Dear friends and colleagues,

We are pleased to share with you our latest Newsletter, in which we report on the Global  Alliance for Care’s activities over the last four months, from November 2023 to February 2024. These have been extremely active and intense months for the Technical Secretariat, its Management Committee and the membership. We have organized and participated in many projects, initiatives and events around the world.

In addition to reporting on various actions, we welcome once again our new Technical Secretary, Ana Moreno, and thank Emilienne de Leon for her work as interim in that position. We are fully confident in the contribution of both of them to strengthen and broaden the scope of the Alliance.

We send you our warmest greetings and invite you to see the latest news from the Alliance.

Click here to view it online ‍‍

WHAT WE'VE BEEN DOING

Advances and challenges in care in Latin America and the Caribbean

In November 2023, the "Analytical Community: Towards the Effective Exercise of the Right to Care in Latin America and the Caribbean” celebrated its final session. It consisted in a reflection on progress, contradictions, obstacles, resistance and gaps in the recognition and effective exercise of the right to care in this region and an overview of cases at the national and subnational levels.

Speakers, including Laura Pautassi, Flavia Marco Navarro and Emilienne de León presented their preliminary conclusions and an analysis of the standing of the right to care, and debated how to continue promoting it in the region.

Launch of the Open Up Guide for the Care Sector and Presentation of the Care Indicator Systems of Mexico City and Buenos Aires

In an event co-organized with the Global Alliance for Care and the International Development Research Centre, Open Data Charter (ODC), launched its Open Up Guide for the Care Sector, a tool for mapping supply and demand for care at national and/or subnational levels. The Secretariat for Women of Mexico City and the Directorate of Statistics and Census of the City of Buenos Aires also presented their Care Indicator Systems. These initiatives, developed by ODC with the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), represent an important step forward in the availability and transparency of care-related data. 

The Care Indicator Systems of the City of Buenos Aires (here) and Mexico City (here) aim to inform through data on the distribution of supply and demand for care at the local level. The systems collect information from more than 70 indicators constructed from statistical data and administrative records. This makes it possible to understand the configuration of care and its changes over time, as well as the relationship between the institutions that provide care services and the ways in which households and people who need them receive them (particularly children and adolescents, the older persons, and people with disabilities).

With the experience of both implementations, Open Data Charter developed the 

Open Up Guide for the Care Sector.



Open Up Guide for the Care Sector- Airtable.
Open Up Guide for the Care Sector - Gitbook.

Learning Community "Realities and Challenges of Financing Care Policies and Systems in the Global South"

The Learning Community "Realities and Challenges of Financing Care Policies and Systems in the Global South", organized by Oxfam LAC, the Global Alliance for Care and UN Women, launched in February 2024 with its first session on “The importance of care for women's rights.”

This cycle of sessions, which will run from February to August 2024, aims to promote learning on the main challenges in public financing and tax collection to support the recognition, redistribution, reduction, representation and rewarding of care work. The sessions also provide a space to share international, national and local initiatives related to financing and taxation for the care sector. 

The Alliance, present at UCLG annual retreat

UCLG’s 2024 annual retreat, a week-long gathering for UCLG and its partners to define synergies and develop joint actions, focused strongly on caring cities and governments as key for sustainable development. During the event, Ana Moreno, Technical Secretary of the Alliance, highlighted the need to transform the recognition of care into "policies, budgets and regulations," underlining that "care must be integrated into the next cycle of multilateral agreements."

In addition, she stressed that the open, flexible and multi-sectoral platform of the Alliance provides a solid foundation for capacity building, research and dissemination of the care agenda. Finally, she invited local governments to join the Alliance and incorporate the territorial dimension: "We need help to share experiences and knowledge, from the local to the global." 

More on X here.

Economies of Wellbeing and Care

The Alliance was present at the 62nd Session of the UN Commission for Social Development (CSocD62). In the framework of the Side Event "Welfare and Care Economies. Towards the UN Social Summit 2025," Nadine Gasman, President of the National Institute of Women of Mexico (INMUJERES), presented the Alliance and its area of action. 

The event, co-organized by the Government of Finland, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana, INMUJERES, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), and UN Women, took place at the United Nations Headquarters on February 6, 2024. Speakers included Kaisa Juuso, Minister of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, and Jemimah Njuki, Head of Economic Empowerment at UN Women. The event was moderated by Paul Ladd, Director of UNRISD.

The event in X here.

Gender Just Climate Transitions

In the framework of COP28, the Alliance co-organized the event "Gender Just Climate Transitions. Global Perspectives on the Implications for Land Rights and the Care Economy " to position the issue of care for the first time in this space. It highlighted the importance of caring not only for people, but also for the planet and the centrality of land tenure to this agenda.

The event, which highlighted the importance of the voices of grassroots communities, indigenous and rural women, and youth in these conversations, was co-organized by UNRISD, the Global Alliance for Care, the Feminist Action Coalition for Climate Justice, and the Action Coalition for Economic Justice and Rights of the Equality Generation Forum, the International Development Research Centre, Oxfam Canada, the Avina Foundation and UN Women.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

APEC Care Compact Dialogue II

Emilienne De Leon, interim Technical Secretary of the Alliance, participated in the Care Compact Dialogue II organized by APEC, where she discussed the formation and work of the Global Alliance for Care as a collective, multi-sectoral platform to advance the care agenda at global, national and local levels.

The Care Compact will aim to help APEC economies achieve a sustainable and productive care economy that provides quality care with decent jobs, It also seeks to establish guidelines to give women the ability and choice to increase their labor force participation to the levels they prefer. The Compact will include both the paid and unpaid care sectors.

Amicus Curiae on the right to care

The Global Alliance for Care, together with the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights an Amicus Curiae in which a series of relevant considerations are developed regarding the scope of the right to care and social security. It addressed the interdependence between the right to care and the right to social security, as well as the obligations of social security systems to guarantee the interdependent exercise of both rights.

This Amicus was submitted in response to the Republic of Argentina’s request to the Court for an Advisory Opinion regarding “The content and scope of the right to care and its interrelation with other rights.”

In addition, the Alliance and its members contributed to an Amicus Curiae led by ELA, which incorporated signatures of organizations and experts related to the advancement of the care work agenda and the recognition of care as a fundamental right.

NEWS FROM THE MEMBERSHIP

 These initiatives are promoted by one or more members of the Global Alliance for Care. The Technical Secretariat of the Alliance has not participated or provided support in any of the processes of their organization.

Secretariat for Substantive Equality between Women and Men, Jalisco

On February 17, 2024, Jalisco became the first state in Mexico to approve a Comprehensive Care System, thus guaranteeing the right to health, education, recognition, and remuneration for caregivers and those who require care.

The Secretariat of Substantive Equality between Women and Men of the Government of Jalisco has spearheaded three complementary actions:

1. Collaboration with the State Congress to include in the 2024 Expenditure Budget a technical annex on measures to contribute to guaranteeing the right to care and receive care.

2. Presentation of the Diagnosis of the profiles, needs, and interests of caregivers in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area of the state of Jalisco, a key public policy input for the recognition of care work in the entity. It can be consulted here.

3. Continuation with the implementation of the project Caring environments in Jalisco (Mexico), which will generate relevant evidence for the replicability of a comprehensive model of territorial, inter-institutional, and intersectoral intervention in terms of policies to promote the economic and physical autonomy and emotional well-being of caregivers.

Time Organization and Equity in the Workplace, Catalonia

In February 2024, the Ministry of Equality and Feminisms of the Generalitat de Catalunya in collaboration with the Federated Associations of Families of Students of Catalonia (AFFaC) began workshops for the project "Men-AFA: A training program for the co-responsibility of men towards care through the Associations of Families of Students (AFA).”

This project aims to promote co-responsibility among men in the care and education of their daughters and sons through a transversal and formative intervention. It involves men within educational communities across various territories of Catalonia, mainly from the AFFaC. From February and June 2024, a series of workshops on egalitarian masculinities and care will be held, with the goal of reaching a total of 1,015 men throughout Catalonia.

The Asia Foundation

On December 7, 2023, the Asia Foundation hosted a panel at the Australasian Aid Conference on transforming the regional care economy through policy, delivery, and justice. Jane Sloane, Senior Director, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, moderated the session with three speakers from the Foundation’s local partners: Susan Nio (LoveCare, Indonesia), Nalini Singh (Fiji Women’s Rights Movement), and Akshat Singhal (The Gender Lab). 

The discussion focused on care-related priorities across the region, digital innovations for addressing gaps in the care economy, the need to strengthen care policies and data, and the importance of changing gendered norms around care work and investing in feminist care movements. 

You can watch the full event recording here.  

Cuido60

Cuido60, in its third annual call, invites you to participate in the following contests: the Photography Contest "Mirar la vejez," the literary contest "Si yo te contara," and the contest "Cortos Audiovisuales." Through these contests, the goal is to gather experiences that showcase the different ways of being an older person in Cuba, including its challenges and contributions. The calls for entries are open! To learn more about the rules of the contests, visit here.

Additionally, registration is now open for the “DIPLOMA VERSION III: Aging, Care and Rights in Cuba. Analysis and Tools for Social Intervention.” This program is part of the training and capacity-building initiatives of the Observatorio de Cuido60. It provides knowledge and tools to enhance skills and competencies for working with older persons and caregivers, as well as for developing management skills in social and community organizations. For more information, visit here. 

Last but not least, the book "La vejez que nunca esperamos," by Elaine Acosta, has been launched. This work seeks to portray and relate diverse experiences and meanings about the aging process in Cuba today. It includes images and voices of old age, present, and memory, captured by different generations of Cubans in various formats: photography, stories, essays, and cartoons. It is the result of the work carried out by Cuido60 since its creation as an observatory of aging, care, and rights in May 2021, and of the collaborations received from many Cubans on the island and in the diaspora who wished to share their realities and those of their elders. Download the book here.

International Meeting - Care, Development and Social Justice: Policies, Approaches, Actors and Best Practices

The Friedrich Ebert Foundation announced the international meeting on "Care, Development and Social Justice" to be held June 5-7 at the University of Havana, Cuba. The meeting is organized by the Cuban Network of Care Studies and the University of Havana, with the participation of the CLACSO Working Group on Care and Gender and the support of several organizations, including the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). Proposals can be submitted to the email cuidadoscuba2024@gmail.com until April 15.

The debate will focus on policies, approaches, actors, and good practices related to care, development, and social justice. The event will generate a multi-stakeholder space for open and dynamic exchange and international experiences. Seven thematic axes have been proposed to facilitate dialogue, exchange knowledge, share good practices, and build agendas and alliances around care societies.

The Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS)

In recent months, the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS) has intensified its advocacy work on care. The CISS participated in several forums, including the "National Care Systems - Public Policies for formalization, remuneration and representation of care work," organized by Uni Global Union, UNI Americas, and the National Union of ISSSTE Workers of Mexico. They also participated in the Forum-workshop titled "Dimensions and Local Strategies of Care in Mexico: Towards Actions in the Municipality of Benito Juarez, Quintana Roo." Furthermore, they visited the CASSAAM Day Center of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), with the aim of systematizing the experience of public policy on care for the older persons.

In the area of paid domestic work, the CISS, along with the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Domestic Workers (CONLACTRAHO), the International Domestic Workers Federation (FITH), THEMIS - Gender, Justice and Human Rights, CARE International, and the French Development Agency (AFD), participated in the 188th session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in Washington D.C.. During this session, urgent actions were requested from the Commission to respect the rights of domestic workers. Finally, in January 2024, the CISS, together with organizations of domestic workers, organized the Forum: "Exchange of experiences of domestic work and social security."

INDOORS

We welcome our new Technical Secretary

As of January 2024, the Alliance has a new Technical Secretary: Ana Belén Moreno.

Ana has more than 25 years of experience in public policy, international projects and sustainable development, as well as a strong track record of working with multi-stakeholder networks and international organizations.

To ensure a smooth transition, Emilienne de León Aulina, who has served during this period as Interim Technical Secretary, will continue to support the Secretariat as an expert consultant for a period of six months.

Welcome Ana and thank you Emilienne!

The Alliance keeps growing!

COMING UP

http://globalallianceforcare.org

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