CINTERFOR, originated from the Seventh Conference of American ILO Member
States, held in Buenos Aires in 1961, in response to a proposal made
to the ILO to establish a center for the exchange of experiences, based
on research, documentation and dissemination of vocational training
activities.
In the early sixties, most American countries faced
the need to increase the general level of their manpower training in
order to improve the quantity and quality of the enterprises' performance
and the workers' living conditions. Given this situation, many countries
(Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, among others)
began, with technical assistance from the ILO, actions aimed at the
creation of new vocational training services, based on a tight collaboration
with workers and employers, and dedicated to the training of apprentices
and adult workers.
The organization of these services, the preparation
and publication of training programs, the preparation of education personnel
and the study of necessary installations and equipment represented a
great effort in research and a good deal of adaptation among each of
these countries. Consequently they considered it highly desirable that
the national services committed in this effort used the accumulated
experience of other countries and participate in a necessary coordination
of activities to be developed in America.
Facing this situation and considering the general resolution
concerning vocational training adopted in the Seventh Conference held
in Buenos Aires, it was decided on that occasion to recommend to the
ILO the creation of an Inter-American Research and Documentation Centre
on Vocational Training, which would promote a permanent cooperation
between national units in charge of vocational training. As part of
this recommendation, it was pointed out that the Centre should have
as its main duties the gathering of all documentation related to vocational
training aspects and, to that effect, the establishment of necessary
contacts with all specialized organizations; disseminate this documentation
in an appropriate way among interested national organizations; implement,
at the organizations' request, all kind of research related to the general
and technical organization of vocational training; prepare didactic
training material, according to the needs or requests of interested
entities.
Then, in 1963 CINTERFOR was created by the International Labour Organization
(ILO), with headquarters in Montevideo.
In 2007 was launched the Strategic
plan for the future action of ILO/Cinterfor that exposes its mission
and vision and raises the implementation strategic and its action plan
for the next short and medium-term period.