With the support of UNESCO Montevideo, a pre-meeting was held to visualize and reflect on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on Knowledge Societies in Latin America and the Caribbean
On the 2nd September 2020 and with the support of UNESCO Montevideo, a pre-conference was held to discuss main issues, like gaps, debts and positive surprises, related to Knowledge Societies in Latin America and the Caribbean observed during the COVID-19 pandemics.
This pre-meeting, endorsed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Argentina was organised by UNESCO’s Information for All Programme, UNESCO’s Chair on Knowledge Societies and Digital Governance, Argentina and the Gino Germani, Research Institute served as an introduction to the topics that will be addressed during the virtual conference that is due to take place on 9-13 November 2020
Lidia Brito, Director | UNESCO Regional Office for Sciences for Latin America and the Caribbean opened the meeting by saying,
“COVID has led us to think about what kind of world we want for the future: how we can achieve a fairer and more sustainable world and how we should implement the 2030 Agenda without leaving anyone behind. These issues require building knowledge societies, if we want to transform the future we must know the DNA of our societies”.
She also highlighted the importance of contemplating the digital revolution, access to new technologies, youth, education and public policies within this realm.
Lidia also went onto say,
“the pandemic has further brought to our attention these interconnected issues. This crisis has also mobilized the scientific community in the region and created a stronger alliance between governments, scientist and civil society”.
Other speakers included, Dorothy Gordon, Chairperson of the Information for All Programme, along with the programme’s Vice-Chair’s Evgeny Kuzmin and Cordel Green and Elsa Estévez, PhD in Computer Science and holder of the UNESCO Chair of Knowledge Societies and Digital Governance at the National University of the South; Dr in sociology Susana Finquelievich, Director of the Research Program on the Information Society in the Gino Germani Research Program, Faculty of Social Sciences, from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA Institute) and the Argentine professor Fernando Carrión, researcher of the FLACSO Department of Politicians Studies in Ecuador.
- For more information on the UNESCO Chair in Knowledge Societies and Digital Government, please click here.
- For more information on UNESCO's work in Building Knowledge Societies, please click here.
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