CAF and United Nations reiterate commitment to Afro-descendant communities across the region

CAF—development bank of Latin America and the Caribbean—and the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to coordinate, design, and deploy joint actions that promote recognition, justice, and development of communities of African descent across the region through inclusive and participatory processes. Both organizations agreed on coordinated collaboration to advance development with identity, considering technical and financial assistance, and project implementation in specific areas of mutual interest. The signing ceremony was led by the head of the Forum, Epsy Campbell, and the Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming at CAF, Christian Asinelli.

The document is part of a long list of actions deployed by the Gender, Inclusion, and Diversity department at CAF, which seeks to advance gender equality, foster recognition and strengthening of ethnic-racial diversity (people of African descent, Indigenous, and/or Native peoples), and the inclusion of people with disabilities, by providing technical assistance, knowledge, and financing in member countries.

Furthermore, the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent is mandated to contribute to the full political, economic, and social inclusion of people of African descent in the societies in which they reside, on an equal footing with other citizens and without any form of discrimination. The organization works to ensure rights under equal conditions, undertake awareness initiatives, and promote the integration and coordination of activities of organizations, funds, and programs on people of African descent within the United Nations system, among other actions.

"At CAF, we are proud to work alongside the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent." Both institutions share a vision that promotes integration, social well-being, and commitment to inclusive and sustainable development, with a special focus on the creation of strategies and tools in order to apply an inclusive perspective in program development, which will have a positive impact on communities of African descent," said Christian Asinelli, Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming at CAF. 

Christian Asinelli

"Our commitment to groups of African descent calls for sustainable development and regional integration programs, urban development, financial inclusion, and technical assistance. We are convinced that it is necessary and vital to incorporate perspectives of gender, inclusion, and diversity into all our management policies and projects," added Asinelli.

The activities included in the MOU include notably research and consulting work on issues of African descent; enhancing the participation processes of representatives from civil society networks and partnerships in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a view to fulfilling the goals of the Forum; promotion of dialogue, financing, and recognition mechanisms between policy makers and communities of African descent in the context of CAF, among others.