Aligning research funding to inform policy - the case of CLACSO´s social science and humanities network

Editor's Notes

1. CLACSO´s research network started 50 years ago. Activities are concentrated in the field of the social sciences, but CLACSO promotes an interdisciplinary approach to major social, political, environmental, cultural, economic and educational problems that confront our societies
2. Although its central focus are countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, it develops actions in a global level from a South-South cooperation perspective.
3. This research network has been pioneer in the development of programs and actions that seek to provide synergy between social research and public policies to respond to some of the main demands and challenges that Latin American societies have
4. Latin America is a region where there exists strong links of social sciences and politics. Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, and Ricardo Lagos, former president of Chile, have been directors of CLACSO. A very active participant in CLACSO´s indigenous movement WG was Evo Morales, who is today president of Bolivia, and his vice president Alvaro García Linera participates in several activities organized by CLACSO, as well as former president and vice-president of Uruguay José Pepe Mujica and Danilo Astori
5. Lets see a few examples of how CLACSO, in its programs, promotes gatherings and discussions among researchers, policymakers and social organizations
6. 1/3 of WG participants are members of policy or social organizations, this is the result of the way this WG program contests are designed and also the indications to the evaluators of proposals, rewarding profiles, proposals and activities that build relations of research with public policies and social movements. More vulnerable countries are specially taken care of. Research papers, books and policy briefs are regular outputs from this WG program, but also public declarations as was the case recently against the impeachment of President Dilma Rouseff in Brazil and the agreement for peace in Colombia after 50 years of war
7. When CLACSO supports virtual training activities among members of its posgraduate network, it requires a quota for public policy officials and for representatives of social organizations
8. In its South-South cooperation activities, CLACSO gives priority to academics participating in policy/social organizations, and expects inputs for policy recommendations
9. Former president of Uruguay, José Pepe Mujica, gave the opening class of the Diploma on Public Policies for equality in Latin America (400 participants).
10. And CLACSO takes advantage of new information and communications technologies to provide open access to research results and other program outputs, and also public access to its activities, eg. Its last conference in Medellín, Colombia, gathered more than 35.000 at nights when several former presidents where main speakers.
11. The Executive Secretariat of CLACSO is located in the City of Buenos Aires. The Council has a Directive Committee of 16 representatives from 14 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Both, the Executive Secretary and the members of the Directive Committee, are elected by all the partner institutions in triannual assemblies