The 3rd Regional Forum for Local Economic Development (LED) for the Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Barranquilla, Colombia, from 5 to 9 May around the theme of Local Economic Development in the fragile territories affected by conflicts and violence, which was attended by over 600 participants from 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and beyond.
*Photos from the Regional Forum for Local Economic Development (LED) are available here
*Videos recorded from the sessions are available here

Ms. Laurence Kwark, Secretary General of GSEF, participated as a panelist in the thematic debate on Employment and economic empowerment of youth, women and vulnerable groups. She highlighted the important contribution of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) towards achieving an inclusive, peaceful and sustainable development for all. The Forum also provided a good opportunity to meet with local governments and civil society actors working closely in the social and solidarity economy sector in the region.

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The Forum concluded with a declaration in which it reaffirms "the potential of local economic development to promote a territorialization of public policies and governance mechanisms, as a common denominator to combine social inclusion, cohesion and territorial competitiveness; and to lay the foundations of resilience of the territories in a framework of continuity between reintegration processes and socio-economic recovery, and the social reinvestment of their benefits in processes of peace building, risk and conflict prevention, and sustainable development trajectories in the longer term". This declaration and inputs from the Regional Forum will be channeled to the 5th World Forum for Local Economic Development 2019, which will take place at the end of the year.
 

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The 5th World Forum for Local Economic Development (LED) will take place in Córdoba (Argentina) from 2-4 December under the theme of Innovation in the territories to improve the quality of life. 

At the LED 2019 in Argentina, GSEF will organize for the first time a Policy Dialogue on Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) for the Latin America and the Caribbean region. Local governments, SSE actors and partners in the region will be invited to this dialogue for discussions about how local economic development in the territories can be achieved through public-private-community collaborations between local governments and SSE actors. This dialogue will serve as a preparatory phase for the Global Social Economy Forum 2020 hosted by Mexico City, which local governments and SSE actors from the Latin America and the Caribbean region and beyond will be joining.