MIDES presented the National Plan for Racial and Afro-descendant Equity 2025-2030
In the framework of the commemoration of the International Day of People of African Descent, the Sociocultural Promotion Area of the Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) presented the National Plan for Racial Equity and Afro-descendants 2025, which will be implemented by that State Secretariat with financing from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the support of the Uruguayan Agency for International Cooperation (AUCI).
This new plan is characterised by being five-yearly. Until now it was presented every two years, but the responsible institutions detected that this was not enough to evaluate the policies deployed. It is a project that is also open to research and consultancies that will be carried out with AECID funding for an amount of 200,000 euros. Another difference is that it includes plans in the seven departments with the greatest representation of the Afro population, to meet the demand in more territory.
The Minister of MIDES assured that education and the decentralization of public policy with this approach were priorities in the concept of “leaving no one behind.” “We know that there is still a long way to go, but we also know that we have made progress, which is why we presented a five-year project,” he added.
In this context, the minister advocated that families, from within the home, collaborate by talking to their children to avoid racist actions. “Sometimes we see it as distant and implausible, we find it hard to believe that this type of behavior exists between people who share a classroom, a work team,” he said. “Inside our homes, a very important game is being played,” to learn to live together in peace and with respect,” he stressed.
REDUCING GAPS
This plan compiles international standards on human rights and, at the same time, calls for the participation of Afro-descendants, to learn about the situations they are going through on a personal level, explained Méndez. “It is important to know what the situation of this population is. Although progress has been made in some aspects, there is still a lag in matters of education, work, housing and health,” he added. In many cases, not completing high school leads to poorly qualified and poorly paid jobs, and an early entry into the labor market, he indicated.
He stressed the importance of the consultancies, which will travel throughout the country to receive the opinions of Afro-Colombians.
COOPERATION
“Trying to overcome inequalities and asymmetries that exist today in Uruguay is a challenge that we consider important to continue working on. The Spanish Cooperation Agency has been a strategic partner in international cooperation, supporting public policies. From the beginning and throughout this area, we have been working on strengthening capacities,” said Claudia Romano.
The AUCI leader pointed out that this specific project allows for working on the continuity that had been identified in previous years, but with a strategic view of public policy, which does not begin or end with a government period and requires active participation of civil society. In this sense, she insisted on appealing to coordinated work that affects people’s living conditions.
The Spanish ambassador, Santiago Jiménez, said that for Spain this is a strategic bet, taking into account that here it has ahubimportant, with a training center, and it is from where it carries out cooperation throughout the Southern Cone. “Spain has been betting on Uruguay since early on, because of the strategic relationship they have and on making progress in defining public policies,” he said.
