Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Latin America and the Caribbean
Organized by the Latin American Council of Social Sciences ( CLACSO) and Fundación Huésped
EXECUTIVE
Constanza Lupi (UBA, Argentina), Carla Boccuti (UBA, Argentina), Cecilia Valeriano (UBA, Argentina)
Start: 24/09/2026 | Registration: 06/07/2026 to 23/09/2026
Format: Virtual with live classes and exclusive materials
Workload: 25 hours
Duration: 1 month
This online course is designed as a reflective space for critical and situated training on Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) from and for Latin America and the Caribbean. It aims to highlight the importance of existing public policies where sexuality and education intersect, considering the tensions between regulatory frameworks and everyday practices, as well as the challenges that arise in coordinating the various actors involved in the concrete development of comprehensive and cross-cutting support programs.
Over the course of six meetings, participants are invited to explore different aspects of EIS, from its history, importance and foundation in the region, to the ways in which it is planned or disrupts the daily life of educational institutions and community organizations.
The course seeks to problematize both legal approaches and cultural and political resistance, considering the diversity of actors and scenarios in which the human right to comprehensive sexuality education is at stake.
The proposal combines instances of theoretical reflection with analysis of concrete experiences, in the search for participants to be able to identify pedagogical strategies, teaching resources and modes of intervention in the face of emerging situations.In a changing global context, the importance of policies surrounding CSE can become a compass that provides guidance and an anchor point from which to sustain inclusive educational practices, guarantee rights, and build collective responses.
More than a decade after the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development (2013), Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) has become a firmly established regional commitment in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Consensus set priority measures to ensure the effective implementation of CSE programs from early childhood, with a participatory, intercultural, gender-sensitive, and human rights-based approach, and to prevent adolescent pregnancy and eliminate unsafe abortion through education and access to quality services. However, recent reports from organizations such as FLACSO-UNFPA LACRO (2023) and UN Women (2023) show that, despite regulatory progress, significant gaps persist between the existence of legal frameworks and their effective implementation. Many countries have incorporated CSE into general laws or school curricula, but few still have specific regulations and sustained budgets. Teacher training remains unequal, and cultural and political resistance has led to setbacks in some contexts, especially under the impact of conservative discourses that question the legitimacy of CSE.
These limitations restrict the transformative potential of CSE and can perpetuate gender-based violence, discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people, and territorial inequalities in access to inclusive education. At the same time, regional evidence confirms that CSE is key to addressing structural problems such as the persistence of unplanned and adolescent pregnancies, the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections, indicators of sexual and gender-based violence, and the stigma that violates fundamental rights. In this context, understanding how CSE is taught and adopted, what factors facilitate or hinder its implementation, and how institutions and social actors respond to emerging situations is essential for designing pedagogical strategies and public policies that guarantee the right to an education free from violence. Moreover, in a challenging global context of institutional crisis, CSE can provide guidance for sustaining inclusive educational practices, strengthening the link between education and health, and reaffirming the validity of the commitments made in the Montevideo Consensus as a regional horizon for rights and social justice.
GENERAL PURPOSE
To strengthen pedagogical capacities and critical and situated training on Comprehensive Sexuality Education in Latin America and the Caribbean in order to promote its application in different educational and community contexts from a perspective of rights, gender, diversity and inclusion.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
That students can:
- To recognize public policies and legislative frameworks and to analyze the main models of CSE implementation in the region
- Strengthening capacities to address situations related to sexuality, gender, violence, care and health in schools and community spaces, from a pedagogy of rights and opportunities.
- Design intersectoral strategies that promote collaboration with all social actors in the educational community, including areas of health, rights, and community leaders.
- Identify opportunities and entry points to work on the EIS comprehensively.
CLASS 1: Introduction to comprehensive sexuality education. CSE in Argentina: history and foundations
This first meeting will focus on understanding the relevance of public policies surrounding Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). It operates from the premise that all education transmits meanings about sexuality, and that the comprehensive model allows for addressing it from a rights-based, gender-sensitive, and intersectional perspective, recognizing its impact on daily life and the development of citizenship.
The following section will provide a historical overview of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in Argentina, highlighting the enactment of Law 26.150 (2006) as a landmark in public policy and analyzing its central principles. Special attention will be paid to the effects of its implementation, the institutional and cultural tensions that have accompanied the process, and the role of the State as guarantor of rights. This analysis will position CSE as a strategic public policy that not only regulates school curricula but also guides social and community practices within the framework of a regional commitment.
CLASS 2: EIS in the region. Legislation and implementation models.
This second meeting aims to position Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) as a regional public policy, reviewing the current situation and rights frameworks in Latin America and the Caribbean. It will analyze the various legal and regulatory frameworks that have shaped CSE, highlighting how each country translates the commitments of the Montevideo Consensus into concrete programs and institutional strategies.
The class will focus on three national experiences—in Mexico, Bolivia, and Uruguay—to showcase the diversity of implementation models, the intersectoral partnerships that support them, and the political, cultural, and institutional factors that either facilitate or hinder them. Through these cases, the aim is to highlight the importance of comprehensive social inclusion (CSE) as a tool for guaranteeing rights and as a compass for addressing resistance and inequalities in the region.
CLASS 3: Planned EIS
Inaugurating the second block, this class focuses on planning for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) as part of an institutional and pedagogical project. It will explore how CSE can be integrated into schools and other educational settings (including non-formal ones) not as isolated actions, but as part of a strategic framework of policies and collective projects.
Participants will be invited to identify the main elements available for addressing comprehensive education in different contexts: content by educational level, teaching sequences, institutional projects, inclusion in commemorative dates, and cross-curricular activities. The proposal aims to ensure that planning is not only technical but also a political and pedagogical tool that allows for the sustainability of comprehensive sexuality education over time, guarantees rights, and strengthens democratic culture in institutions and organizations.
CLASS 4: Situations that disrupt schools and other educational settings
Concluding the second section, this meeting focuses on recognizing emerging situations in educational and community institutions as opportunities for addressing Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE). Within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (progressive autonomy, direct participation, and the right to be heard), we will analyze how these emerging situations can become pedagogical scenarios that enable critical reflection and guarantee rights.
Through concrete experiences, the course will explore the role of adults as guarantors of rights in various settings: schools, social organizations, sports clubs, and cooperatives. It will explore the intersection of popular education and the pedagogy of opportunity, emphasizing that unexpected situations are not obstacles, but rather key moments for strengthening democratic culture, inclusion, and care.
CLASS 5: Care in educational, community and virtual environments
Opening the final module of the course, this class proposes a reflection on the culture of care as a central dimension of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in a hybrid world, characterized by the coexistence of in-person and virtual experiences. It will analyze current issues that are emerging with force, such as digital violence, online exposure, and mental health, considering the need to rethink previous strategies to provide inclusive and sustainable responses.
The proposal aims to recognize care as a human right, a public policy, and a pedagogical practice that connects schools, communities, and digital environments. It will focus on digital citizenship and expanded community-based approaches to mental health, emphasizing the importance of creating collective support systems that strengthen autonomy, participation, and the guarantee of rights.
CLASS 6: Health and education: the challenge of articulation.
This final meeting will address the articulation between education and health as a strategic axis of CSE, recognizing that many of the emerging situations in educational spaces, such as consultations on contraceptive methods, prevention and diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancies, among others, constitute entry points for comprehensive work on sexuality.
The class will encourage reflection on the conceptions of health circulating in institutions, traditionally rooted in biology, and the contributions of a holistic perspective that links rights, care, and citizenship. The role of the broader educational community in accessing comprehensive health care will be analyzed, highlighting the importance of intersectoral strategies and mechanisms such as counseling services, which allow for the integration of educational practices with health services and strengthen the guarantee of sexual and reproductive rights.
This closure seeks to consolidate the EIS as a meeting point between education and health, capable of generating collective responses to historical and contemporary problems, and of reaffirming the validity of regional commitments regarding human rights and social justice.
The course will be delivered online , combining synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Over the course of one month, a total of six classes will be taught: four synchronous classes and two pre-recorded classes.
The four synchronous classes will be held on Thursdays at 7:00 PM (ARG) via Zoom, facilitating direct interaction between instructors and participants. Attendance at these live classes is not mandatory: all synchronous classes will be recorded and made available later in the virtual classroom for asynchronous viewing.
The two remaining classes will be recorded classes, which will be available directly in the virtual classroom so that each student can access them according to their own time and possibilities.
In addition, students will have access to exclusive materials and supplementary resources , available in the virtual classroom, which will accompany the content covered throughout the course.
| Early registration (until 10/08) | General registration (11/08 to 14/09) | Registration without discount (14/09 to 20/09) | |
| Full or Associate Member Center | $100 | USD 150 | $200 |
| No link | $150 | USD 225 | $300 |
Inquiries: [mail protected]
