The Centre of Excellence against Hunger participated in the 1st Virtual Educa Global Forum on South-South Cooperation. The event was held in Salvador, Brazil, from June 4 to 8, together with the XIX International Seminar Virtual Educa, an initiative created in 2001 to boost innovation in education and promote social transformation and sustainable development, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. The motto of the Global Forum was “Multilateral Cooperation in Education and Innovation”.
The objective of the Forum was to share experiences, results and perspectives of initiatives developed in the field of education. Some 3,000 representatives from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa participated. The event was part of the series of Virtual Educa forums on Education and Innovation initiated in Santo Domingo in 2010. The goal of these forums is to consolidate a space for reflection and analysis on education in the 21st century, with innovation as a strategic axis.
Virtual Educa’s secretary general, José Maria Antón, spoke about the importance of creating the Global Forum, which was held for the first time. “We have always had these debates very specifically and regionally, but with the growth of Virtual Educa we felt the need for a broader discussion. Now we can discuss successful experiences with more countries, enabling an educational exchange to contribute to the development of a global education,” he said.
Daniel Balaban, director of the Centre of Excellence, stressed the importance of including African countries in the debate on education and innovation. “The African continent has a huge young population that needs to be addressed by inclusive and innovative educational policies that can catalyse sustainable development,” he said. “The exchanges between Latin American and African countries have very positive results, both in food security and in education, because the two continents face similar challenges and can find shared solutions,” he added.