"A Technical Committee
must exist to assist the ILO Director General and ensure liaison between
the Centre and international organisations, guide the Centres
activities and more specifically consider and adopt its work programme
which has to be ratified by the Director General-, oversee and
confirm its implementation, propose measures to upgrade it, apart from
adopting its budget and commenting on its application". Thus reads
the resolution of the 1st Preparatory Meeting of Cinterfor
(Colombia, 1962) describing the Centres activities and the duties
of this fundamental meeting of the regional training community, whose
35th edition will take place at Brasilia from August 30 through
September 1, 2001. Nearly 37 years have elapsed since the first meeting,
that was held at Rio de Janeiro in October 1964.
Year after year, different cities
of the region have welcomed the delegations of the Cinterfor member
countries. Rio de Janeiro was followed, up till 1993, by: Montevideo,
1965 (until now, the only other occasion on which the Committee has
met at Cinterfor/ILOs host city); Buenos Aires, 1966; Viña del
Mar, 1966; Maracay, 1967; Cleveland, 1968; Bogotá, 1969; Lima, 1970;
Brasilia, 1971; Kingston, 1972; Buenos Aires, 1973; San José de Costa
Rica, 1974; Guatemala, 1975; Caracas, 1976; Asunción, 1977; Mexico City,
1978; Tegucigalpa, 1979: Brasilia, 1980; Washington, 1981; Caracas,
1982; Kingston 1983; Cartagena de Indias, 1984; San José de Costa Rica,
1985; Santo Domingo, 1986; Madrid, 1988; Salvador, Bahía, 1989; Curaçao,
1990; Isla de Margarita, 1991; Rio de Janeiro, 1992; San José de Costa
Rica, 1993; Buenos Aires, 1994; Ocho Ríos, Jamaica, 1995. On this last
occasion it was agreed that meetings should be held every two years,
so that the 33rd MTC took place at Santiago, Chile, in 1997and
the 34th MTC was held in Montevideo, in 1999.
Apart from considering matters
established by its regulations (the Centres activities. programming
and finances) the Meetings of the Technical Committee are a sounding
board for the "forum for reflection, analysis and technical training"
that the founders of this Centre "devoted to vocational training
research and documentation" entrusted to Cinterfor. Usually, besides
the activities of the MTC, a technical conference is held on crucial
topics for the training of human resources, led by distinguished panel
of experts.
Within the framework of the 35th. Meeting
of the Technical Committee, a series of activities aimed to analyse
the subject: Decent Work and Vocational Training will take place. To
this effect two panels of specialists who will examine the subject in
depth giving ground to the debate among participants are foreseen.
The presence of national authorities
and experts from participating countries, representatives of governments,
employers and workers, guest observers from national and international
organisations, make the deliberations and presentations of the Meeting
of the Cinterfor/ILO Technical Committee go beyond those directly involved
in the training of human resources, reaching all levels of public opinion
in the countries where they are held.. This turns TCMs into fraternal
and creative encounters of peoples of the region pivoting round the
ever-pressing topics of training for work and employment.
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