SPECIALIZED ORGANIZATION OF THE OAS

80th REGULAR MEETING OF THE DIRECTING COUNCIL OF THE IIN  

22-23 August, 2005
Mexico DF – Mexico

Español

CD/RES. 11 (80-R/05)

CONSOLIDATED PROPOSALS SUBMITTED BY THE CANDIDATES
TO THE POSITION OF DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE IIN
(Submitted by the delegations of Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago) 

THE DIRECTING COUNCIL, 

HAVING SEEN:           

            The coincidence of the plans submitted by the five candidates to the position of Director General of the Inter-American Children’s Institute on their diagnostic framework, the support to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, the search for new funding sources, the position of the Institute at the political and technical level, and its administrative reorganization and internal restructuring;  

CONSIDERING: 

1. That the IIN counts on a Strategic Plan for 2005-2008 which provides for the institutional strengthening of the Institute and its position as far as technical assistance and horizontal cooperation with Member countries are concerned;

2. That the IIN action should be framed within the best interest of the child in order to ensure the progress of Member countries towards the assurance and full exercise of children’s rights;

3. That the candidates to the position of Director General of the IIN have made available to the Directing Council their proposals submitted during the process for the election of the three-candidate list for such position;   

4. That it is necessary for the region to count on consensus-based proposals addressing the best practices and approaches;

RESOLVES:

1. To express its deep recognition to the candidates to the position of Director General of the IIN for making their proposals available to the Directing Council.

2. To consolidate the plans submitted by the candidates to the position of Director General of the IIN and the contributions made at plenary sessions for their inclusion in the Strategic Plan of the Institute[1].

3. To create a Working Group for consolidating the work plans submitted by the five candidates and providing for a permanent advice to the new Director General.

4. This Working Group will be composed of those countries that nominated candidates for the position of Director General (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Honduras and Peru) together with the delegations of Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago on behalf of the Caribbean countries.

________________________________________   

Mexico, D F, 22 August, 2005

     AIDE-MÉMOIRE
PREPARED BY ANA MARIA PEÑUELA
MEMBER OF THE DELEGATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA TO
THE 80^th REGULAR MEETING OF THE DIRECTING COUNCIL OF THE IIN  

1-      QUESTIONS TO THE CANDIDATES:

The plans submitted by the five candidates coincide on their diagnostic framework, on the importance of supporting the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the search for new funding sources, the position of the Institute at the political and technical level, and its administrative reorganization and internal restructuring.

The major concern of the countries was how these plans would be implemented. The following questions address such concern.   

1. How these plans will be implemented? 

2. How these goals could be achieved in both the macro and micro perspectives?

3. What is the operational approach of the proposed plans?

4. How would these plans be coordinated and made consistent with the Social Charter –which should have an Inter-American scope–, other OAS organizations, the IIN Strategic Plan, and the Millennium Development Goals? 

5. What strategies have the candidates in mind to raise private funds from other Member states and new donors?

6. What is the children’s role in the plan?

7. State some practical initiatives for coordination with civil society

8. What it’s the work strategy concerning the increase of adolescent pregnancy?

9. What is the strategy for HIV/AIDS prevention and control?

10. What are the strategies for implementing private sector contributions?

11. Beyond the significant presence of official delegates from each country, how would the Institute’s presence become operational at the sub-regional level?  

2-      STATED IDEAS AND “HOW”  

Funding  

1. To build up a priority-based agenda and search for resources in European and such other countries as Canada and the United States of America.

2. Cancellation of the external debt of countries subject to the improvement of child living.

3. Child-allocated resources should be visible and public, and surveillance agencies and civil society entities should watch over their use as per their respective competence.

4. To design and implement a project database. To join the countries in project design, fund raising or co-funding of diagnosed priority issues.

5. To organize a cooperation unit funded by various sources: country resources, international agencies, private sector. To establish priorities by countries and regions.

6. Regional outcome and impact consequences are the best fund raising arguments. The assessment of the impact of public policies, programs and services should be promoted.

7. To strengthen the strategic alliance with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Improvement of Child Living Conditions  

1. To promote the inclusion of child-related issues in national and sub-regional development plans with a binding approach.

2. To promote the drafting, execution and assessment of child national and sub-national plans that should take into account, among others, the IIN Strategic Plan for 2005-2008.

3. To establish a system for monitoring the enforcement of rights which should be coordinated to follow-up systems developed by other agencies, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with the progress or drawback in the compliance of the Millennium Development Goals.

4. To develop research actions in order to enhance the understanding of child situation in the Americas, its regions and countries, as well as to deepen into issues of special concern for the countries or to generate new knowledge as required.

5. To support developing countries in the improvement and coordination of their information systems.

6. To coordinate efforts with other cooperation agencies working on related issues, such as ILO, ECLAC, PAHO, and WHO in order to promote the use of best practices, and the inclusion of relevant matters for the benefit of children such as the practices aimed to child mortality reduction, poverty reduction, and right assurance, recovery and control systems.

7. To promote country development and implementation of integral programs that should include civil registration, health, nutrition, education and recreation, based upon the paradigm of Child Integral Protection in our region. 

IIN Strengthening  

1. To carry out the follow-up of commitments assumed at various institutional scenarios.

2. To prepare an operational plan in accordance with the IIN role and established priorities, bearing in mind the already adopted Strategic Plan for 2005-2008.

3. To monitor the enforcement of decisions endorsed by most countries, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the resolutions taken by the Summit of the Americas.

4. The IIN participation in strategic fora by means of presentations, contributions on various issues and raising discussions.

5. Presence and strategic positioning: The IIN should count on a space in the countries, their regions or sub-regions, as well as on the presence of an institutional referent appointed by the IIN Member countries.

6. To respond to the concerns of the Member states through actual presence, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability.

Child Participation

1. To revisit such participation experience as the “Participation staircase” developed by Argentina.

2. To encourage participation in policy design, enforcement, control and assessment.

3. To incorporate children into an actual and concrete participatory process within the context of their interests, roles and life projects.

Proposed Technical Assistance

1. To identify existing best practices through a right and population-based approach.

2. To channel horizontal cooperation according to a mapping and diagnose of existing needs.

3. To accompany the countries in building up their early childhood policies considering their impact on social development.

4. To accompany the countries in legislative adjustment.

5. To assist in designing public policies with a state-oriented approach, as well in their enforcement, monitoring, process evaluation, outcome, impact, surveillance and control.

Regulatory Framework

1. Coordination with all international organizations: Projects of general interest based on the Best Interest of the Child.

2. Alliances with national and universal systems.

Adolescent Mothers and HIV/AIDS

1. Emphasis should be made on issues affecting adolescent mothers and the struggle against HIV/AIDS through health promotion, information, education, prevention against risk factors and integral care.

2. To promote, together with specialized organizations, population and demographic in-depth analysis.