The training consisted of six online training workshops on organizational capacity building from July through October 2021. These workshops were complemented by several online meetings, in which the participants shared their expertise and we discussed the program. The meetings also provided an open space for the discussion of any upcoming issues. Besides the workshops and meetings, participation in the Online Summer Academy for Pluralist Economics (Jul 30- Aug 6, 2021) was also included. 

What were the online workshops about?

They provided capacity building and fostered knowledge exchange with the central goal to strengthen the organization of similar educational formats around the world. Besides the workshops, the participants had the possibility to connect with the Summer Academy organizing team to draw from their experiences and networks. You can see the full range of workshops and meetings in the table below. Compared to the year before, we included a content oriented workshop on "Declonize, Decolinzing and Decolonization" with Dr. Glennie Moore in this year's program. We wanted to create a foundation for our work together and talk about the general issue of why Economics needs to be Decolonized and what this could mean from the perspectives of our participants. Furthermore, we tried to include facilitators from different Rethinking Economics groups as well to create networks and possiblities to exchange experiences in the activist work that we do around the world. 

The Escuela Latinoamericana de Economía Heterodoxa (ELEH)

The Escuela Latinoamericana de Economía Heterodoxa was held between August 28 and September 26 of 2021. It was an educational program designed for economics and other social sciences students with the aim of helping develop critical and pluralistic thinking through a heterodox economics program. Students were offered the opportunity to select from two programs: one on Structuralism and another on Post Development.

In addition to that, all students were invited to keynote speeches offered by the renowned economists Ricardo Ffrench-Davis and Carolina Alves. Students also participated in tutoring sessions where they received guidance on research methodology and feedback on their research projects.

One of the main objectives of the school was to generate spaces for discussion and academic production with a critical perspective, which is why participants were encouraged to make a research proposal or diffusion articles. As a result, more than 50 research proposals were developed during the school and today we have more than 30 articles that will be published in DAS networks and in our media channels.

Professos and Tutors

Considering the absence of diversity and pluralism in economic teaching, the ELEH is a program that aims to provide theoretical and practical tools for Latin American students who lack heterodox tools and frameworks to better understand the economic reality of the region and bring about positive change. In order to fulfill this gap, it became relevant to promote space for theoretical approaches that consider the international inequality that the latinamerican region faced, historical and cultural conditions, and specific opportunities that the region has to enhance life standard using economics policies. In this sense, the ELEH, in its first version, provided two theoretical teaching activities in structuralism and post development.

Students

The selection of students was made according to the following evaluation criteria: academic affinity, motivation letter and research proposal. The number of applicants was 122 and a total of 90 students were accepted to the school, of which 45 went to Structuralism and 45 to Post Development. The students were assigned to classes based on their topic of their interest. Each pillar had four class sessions and three tutoring sessions. In total, one hundred students from thirteen countries of the Latin American region participated in the School. The countries with the highest number of participants were Chile, Peru, Argentina and Ecuador.

Who can apply?

People from a country of the so-called global south (Africa, Latin America, or Asia) who are students, PhD candidates, or working in any other way in economics or a related discipline. The applicants were seeking a more pluralist, a more sustainable, a more socially oriented stance of economics. Some were involved with local or regional pluralist economics groups or networks like Rethinking Economics or De America Soy already

One of the main goals of our program was to support and strengthen your work in your home country. This is easier in a group. That is why we also encouraged applications as teams. We wanted to make the Global Pluralist Economics Training 2021 as inclusive as possible. Therefore, we highly welcomed applications from women and other less represented voices in academia.

Were there any costs?

There was no participation fee. You can be a trainee free of charge. Since the program will run online, the only thing you need is access to a computer and a stable internet connection. If necessary, we can support you by covering internet usage costs.

You can have a look at the highlights from last years Global Pluralist Economics Training 2020 here.

What are the main objectives?

The main goal of the Pluralist Economics Movement is to transform the economics curriculum by creating new learning spaces like summer schools, writing workshops and e-learning platforms.

We want to encourage the trainees to learn from the activities of the global Pluralist Economics movement so that they organize their own workshops in the second half of the year together with partners like universities, political foundations and/or NGOs. Such long-term exchange and networking will surely strengthen the global movement for pluralism in economics.

To achieve this, we share the resources of our e-learning platform Exploring Economics (www.exploring-economics.org), which currently offers more than 1000 learning resources for 34,000 monthly visitors. We want to make this e-learning platform available to teachers and students in countries of the global south so that they can contribute to and draw from it. Through cooperating and collaborating with the GPET trainees we would like to find project partners as well as volunteers to improve and promote Exploring Economics.