SELA:

The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) is a

regional intergovernmental organization that groups 27 Latin
American and Caribbean countries. With headquarters in Caracas,
Venezuela, SELA was established on 17 October 1975 by the Panama
Convention and its current membership includes Argentina, Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica,
Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic,
Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Objectives
Provide the Latin American and Caribbean region with a system of
consultation and coordination for the adoption of common positions
and strategies on economic issues in international bodies and forums
and before third countries and groups of countries and Foster
cooperation and integration among the countries of Latin America
and the Caribbean
The purposes of the ACS are to identify and promote the
implementation of policies and programmes to meet the following
objectives: Strengthen the collective capacities of the Caribbean to
achieve sustained development in the economic, social, cultural,
scientific and technological fields; develop the potential of the
Caribbean Sea through interaction among Member States and with
third countries; promote an expanded economic margin for trade and
investment that offers opportunities for cooperation and coordination,
and allows increase of benefits provided by the Caribbean Sea; and
establish, consolidate and expand the institutional structures and
cooperative arrangements responsive to the various cultural
identities, development requirements and regulatory systems in the
Greater Caribbean.
Poverty reduction strategies
History
The World Bank was created at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference,
along with three other institutions, including the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). The president of the World Bank is, traditionally,

an American.[7] The World Bank and the IMF are both based in
Washington, D.C., and work closely with each other.
The Gold Room at the Mount Washington Hotel where the IMF and
World Bank were established
Although many countries were represented at the Bretton Woods
Conference, the United States and United Kingdom were the most
powerful in attendance and dominated the negotiations

For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank's

assistance plans are based on poverty reduction strategies; by
combining a cross-section of local groups with an extensive analysis
of the country's financial and economic situation the World Bank
develops a strategy pertaining uniquely to the country in question.
The government then identifies the country's priorities and targets for
the reduction of poverty, and the World Bank aligns its aid efforts
correspondingly.
Forty-five countries pledged US$25.1 billion in "aid for the world's
poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International
Development Association (IDA), which distributes the loans to eighty
poorer countries. While wealthier nations sometimes fund their own
aid projects, including those for diseases, and although IDA is the
recipient of criticism, Robert B. Zoellick, the former president of the
World Bank, said when the loans were announced on 15 December
2007, that IDA money "is the core funding that the poorest
developing countries rely on".[36]
World Bank organizes Development Marketplace Awards, a
competitive grant program that surfaces and funds innovative,
development projects with high potential for development impact
that are scalable and/or replicable. The grant beneficiaries are social
enterprises with projects that aim to deliver a range of social and
public services to the most underserved low-income groups.
Global partnerships and initiatives[edit]
The World Bank has been assigned temporary management
responsibility of the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), focused on
making renewable energy cost-competitive with coal-fired power as
quickly as possible, but this may not continue after UN's Copenhagen

climate change conference in December 2009, because of the Bank's

continued investment in coal-fired power plants.[37]
Together with the WHO, the World Bank administers the International
Health Partnership (IHP+). IHP+ is a group of partners committed to
improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Partners
work together to put international principles for aid effectiveness and
development cooperation into practice in the health sector. IHP+
mobilizes national governments, development agencies, civil society
and others to support a single, country-led national health strategy in
a well-coordinated way
Criticisms[edit]
The World Bank has long been criticized by non-governmental
organizations, such as the indigenous rights group Survival
International,
and
academics,
including
its
former
Chief
Economist Joseph Stiglitz, Henry Hazlitt and Ludwig Von Mises.[50][51]
[52]
Henry Hazlitt argued that the World Bank along with the monetary
system it was designed within would promote world inflation and "a
world in which international trade is State-dominated" when they
were being advocated.[53] Stiglitz argued that the so-called free
market reform policies that the Bank advocates are often harmful
to economic development if implemented badly, too quickly ("shock
therapy"), in the wrong sequence or in weak, uncompetitive
economies.[51][54]
One of the strongest criticisms of the World Bank has been the way in
which it is governed. While the World Bank represents 188 countries,
it is run by a small number of economically powerful countries. These
countries (which also provide most of the institution's funding) choose
the leadership and senior management of the World Bank, and so
their interests dominate the bank.[55]:190 Titus Alexander argues that
the unequal voting power of western countries and the World Bank's
role in developing countries makes it similar to the South African
Development Bank under apartheid, and therefore a pillar of global
apartheid.[56]:133141
In the 1990s, the World Bank and the IMF forged the Washington
Consensus, policies that included deregulation and liberalization of
markets, privatization and the downscaling of government. Though
the Washington Consensus was conceived as a policy that would best
promote development, it was criticized for ignoring equity,

employment and how reforms like privatization were carried out.

Joseph Stiglitz argued that the Washington Consensus placed too
much emphasis on the growth of GDP, and not enough on the
permanence of growth or on whether growth contributed to better
living standards.[52]:17
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations report
criticized the World Bank and other international financial institutions
for focusing too much "on issuing loans rather than on achieving
concrete development results within a finite period of time" and
called on the institution to "strengthen anti-corruption efforts".[57]
Criticism of the World Bank often takes the form of protesting as seen
in recent events such as the World Bank Oslo 2002 Protests,
[58]
the October Rebellion,[59] and the Battle of Seattle.[60] Such
demonstrations have occurred all over the world, even among the
Brazilian Kayapo people.[61]
Another source of criticism has been the tradition of having an
American head the bank, implemented because the United States
provides the majority of World Bank funding. "When economists from
the World Bank visit poor countries to dispense cash and advice",
observed The Economist in 2012, "they routinely tell governments to
reject cronyismand fill each important job with the best candidate
available. It is good advice. The World Bank should take it." [62] Jim
Yong Kim, a Korean-American, is the most recently appointed
president of the World Bank.[63]
Almost two thirds of developing countries reached gender parity at
the primary school level by 2005. Maternal mortality rates have
dropped by a third. As many as 76 developing nations are on track to
reach the goal of access to safe drinking water.
The statistics tell us there is a clear path to achieving the goals. So in
New York, the focus should be on action and the next concrete steps
to turning the goals from paper targets to reality. Given a decade has
passed, the time for just more talk has also passed.
We know about the needs of people behind the statistics. Think of the
agony of a woman about to give birth not knowing if she and her
unborn child will live through the experience. There is also the young
girl, working in the fields, yet dreaming of sitting in a classroom.

And think of the farmer, worried about losing some of his crop
because he doesnt have access to adequate weather information.
Action is about saving lives a Tanzanian woman who hears on the
radio about bed nets at the local clinic. It is about girls and boys in
classrooms learning. It is about farmers being able to double or even
treble the amount of crop they get from their soil.
Were all too familiar with the pain inflicted by the global financial
crisis, and the steep rises in food, fuel and fertilizer prices. For the
developing world and for Africa in particular it was a harsh
setback.
But the developing world and Africa specifically with its billion
consumers - can contribute to the recovery. Helping countries
achieve the Millennium Development Goals should also be about a
recognition of the economic potential of these countries on the global
stage.
Current demographic and economic trends and projections up to
2015 - FAO's 70th birthday - indicate the following global context:
Population. From the present figure of 6 billion, the world's
population is likely to reach 7.2 billion in 2015, having grown
by 75 million people annually. Ninety percent of the increase
will occur in today's developing countries.
Economic growth. Economic growth is expected to be sustained in
the developing world at least until 2005, but with considerable
differences between countries. Changes in the global balance of
wealth among nations are likely to be slow. The risk of economic
recessions - with adverse effects on employment, agriculture and
food security - will continue.
Hunger. Hunger and undernourishment are expected to persist,
although at slightly reduced levels. Without major efforts to
improve food supply and achieve a more equitable distribution, in
2015 undernourishment may still affect 30 percent of some
countries' populations.
Poverty and urbanization. The urban poor are likely to constitute a
greater proportion of the world's undernourished, as urban
populations are increasing by 60 million per year. By 2010, more
people will live in urban areas than rural areas and, by 2015, 26
cities in today's developing countries will have populations of 10
million or more.

National and international action must avert or mitigate some of

these trends, particularly with regard to their impact on food
security. Political, economic and social systems will be expected
to ensure equitable access to food. Agriculture - including
fisheries and forestry - will have to meet the needs of growing and
increasingly urbanized populations, while at the same time
protecting the natural resource base for future generations.
Within this general scenario, several major trends and forces are
likely to have a bearing on FAO's work, including:
Increased emphasis on the state's principal role as that of
providing a policy and regulatory framework conducive to
sustainable development
Continuing globalization and liberalization of trade, including food
and agricultural trade
Growth in the number of countries in the middle-income group,
and increased reliance on regional and subregional groupings
Persistence of poverty and mounting inequality - a widening of
the gap between the affluent and the poor Continued risk of
disaster-related and complex emergencies, Changing demands on
agriculture, fisheries and forestry in increasingly urbanized
societies, Changing dietary patterns and increasing public
awareness of food (safety and quality) and environmental issues,
Increasing pressure on natural resources and competition for their
use, Steady progress in research and technological development,
and continued inequality in access to its benefit, Increasing
impact of information and communications technology on
institutions and societies. Changes in the nature and composition
of funding for agricultural development, Changing role and public
perceptions of the UN system
Members' global goals and FAO's purpose
To face the challenges implicit in these trends, the Strategic
Framework defines three global goals of Members, which are
consistent with FAO's Constitution and take into account a
number of texts agreed at international conferences, in particular
the World Food Summit and UNCED:
Goal
1
Access of all people at all times to sufficient nutritionally
adequate and safe food, ensuring that the number of
undernourished people is reduced by half by no later than 2015.

Goal 2 The continued contribution of sustainable agriculture and

rural development, including fisheries and forestry, to economic
and social progress and the well-being of all.
Goal 3 The conservation, improvement and sustainable utilization
of natural resources, including land, water, forest, fisheries and
genetic resources for food and agriculture.
In pursuing these goals, FAO must rely on its strong set of
institutional values and maintain a clear sense of its mission as
well as a vision of success. Indeed, the Organization's mission and
vision are the inspiration for the corporate strategies that make
up the Strategic Framework.
FAO
Historia
El 16 de octubre de 1945, 42 pases se reunieron en Quebec, Canad,
para crear la Organizacin de las Naciones Unidas para la
Alimentacin y la Agricultura (FAO). Su objetivo era liberar a la
humanidad del hambre y la malnutricin, y gestionar de forma eficaz
el sistema alimentario mundial. Puede encontrar ms informacin
sobre el origen de la FAO aqu.
La FAO celebra cada ao el Da Mundial de la Alimentacin el 16 de
octubre, al conmemorar la fundacin de la Organizacin en 1945. Se
organizan eventos en ms de 150 pases de todo el mundo, haciendo
que sea uno de los das ms celebrados del calendario de la ONU.
Estos eventos promueven la concienciacin y la accin en todo el
mundo a favor de aquellos que padecen hambre y para recordar la
necesidad de garantizar la seguridad alimentaria y dietas nutritivas
para todos.