Origins
The Inter-American Research and Documentation Centre on Vocational
Training (CINTERFOR) originated from the Seventh Conference of
American ILO Member States, held in Buenos Aires in 1961, in response
to a proposal made to the ILO to establish a centre for the exchange
of experiences, based on research, documentation and dissemination
of vocational training activities and that will act as a core
system constituted by vocational training institutions and organizations
of ILO Member States in America and Spain.
In the early sixties, most American countries faced
the need to increase the general level of their manpower training
in order to improve the quantity and quality of the enterprises'
performance and the workers' living conditions. Given this situation,
many countries (Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Argentina
and Uruguay, among others) began, with technical assistance from
the ILO, actions aimed at the creation of new vocational training
services, based on a tight collaboration with workers and employers,
and dedicated to the training of apprentices and adult workers.
The organization of these services, the preparation
and publication of training programs, the preparation of education
personnel and the study of necessary installations and equipment
represented a great effort in research and a good deal of adaptation
among each of these countries. Consequently they considered it
highly desirable that the national services committed in this
effort used the accumulated experience of other countries
and participate in a necessary coordination of activities to be
developed in America.
Facing this situation and considering the general
resolution concerning vocational training adopted in the Seventh
Conference held in Buenos Aires, it was decided on that occasion
to recommend to the ILO the creation of an Inter-American Research
and Documentation Centre on Vocational Training, which would promote
a permanent cooperation between national units in charge of vocational
training. As part of this recommendation, it was pointed out that
the Centre should have as its main duties the gathering of all
documentation related to vocational training aspects and, to that
effect, the establishment of necessary contacts with all specialized
organizations; disseminate this documentation in an appropriate
way among interested national organizations; implement, at the
organizations' request, all kind of research related to the general
and technical organization of vocational training; prepare didactic
training material, according to the needs or requests of interested
entities.
Then, in 1963 CINTERFOR was created by the International
Labour Organization (ILO), with headquarters in Montevideo.
In 2007 the Strategic
plan for the future action of ILO/Cinterfor was launched which
exposes its Mission and Vision and raises the implementation strategic
and its action plan for the next short and medium-term period.
