CLACSO Agreement with the Inter-American Conference on Social Security

On Wednesday, November 18, the Latin American Council of Social Sciences signed an important agreement with the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) to carry out technical and institutional cooperation activities, including joint work on social security, health systems, pension systems, public policies for welfare, as well as to develop, promote, encourage and execute publications, seminars, research initiatives and exchange of journalistic and communication materials in order to promote concrete actions for the benefit of society.

The Inter-American Social Security Confederation (IISS) is a permanent, specialized, international organization whose purpose is to contribute to the development of social security in the countries of the Americas and to cooperate with social security institutions and administrations. Headquartered in Mexico City, it comprises more than 85 members from 37 countries in the Americas, including full, associate, affiliated, and member institutions, with responsibilities related to social protection and security in the areas of regulation, administration, management, supervision, studies, and research.

Pablo Vommaro, Director of Research and Working Groups at CLACSO, and José Antonio Hernández, Executive Director of Research and Projects at CISS, agreed at the opening of the event to highlight the joint activities that both institutions have been developing for some time and that will be reinforced with the signing of this agreement, further promoting "the dialogue between public academia and civil society".

Karina Batthyány, Executive Secretary of CLACSO, stated that “this agreement we are signing today allows us to strengthen ties and think ahead about what other areas we can collaborate on. I believe this is also a key moment for our region. Social Security issues are always very important, but in these pandemic contexts we are experiencing, Social Welfare, social protection, and Social Security become absolutely crucial issues where it is necessary to deepen our understanding and work collaboratively between both institutions, with our shared desire to learn in order to better understand. But as we always like to say at CLACSO, we want to learn, but we want to learn in order to have an impact, to transform the social reality in our region.”

Finally, Gibrán Ramírez Reyes, Secretary General of the CISS, emphasized: “I believe it is fundamental for the Inter-American Conference on Social Security to document the steps we are taking. For us, the work we have done with CLACSO and the recognition from one of the institutions that has been among the most important to us since we were undergraduate students at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at El Colegio de México, is a recognition of this institutional reform that we have undertaken for the past two years to give the CISS a character based on two fundamental pillars: critical thinking and a commitment to well-being and the fight against inequality.”

CISS website