We the People: Inclusion of People with Disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Mon, 12/07/2020 - 16:47

Who are people with disabilities? For far too long the answer to this question has been to focus on the health conditions of a person, but what if a new conceptual framework facilitated inclusion? In this interactive note, you will learn the social model of disability; why inclusion is a legal, moral and economic imperative; as well as concrete practices of what inclusion means in education, health, social protection, work, and the prevention of violence for women and girls with disabilities.

User's Manual: IDB PLAC Network Pension Indicators

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Mon, 12/07/2020 - 14:43

This Manual accompanies the PLAC Network pension indicators and is intended to help users of the indicators database to understand the definitions as well as the sources of information for each pension indicator. The PLAC Network pension indicators are available for the nineteen member countries of the PLAC Network and are divided into five main categories: environment, performance, sustainability, society preparedness for aging and reform, and pension system design. Each one of these categories are divided into a few subcategories as well.

Education in Times of Coronavirus: Latin America and the Caribbean's Education Systems in the Face of COVID-19

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Fri, 12/04/2020 - 10:23

This document provides an overview of measures taken by countries in the region regarding continuity of the education service during the closure of schools due to COVID-19. It also offers an analysis of the basic conditions on which those countries build their actions, as well as the capacity of families to access distance education. Lastly, it presents a series of policy options, actions, strategies, and recommendations to answer to the crisis.

Education Policy Brief Latin America and the Caribbean #4: Remote Initial Education and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Fri, 12/04/2020 - 10:18

Through a survey of 62,837 caregivers of young children in four Latin American countries, households were asked about their experiences with emergency distance education and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings suggest that the crisis will perpetuate and may even worsen existing inequalities in learning. Moreover, caregivers of children newborns to age seven report substantial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their own mental health.

Beyond burning witches

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 12/03/2020 - 16:49

What a mess for poor Anne Hathaway! Her portrayal of the Grand Witch in the film adaptation of Rohald Dahl’s book, “The Witches,” caused a lot of controversy on social media. The evil witch has claws for hands in the original version, but in this remake, she sports hands with ectrodactyly, a congenital malformation. The wave of protests on social media, led by athletes with disabilities, emphasized that the film perpetuated negative stereotypes about people with different limbs.

Access to Mandatory Retirement Savings in Times of COVID-19: Public Policy Considerations

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 12/03/2020 - 11:37

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the loss of work income, this note briefly discusses the international experience with regard to early access to pension funds, analyzing its advantages and disadvantages. Three are the main messages. First, in normal situations, allowing a degree of liquidity for pension funds presents a policy dilemma between building a pension and providing the individual with liquidity in the face of income shocks. It is up to each country to weigh this dilemma.

How Do Disruptive Innovators Prepare Today's Students to Be Tomorrow's Workforce?: Scholas' Approach to Engage Youth

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 12/03/2020 - 11:28

The lack of motivation and sense of community within schools have proven to be the two most relevant factors behind the decision to drop out. Despite the notable progress made in school access in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, dropping out of school has still been a problem. This paper explores Scholas Occurrentes pedagogical approach to address these dropouts. Scholas focuses on the voice of students. It seeks to act positively on their motivation by listening to them, creating spaces for discussion, and strengthening soft skills and civic engagement.

Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Promises and Challenges

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 12/03/2020 - 09:27

This report describes the potential of AI to improve individual and public health by improving access, improving clinical decision-making, and creating new efficiencies in clinical care and research. It then describes the differences between more traditional medical devices and products that use AI, discusses the ways in which countries are considering regulating these products, and examines the specific risks of what are probably the most popular uses of AI in the medical industry.

A Skills Taxonomy for LAC: Lessons Learned and a Roadmap for Future Users

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Wed, 12/02/2020 - 11:13

This note brings together lessons from the IDBs and other institutions efforts to adapt a skills taxonomy for Latin America and the Caribbean countries. These efforts have focused primarily on the ability to gather and make use of labor market information on skills demand from non-traditional data sources like online job vacancies. Most of these efforts have used the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) taxonomy to underpin the identification and classification of skills.

Artificial Intelligence for Job Seeking: How to Enhance Labor Intermediation in Public Employment Services (Executive Summary)

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Tue, 12/01/2020 - 17:44

One of the main challenges of employment services -in particular labor intermediation systems- is to facilitate the adequate matching between the required skills in open vacancies and those that job seekers have. This challenge stems in part from the difficulty of matching the skills, competencies, education, and job experience that a candidate reports to have, with the functions the potential employer wants to assign to this prospect employee.