CAF and Fundación Ortega-Marañón launch Ibero-American Chair for strengthening local governments
May 29, 2024
CAF -Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean- and the Ortega-Marañón Foundation presented in Madrid the Ibero-American Chair of Integration and Development, which both institutions will jointly promote.
This alliance will make it possible to offer a diploma course to strengthen the work of strategic actors in the local Ibero-American spheres, linked to the design and implementation of policies and actions that contribute to Integral Human Development in their territories.
CAF's Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming, Christian Asinelli, and the General Director of the Ortega-Marañón Foundation, Lucía Sala Silveira, met at the Foundation's headquarters in the Spanish capital to officially launch this important initiative, whose main objective will be to strengthen the capacities of local actors. Thus, CAF continues working to fulfill its purpose of being the multilateral bank for subnationals.
“At CAF we want to have a greater social impact and for that we must work with the entities that are closest to the citizens. It is the local governments that are closest to the daily problems of our societies. Supporting, strengthening and connecting them, hand in hand with a prestigious institution such as FOM, is undoubtedly the right way to go,” said CAF Vice President Christian Asinelli during the activity.
The Diploma will have two annual training cycles between 2024 and 2026, which will include specialized thematic programs, case studies, co-creation laboratories and seminars. At least 100 representatives from local governments, the private sector and civil society, among others, are expected to participate. The application and registration period will open soon through the websites and social networks of both institutions. This program will include the participation of professors from Latin America and Europe, as well as senior executives from CAF and other key institutions in the region, who will share their practical experience in the areas of Urban, Housing and Socioeconomic integration, Public Management, International Financing for Cities, Climate Change, as well as evaluation and impact tools. In this way, CAF continues to promote learning with a practical and applied approach to strengthen skills and capacities in the region.
In this sense, CAF considers the Fundación Ortega-Marañón an ideal strategic partner for the construction of this new bridge of knowledge and training in Ibero-America, as it has extensive experience in regional projects and a recognized network of experts and professors specialized in government and public policy with management praxis.
Lucía Sala Silveira, General Director of the Ortega-Marañón Foundation, highlighted the importance of this collaboration: “For our Foundation, this Chair represents a strategic alliance with one of the most relevant and key institutions in Latin America. We are embarking on a path together with the aim of generating programs with a social impact that will enable us to face the challenges that exist in the region right now. Ortega y Gasset was always aware of his valuable contribution to the knowledge and culture of Latin America, so much so that he was recognized in different intellectual circles as the American Ortega”.
It should be noted, that this course will take as a reference the model of integration and development of popular neighborhoods implemented by the Ministry of Human Development and Habitat of the City of Buenos Aires between 2016 and 2022, which was supported and partially funded by CAF. That project showed the importance of integrality as an approach that gives clear results, so the Chair took up this learning and was conceived to combine the economic, social and political fields, without any of them taking precedence over the others.
All in all, the Ibero-American Chair of Integration and Development will seek to improve participants' knowledge of current trends in Integral Human Development, disseminate experiences and best practices, provide tools for the implementation of innovative actions, favor the permanent exchange of ideas among strategic Ibero-American actors, and generate a space for cooperation between the public sector, the private sector and social participation.
For more information about the Chair, application process and admission, please write to comunicacion@fogm.es