Introduction

Technological revolution and the climate crisis are rapidly transforming economies and labour markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, resulting in changes to employment structures, the demand for skills and the organisation of work. Furthermore, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic caused setbacks for women’s labour force participation, young people and other vulnerable groups, and the precariousness of working conditions. The region is still only partially recovering from these impacts, in a context marked by the crisis of the development model and its three traps: low capacity for growth; high inequality and low social mobility and cohesion; and low institutional capacity and ineffective governance . 

The expansion of social protection and the welfare state is one of the unavoidable transformations needed in the development model to move towards a more productive, inclusive and sustainable future . Ensuring adequate levels of well-being within households is a basic condition for enabling the necessary investment in the human capacity development and for the labour inclusion of their members, thereby paving the way towards inclusive social development and increased productivity in the region. 

Over the last two decades, social protection systems in Latin America and the Caribbean have undergone significant expansion, particularly in terms of their non-contributory component. These systems have proven to be a fundamental pillar for safeguarding well-being and responding to a reconfiguring risk structure . One of the key instruments in this expansion process is conditional and unconditional cash transfers, both for their contribution to poverty reduction and for the links that their design has helped to strengthen between income protection and access to social services. In this context, there has been increased discussion on how to strengthen the link between traditional cash transfer programmes and the development of human capacities and active labour market policies, including components of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), labour intermediation and support. These coordinated actions would enhance labour inclusion, strengthen education-to-work transitions, and promote the creation of decent work. They can also contribute to cementing the transition from non-contributory to contributory social protection systems, incorporating persons and workers in greater situation of vulnerability into the target groups. 
 

Objective
In the context of the Sixth Session of the Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and as part of the activities implemented by the ECLAC-BMZ/GIZ Strategic Alliance and the Team Europe Inclusive Societies Initiative, the side event “Inclusive societies: strategic policies for social and labour inclusion in the region” aims to facilitate dialogue and the exchange of experiences among governments on strategic policies within social protection systems to promote greater levels of social and labour inclusion. In particular, it will address the challenges of designing and implementing cash transfers with increasing interconnections to labour inclusion policies and will assess their link to components of technical and vocational education and training (TVET), labour intermediation and other active labour market policies. This event will also contribute to the preparatory discussions for the Second World Summit for Social Development.

Preliminar Agenda
Moderator: Nincen Figueroa, Social Development Division, ECLAC

13:00-13:05 Welcoming remarks

• Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director, Social Development Division, ECLAC
• Jochen Quinten, National Director, GIZ Brazil

13:05-13:10  Context presentation, Claudia Robles, Social Development Division, ECLAC

13:10-14:10 Round table
    Interventions

• Luiz Carlos Everton de Farias, Secretary of Socioeconomic Inclusion, Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger, Brazil 
• Gloria Reyes, Director, Supérate Social Development Directorate, Dominican Republic 
• Hugo Bai, Social Dialogue Coordinator, Planning and Budget Office, Uruguay 

14:10-14:25    Dialogue and questions from the audience

14:25–14:30   Closing remarks, Claudia Robles, Social Development Division, ECLAC

Practical information
Place: Secondary room, SERPRO building. 
Date: September 2nd, 2025
Time: 13:00 p.m. to 14:30 p.m. (Brasilia local time).

Languages: Spanish and Portuguese (event with simultaneous interpretation)