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 On January 19th and 20th of this year, the directors of the Organization of American States (OAS), from every member country convened with the purpose of discussing the programs being developed in those countries, to share knowledge and information, and to express concerns and recommendations about important issues. One issue addressed was that of the OAS image. They hope to improve this through the diffusion of information concerning what the Organization has been doing.
Other distinguished guests that attended this meeting were, Ambassador Sonia Johnny, Permanent Representative of Santa Lucia to the OAS and President of Permanent Council, Jose Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General, Ambassador Albert M. Ramdin, Assistant Secretary General, and other representatives from the departments of Democracy, Human Rights, Security and other collaborators.
Ambassador Sonia Johnny opened the meeting by emphasizing that it was her pleasure to welcome everyone to the OAS in Washington DC. She stressed that the work in the region has been developing well. She also thanked everyone for recognizing the value of this meeting, clarifying that the General Secretariat of the OAS needs better communication and coordination of strategies.
“This is the first time that all the OAS Directors of each country are sharing the same objective, which is to make the organization more efficient and effective. There are many challenges in the Western Hemisphere and we want to be constantly improving our job.” –Ambassador Johnny
Jose Miguel Insulza, the Secretary General, commented that this meeting has been a long anticipated undertaking and informed the board that there are not OAS offices in Brazil, Argentina, Chile Colombia and Canada.
During his welcome, the Secretary General expressed that:
“This meeting is really important in these days because all the representatives of each country will have the chance to know what have been developing in each area of the organization, the conventions that have been ratified and also the interest in developing Democracy. There are political elections all over South America, and they have asked OAS staff to be part of the process as observers (controlled by the Department of Democratic and Political Issues).”
Following these remarks he commented on the importance of knowing how many projects the OAS is dealing with and which of those are financed by the organization or by donations. The directors need to know what is happening in all areas especially commerce, education, drugs, multidimensional security, antiterrorism, natural disasters and human trafficking among others.
He specified that this kind of meeting needs to be held at least once a year and a new role with specific purposes has to be established for all offices in each country. 
During the second day of the meeting, Mrs. Irene Klinger, from Foreign Affairs, commented that this type of meeting allowed the sharing of experiences and difficulties and it is a window to the World with a great view. Furthermore, the directors are the representatives of the institutions, they have a lot of things to share but she emphasized that: “the most valuable aspect are the experiences that they are sharing”.
On the other hand, she emphasized the promotion of the OAS image; the benefits that can be obtained when results of the work that we are doing are positive.
“We have to think about who our audiences are, like Civil Society, Non Governmental Organizations, Private sector, other important audiences are Opinion leaders, universities, for example George Washington University and Georgetown University; the OAS is working hard, and we have to talk to the people and show them what we are doing.” –Irene Klinger
In addition, she commented about of the IV Summit of the Americas: "To create work, to face the poverty, and to strengthen democratic governance” for which we must create employment while working hand in hand with the Private and Financial Sector, and other sponsors.
She continued stating that the youth of the western hemisphere are the leaders of the tomorrow. They are the ones in need of developing all the possible skills.
Klinger’s presentation was followed by the comments of other directors present. The OAS Director from Venezuela, Carlos Carbacho Astorga, spoke first. He mentioned that the experimental Model General Assembly held in the Dominican Republic has gone a long way towards the realization of the actual event to be held on February 17th. He also mentioned that the Program of Development of External Relations has prepared a plan to publicize what the OAS is doing in universities.
Next the Director of El Salvador, Rogelio Sotela, remarked that his office takes the information and sends it to the newspapers and to television channels.
Then the directors continued the meeting with presentations from: the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Trust for the Americas, and the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT).
First, PAHO was presented by the director of the organization, Jean Luc Poncelet. This organization was established in 1902. It works to improve the quality of health in the Americas. Their current priorities include work in Bolivia, Haiti, Honduras, Guyana, and Nicaragua.
PAHO concentrates on the provision of primary health care, as well as the treatment of many diseases from malaria and tuberculosis, to HIV/AIDS and the flu. They also make preparations for emergency situations.
Among the resources they possess are scientific publications and a network of contacts.
On the other hand, Poncelet mentioned that many countries in Latin America answered to Katrina, among these were Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Brazil, the Bahamas, and Canada.
IICA made the second presentation. The organization was represented by Regional Guillermo Grajales. IICA specializes in projects that support commerce and agricultural development, health, technology, rural sustainable development, education and training, and information and communication.
Next Patricia Shields presented the Trust for the Americas. A non-profit organization affiliated to the OEA which prepares programs on information technology and communication for people with disabilities in the Americas. Ms. Shields elaborated further on one of the Trust’s programs, A POET. This program creates employment opportunities through technology in the Americas. A few of the countries participating in this initiative are: Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, and Peru.
They work with the private sector in contributing experience with the Government for support and recommendations, and with civil society which includes the private sector, NGOs, and universities.
To conclude the meeting of the OAS directors, Roy Thomasson, the Executive Director of YABT, and his staff made the final presentation. Mr. Thomasson briefly described all the programs and projects that YABT has carried out or is planning for each country.
He opened with an explanation of the four focus areas of YABT: Leadership and Networking, Training and Practical Experience, Technology, and Alliances and Partnerships.
YABT works in cooperation with the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) of the World Bank. Through this partnership YABT was able to develop and transmit the videoconferences, which many of the OAS member countries participate in towards the goal of exchanging experiences in specific areas. In the last 3 years more than 50 videoconferences have been held.
Thanks to further efforts by the GDLN, there are courses available online as well. One of these is the course on Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR, in English and Spanish. Videoconferences on this subject have already been done.
Also, YABT collaborates with IDB youth on initiatives and projects that promote youth entrepreneurship and economic development.
It is necessary to emphasize that the core program of YABT, Business Laboratories and Workshops, are done at both the national and regional levels in the various member countries of the OAS. The Business Labs aim to give young people the necessary tools and resources to first, start a business and second, to make it sustainable. To do this the Business Labs use practical experience. During the weeklong workshop, the young people actually develop their own business.
This program also opens windows for indigenous young people, who represent an important percentage of the Latin American population. In 2006, Regional Business Lab workshops held in Guatemala and Peru will be focused on the indigenous youth of the Americas.
Due to expanding the works of YABT, the organization is trying to take advantage of a partnership with IICA. YABT hopes to apply IICA’s expertise in agricultural programs to their own Business Lab workshops, especially in countries like Haiti, Uruguay, and Honduras.
Among other programs, the YABT is developing a program for the Reduction of Natural Disaster for Small-scale Enterprises. This program will be constructing a resource manual that will provide methods of reducing risks before natural disasters. This manual will be 45 pages in length and will be available in 4 the four languages of the OAS: Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.
YABT will also be working to add a biotechnology aspect to its online courses.
Another very important point to which Mr. Thomasson alluded, concerned the Forum for Young Entrepreneurs of the Americas that was held in Argentina.
During the Forum all of the recommendations and suggestions of each participating country were received and prepared for presentation at the Summit IV of the Americas.
Finally, the MYYBIZ.NET platform was briefly explained. This project was introduced in Argentina during the Forum. This online resource provides young entrepreneurs with a central place to find contacts with organizations or business people, to participate in online courses, and to start their own businesses.
This program is in addition to the resources found through the INFOBIZ portal, which provides economic statistics, laws and necessary regulations to start a business, as well as access to free online course and tools for small-scale enterprises.
The work of the YABT was seen as positive by the Directors of Mexico, Jamaica, Surinam, Grenada, St. Kitts and St. Nevis and Dominica. Each of which praised the previous work of the organization either in their country or in their region. A few directors also requested YABT to begin programs in their countries. It was emphasized that the youth are the future of the Americas, because of that fact it is within this spectrum that YABT works.
The Director of Mexico, Edith Márquez Rodríguez, mentioned that YABT’s presentation had been refreshing and pleasurable to listen to; “the ability to support initiatives of this nature, to listen to young people, and have such prepared and motivated people, he makes us reflect on our own youth and want to support this program in every way possible.”
The Director of Suriname, Fitz Bramble, expressed that he believes in Democracy and in the programs of YABT and the young people in Suriname have enormous potential that must be developed.
The Director of Jamaica, Joan C. Neil, congratulated Mr. Thomasson for all his work and invited him to go forward with his ideas and projects in Jamaica. Ambassador Izben C. Williams from St. Kitts and Nevis echoed her congratulations and expressed his gratitude to YABT for all of their work in his country.
Finally, Director Francis A. Mc. Barnette commented favorably concerning the Business Lab workshops and the Business Lab Center that is being set up in his country.
In the last minutes of the meeting, Isaac Kevin of the Assistant Secretary General’s office, asked all the Directors to send him reports on the meeting due by mid-February, which would then be compiled into a general report.
To conclude the meeting, Alfonso Quiñónez, Chief of Staff re-established that these meetings are very important for the Organization, as a means to know and share what every department is doing and also what each department has to offer each of the member countries.
Vanessa Cappuccio
YABT-Communications | 
