In Montevideo, on  6 and 7 April 2000, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) together with the Latin American Centre for Human Economics (CLAEH) held an International Seminar: “IDRC and the management of sustainable urban development in Latin America:  lessons learnt and demands for new knowledge”, with the attendance of six international experts, invited national experts and professional staff from IDRC and CLAEH.  The seminar focused on the analysis of the following urban development issues and their implications in applied research:

1. Democracy, Participation and Environment.
2. Challenges for the Ecosystem Management and Human Health.
3. Poverty and Social Equity Alternatives.

a) the evaluation of nine urban applied research projects supported by IDRC in Latin America; and,

b) the analysis of challenges for applied research and sustainable urban management in the three subject areas mentioned above.

a) To conduct an evaluation of the IDRC urban programme activities  in Latin America, and analyse lessons learnt and potential impact as an input for regional programming.

b) To contribute to the analysis of priority needs and demands for applied research in the selected areas, taking into account the results of the evaluation, the contributions by international experts and the group discussion.

c) To promote interdisciplinary research modalities --involving different social actors of the civil society-- strongly oriented to the generation of sustainable and healthy urban policies.

The Seminar was organised by the Environmental Management Secretariat (EMS) and the Ecosystems Approaches to Human Health Programme Initiative (EcoHealth) of IDRC, in collaboration with the Local Development Programme of CLAEH.

Special emphasis was put on municipal issues and the participation of the different public and private actors in urban management, as this aspect constitutes the main concern of the EMS.

For further information, the reader can consult the the documentation that follows: