the Secretariat of major intergovernmental initiatives.
The LAC region developed programs such as:
Basic education and literacy projects (1945-1957).
Main Project on Extension and Improvement of Primary Education in Latin America (1957 - 1966) that gave a strong push to eradicate illiteracy and promote adult learning in the region.
Major Project on Education, PROMEDLAC (1979 - 1999) strongly focused on improving the quality of education and establishing student assessment mechanisms. Established in 1995, the Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality of Education (LLECE) is a result of this regional mandate.
The Regional Project for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, PRELAC (2002-2017), further developed initiatives for improving quality and governance in education and brought LAC麓s inputs to the global dialogue on SDG4 goals.
Agenda 2030
After the end of PRELAC, and under the new Education 2030 Framework for Action, the region continued its tradition of educational cooperation to support countries in their efforts towards the achievement of SDG 4 targets and to monitor the respective progress and challenges.
BUENOS AIRES, 2017
Thus, in January 2017, the first Regional Meeting of Ministers of Education of Latin America and the Caribbean established its regional vision of Education 2030 for the achievement of the SDG 4 targets reflected in the Buenos Aires Declaration.
COCHABAMBA, 2018
In 2018, in Cochabamba, the second ministerial meeting established a Regional Coordination Mechanism, which includes a regional steering committee that brings together representatives of member states, countries, intergovernmental, UN, and civil society organizations with UNESCO as secretariat. It also gave a monitoring role to UNESCO to follow and inform on SDG4 progress.
BUENOS AIRES, 2022
In 2022, in Buenos Aires, as part of the preparatory process for the Summit on the Transformation of Education, the third Regional Meeting of Ministers of Education of Latin America and the Caribbean prioritized educational recovery and transformation to accelerate the achievement of SDG 4. This will to deepen these commitments is reflected in the Declaration of Buenos Aires of 2022 and led to its new Regional Roadmap, which redefined the functions and structure of the educational cooperation mechanism to operationalize the joint programs in the region.