Publications

BULLETIN 146
Training and human resources development

May-August 1999

 

(Full text available only in Spanish)

 

THIS ISSUE

The documents prepared for discussion at the Tripartite Consulting Meeting on Human Resources’ Development and Training in a number of Latin American countries, 1999, conform an excellent batch and constitute the basis for this special number of the Boletín Cinterfor Having had to limit their number, a representative selection was chosen for publication.

The first one, under the title of "Human resources’ development and Training in Latin America" is the report of the Consulting Meeting. It summarises the main lines of discussion of the subjects approached and shows the fervour with which the ILO proposal was met by participants.

Agustín Ibarra, Executive secretary of the CONOCER, of Mexico, in his presentation "The changing economic, social and labour scene and the new needs of training" described some of the extreme circumstances to be met in going from a semi-closed economic model, with State predominance, to an open one linked to technological change, productive modernisation and the revaluing of manpower. This intervention was followed by a comment by consultant Ruben Katzman, also appended.

"Recent reforms of training systems and policies in Latin American and Caribbean countries" was the subject approached by the Cinterfor/ILO consultant Fernando Casanova, reporting on the Centre’s latest considerations about the conceptual and institutional changes that have occurred in the field of training. It was followed by comments by Joao Carlos Alexim, former Director of Cinterfor/ILO and of the ILO Office at Brasilia.

Jaime Ramírez Guerrero was invited to deal with the topic "New roles of the State and other actors in training: co-ordination of the public and private spheres".

After some preliminary comments about private and public training agents affecting development in the region, the author proposes an analytical tool and offers a number of ideas about the role of public and private players. Ignacio Larraechea, Director of the National Training and Employment Service of Chile, was the commentator of Ramírez’s presentation.

The National Association of Industrialists of Colombia (Spanish acronym ANDI), presented a paper by Gladys Turriago, assistant to its President, explaining the motives that led Colombian employers to promote an open-ended national vocational training system. This article closes the special series on "Training and human resources’ development".

Eduardo Rojas, in his article on "Vocational training institutions facing novel theoretical challenges" speculates on how will VTIs of the region find solutions to changes in the realm of labour, particularly concerning the development and evaluation of occupational competencies. Rojas, a researcher and consultant on labour and training matters, heads a Programme of Vocational Training Councils of the Argentine Ministry of Labour.

Nassim Mehedeff, National Secretary of Occupational Training and Development of Brazil, was interviewed by a journalist of "Jornal do Brasil" in April this year. In his article "Education versus Exclusion" he considers that, since colonial times, his country has fluctuated between expansion and exclusion: "Expansion has been based on an exclusion model which leads to an excluding educational policy". Nevertheless, Brazil always had a consistent educational approach, perfectly adapted to the logics of exclusion, of support of economic powers. "According to the rationale of this paradigm, first there has to be economic development, so that social evolution may follow. The truth is that to avoid exclusion, the two things have to take place at the same time".

In "Elements to qualify the management of secondary education" Alberto Galeano Ramírez, international consultant on educational management, explores different aspects of the current demand for reforms in intermediate education, and points to some ways of promoting new systems, with a special emphasis on autonomy and a professional approach in dealing with the organisation and management of schools.

In his opening address at the ILO 14^th Meeting of the Americas, Juan Somavía, ILO Director General conveyed his emotion in attending his first meeting in the region, and elaborated on the four mandates (historic, political, ethical and organisational) that together with the social demands supporting them, he has proposed to the Governing Board and the Conference as the four strategic objectives that will guide him in his task of conducting the ILO.

 

 

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