Ethnicity, Gender and Citizenship
Despite social progress and economic advancement in recent years, different forms of social exclusion persist in Peru, which limit the access to development resources for indigenous peoples and Peruvians of African descent. These communities’ ability to fully realize their social, economic, and civil rights is in turn severely diminished. Along with these forms of social exclusion, various mores and institutions of Peruvian society perpetuate other types of social inequalities based on gender and have resulted in unequal opportunities for men and women in our country.
Both forms of inequality have structural roots that not only manifest themselves in civic and economic life, but also find expression in daily acts of discrimination and violence (physical and symbolic).
In this context, GRADE has produced a corpus of studies that explores the multiple dimensions of these forms of social inequality. The studies seek, above all, to bring these problems to the fore by measuring the magnitude of their impact on society, and in turn, we have created a resource for data and analysis that responds to these inequalities.
Building on these studies, we have begun to explore both the causes and consequences of these forms of exclusion, discrimination, and violence. We additionally conduct advocy with the state to incorporate solutions to these issues into its public policy agenda, and we likewise consult on the design of these policy resolutions..
Senior Researchers
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María Balarin Bonazzi
PhD en Educational Policy - University of Bath
María Balarin is a Senior Researcher at the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE) in Peru. Her research explores the political economy of education reform and educational justice in the Global South, with a particular focus on gender dynamics and socioeconomic exclusion. She has examined how state weakness shapes education reforms, the processes of […]
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Martín Benavides Abanto (on leave)
PhD en Sociology - Pennsylvania State University
Martín Benavides has a PhD in Sociology from Pennsylvania State University where he also attained a Master’s Degree in Education Policy. He has a degree in Sociology and a BA in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and has been a visiting student on issues of social mobility and inequality at Nuffield College […]
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Juan León Jara-Almonte
PhD en - Pennsylvania State University
Juan has a PhD in Educational Theory and Policy and Comparative & International Education from Pennsylvania State University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences with mention in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Currently, he is a Senior Researcher at GRADE. His research interests are inequality in education, intercultural bilingual education, early […]
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Vanessa Rojas Arangoitia
PhD en - Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona
Vanessa holds a PhD in Sociology from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. She has a degree in Anthropology and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Her work has focused on the anthropology of education and childhood, addressing issues of educational transitions, child welfare, educational quality and power relations. During 2012, she […]
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Martín Valdivia Huaringa
PhD en Applied Economics - University of Minnesota
Martin Valdivia has a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota. He has worked as a Senior Researcher at GRADE since 1993. His fields of interest include entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, rural development and more recently democratic governance, with publications in journals such as the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Development […]
Associated Researchers
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Néstor Valdivia Vargas
PhD candidate en Sociology - El Colegio de México
Néstor Valdivia is studying for a PhD in Sociology at El Colegio de México and holds a degree in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. He is currently an Associate Researcher at GRADE in the fields of poverty and equality, education, the labor market and human development. He has worked on development and […]
External Consultants
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Paulo César Carrasco Fernández
Degree en - Pedro Ruíz Gallo National University
Paulo holds a Degree in Sociology from the National University Pedro Ruiz Gallo in Lambayeque and is a member of the Professional Board of Sociologists in Peru (Colegio de Sociólogos del Perú). Currently he is a Field Supervisor of the Childhood, Violence and Development Project funded by Bernard van Leer Foundation.
Publications
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Caring with dignity: Towards an Integrated Home Care System for Older Adults in the Dominican Republic
2026 UNI Américas, Federación Nacional de Mujeres Trabajadoras F (FENAMUTRA), Instituto de Estudios de Género y Familia de la r Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
This policy brief presents the main findings of the study Caring with Dignity: Towards an Integrated Home Care System for Older Adults in the Dominican Republic, whose purpose was to evaluate the programme from the perspectives of rights, decent work and the care economy. Rather than measuring programme outcomes alone, the study analyses its capacity […]
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Time for women: from the local to transformative policies. Evaluation of childcare experiences in Río Grande, Argentina
2026 Mora Straschnoy, Delfina Schenone Sienra
Within this framework, the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender (ELA) conducted an evaluation of two care programs implemented by the Secretariat of Gender and Community Development , Municipality of Río Grande. The city’s territorial particularities—the presence of migrant families with limited support networks, the considerable distances between neighborhoods, transportation accessibility, and climatic conditions—make […]
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Recognizing care from ethnic worldviews: Contributions from a participatory research for the ethnic chapter of the National Care System in Colombia
2026 María Nohemi González Martínez, Natalia Moreno Salamanca, Juanita Barreto Gama, Juliana Fúquene Barreto, María Sirex Consuegra Díaz Granados, Paola Rios Mercado, María Ximena Figueroa Olaya, Miguel Ángel Gómez Camargo, Albeniz Ferreira Tique
The “Weaving Care” project arises in this context as an initiative to document, make visible and value the care practices developed by women from ethnic peoples. This study, promoted by the Ministry of Equality and Equity, the Simón Bolívar University and the Women of the Ethnic Commission for Peace, represents an unprecedented effort to build […]
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Community co-responsibility in care: evidence from the “Chile Cuida” Community Care Centers
2026 Antonia Asenjo, Camilo Sembler
This policy brief presents the main findings of a study conducted in 2025 aimed at identifying the conditions that promote or hinder community co-responsibility in the CCCs across four territorial contexts. The research was conducted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Chile, with the active collaboration of the Undersecretariat of Social […]
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Cuidar con Dignidad: Hacia un Sistema Integral de Atención Domiciliaria para Personas Mayores en la República Dominicana
2026 UNI Américas, Federación Nacional de Mujeres Trabajadoras (FENAMUTRA) , Instituto de Estudios de Género y Familia de la n Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo
This Policy Brief presents the main findings of the study *Caring with Dignity: Toward a Comprehensive Home Care System in the Dominican Republic*, which aimed to evaluate the program from the perspectives of rights, decent work, and the care economy. Rather than merely measuring the program’s outcomes, the study analyzes its capacity to contribute to […]
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Soap operas and pro-savings attitudes in poor rural areas of Peru.
2023
We wrote, produced, and implemented a randomized intervention of a five-episode soap opera focusing on attitudes related to trust and savings. It was shown to females living in poor and violence-scarred rural areas and who received the national conditional cash transfer. We find that one year after the intervention treated females significantly improve their attitudes […]
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Edutainment, savings and dwelling-related assets in poor rural areas of Peru
We exploit a field experiment by Chong and Valdivia (2023) and test whether por women from rural areas in developing countries that are able to save seek dwellingrelated assets and find causal evidence that this is indeed the case. Furthermore, we also find that the older cohort of women, those aged forty and higher, also […]
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Barreras para la integración laboral de migrantes venezolanos en el Perú: identificación y análisis de opciones de política
2023
The Venezuelan migrant population presents higher levels of unemployment and labour precariousness (e.g. labour informality, lower income) than their national peers. Available literature and interviews with experts suggest that there are multiple factors or barriers at the root of this problem, which can be classified into the following groups: migration regularisation, legal, social and labour […]
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El impacto de la pandemia por la COVID-19 sobre la violencia familiar: diferenciando víctimas, tipos de violencia y niveles de riesgo en el Perú
2022
Las medidas para mitigar los contagios por COVID-19 generaron condiciones para una mayor violencia familiar (confinamiento forzado, restricciones de movilidad, estrés económico, etc.). Tal fue el caso del Perú. Esta investigación evalúa el impacto de estas condiciones sobre la violencia familiar en el Perú durante las primeras 14 semanas de cuarenta. Empleamos los registros administrativos […]
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Unpacking the post-lockdown employment recovery of young women in the global south
2021
This paper analyses the difference in short-term employment recovery between young men and women in India, Peru and Vietnam following the national lockdowns imposed in all three countries during 2020. The authors employ a mediation model to establish whether – and to what extent – commonly suggested mechanisms are responsible for a relatively slower recovery among […]
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JournalJournal of Interpersonal Violence
Bullying victimization among peruvian children: the predictive role of parental maltreatment
2021
Bullying among schoolchildren is increasingly being recognized as a major problem. Although previous studies have examined parental maltreatment as a risk factor for bullying, the evidence on this topic remains limited in Latin America. The aim of this study was then to measure the prevalence of bullying victimization among a nationally representative sample of Peruvian […]
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JournalAustralian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology
Fear of crime examined through diversity of crime, social inequalities, and social capital: An empirical evaluation in Peru
2020
Latin America is a violent region where fear of crime is well spread but still not fully understood. Using multilevel methods for a large and subnational representative household survey, researchers assess the determinants of fear of crime in Peru, the country with the highest fear of crime and crime victimization in the region. Results show […]
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JournalThe World Bank Economic Review
Do Information Technologies Improve Teenagers’ Sexual Education? Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Colombia
2020
This study reports results from a randomized evaluation of a mandatory six-month Internet-based sexual education course implemented across public junior high schools in 21 Colombian cities. Six months after finishing the course, the study finds a 0.4 standard deviation improvement in knowledge, a 0.2 standard deviation improvement in attitudes, and a 55 percent increase in […]
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JournalJournal of Youth Studies
Fractured lives: understanding urban youth vulnerability in Perú
2020
The paper reports on a mixed methods study that sought to analyse determinants of youth labour market and educational disengagement in Peru. It begins by questioning the widespread focus on NEET –youth not in employment, education or training– as a measure of youth vulnerability in countries with extensive informal labour markets where labour precarity can […]
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JournalJournal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community
History matters, but differently: Persisting and perpetuating effects on the likelihood of intimate partner violence
2019
Ecological models of violence center on systems (micro, meso, and macro) surrounding personal history of violence, but few studies properly assess the effects of personal history on the likelihood of victimization. Using the Peruvian Demographic and Health Survey (N=74,204), the authors examine the effect personal history of violence has on the likelihood of recent intimate […]
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El derecho a la alimentación en grupos en condición de vulnerabilidad
Derecho humano a la alimentación: entre la política pública y las decisiones judiciales2017
This study analyzes national policies to guarantee the right to food of vulnerable groups in Peru. This is based on the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (hereinafter “Voluntary Guidelines”), and Inter-American standards on economic, social and cultural rights. The research […]
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El programa “Qali Warma” desde un enfoque de derechos humanos
Derecho a la alimentación en el contexto latinoamericano2017
This research seeks to approach the institutional design of the Qali Warma program under a human rights-based approach, identifying its constituent elements in order to be able to project them in future public food policies. In addition, the gaps or pending tasks for the full assumption of the approach will be pointed out. To this […]
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Magnitudes, determinantes y consecuencias de la violencia infantil en los hogares: balance de investigación y de las intervenciones existentes
Investigación para el desarrollo en el Perú: once balances2016
This is an assessment of the research related to violence against children, as well as the most important policies and programs intended to prevent or reduce it. The document begins by presenting the main definitions on the subject, then analyzes the most frequently recurring risk factors. The consequences of childhood violence on health, education, and […]
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Case study in selected third country: Peru
Assessing factors influencing human rights around the world: three case studies2016
This chapter analyses factors facilitating and hindering human rights protection in Peru. The chapter provides an overview of historical, legal, political, economic, ethnic, religious, and technological factors facilitating or hindering the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. The chapter then focuses on identifying the social and institutional factors that explain the weak […]
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Inter-American Human Rights System
The global human rights protection governance system2015
The report builds on the D 4.1 ‘Report on the mapping study on relevant actors in human rights protection’ which outlined institutions and instruments for the protection of human rights at the national, European Union (EU), regional and international level. As the objective of WP 4 is to assess the institutions and instruments operating to […]
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Caring with dignity: Towards an Integrated Home Care System for Older Adults in the Dominican Republic
2026
This policy brief presents the main findings of the study Caring with Dignity: Towards an Integrated Home Care System for Older Adults in the Dominican Republic, whose purpose was to evaluate the programme from the perspectives of rights, decent work and the care economy. Rather than measuring programme outcomes alone, the study analyses its capacity […]
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Time for women: from the local to transformative policies. Evaluation of childcare experiences in Río Grande, Argentina
2026
Within this framework, the Latin American Team for Justice and Gender (ELA) conducted an evaluation of two care programs implemented by the Secretariat of Gender and Community Development , Municipality of Río Grande. The city’s territorial particularities—the presence of migrant families with limited support networks, the considerable distances between neighborhoods, transportation accessibility, and climatic conditions—make […]
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Recognizing care from ethnic worldviews: Contributions from a participatory research for the ethnic chapter of the National Care System in Colombia
2026
The “Weaving Care” project arises in this context as an initiative to document, make visible and value the care practices developed by women from ethnic peoples. This study, promoted by the Ministry of Equality and Equity, the Simón Bolívar University and the Women of the Ethnic Commission for Peace, represents an unprecedented effort to build […]
-
Community co-responsibility in care: evidence from the “Chile Cuida” Community Care Centers
2026
This policy brief presents the main findings of a study conducted in 2025 aimed at identifying the conditions that promote or hinder community co-responsibility in the CCCs across four territorial contexts. The research was conducted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Chile, with the active collaboration of the Undersecretariat of Social […]
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Cuidar con Dignidad: Hacia un Sistema Integral de Atención Domiciliaria para Personas Mayores en la República Dominicana
2026
This Policy Brief presents the main findings of the study *Caring with Dignity: Toward a Comprehensive Home Care System in the Dominican Republic*, which aimed to evaluate the program from the perspectives of rights, decent work, and the care economy. Rather than merely measuring the program’s outcomes, the study analyzes its capacity to contribute to […]
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El impacto de la investigación en políticas públicas nacionales de etnicidad e inclusión social: el caso de la creación del Comité Técnico Interinstitucional de Estadísticas de Etnicidad en el Perú
2014
El presente texto describe el rol de la investigación producida en GRADE sobre políticas nacionales de inclusión social, específicamente en torno a grupos étnicos que han venido existiendo como minorías sociales y como objeto de discriminación y exclusión social.
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Políticas públicas con enfoque de derechos en el Perú: el Plan Nacional de Derechos Humanos y las experiencias de planes regionales en derechos humanos
2014
The objective of this research is to contribute, through updated and systematized information, to the identification of the limits and scope of the process of elaboration and execution of public policies with a human rights approach based on two paradigmatic cases: San Martín and Junín. To this end, the paper explores the concepts of public […]
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Inclusión social: diálogos entre la investigación y las políticas públicas
2014Martín Benavides, Miguel Jaramillo, Santiago Cueto, Gabriela Guerrero, Juan Leon, Nestor Valdivia, Lorena Alcazar, Manuel Glave, Maria Balarin, Juan Jose Diaz, Juana Kuramoto, Gerardo Damonte,
Esta publicación recoge el espíritu del seminario internacional "Cambios Institucionales para un Estado más Inclusivo" (julio de 2012), y apunta a lo más relevante y valioso de cada exposición, intervención y comentario.
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Las organizaciones de la población afrodescendiente en el Perú: discursos de identidad y demandas de reconocimiento
2013Nestor Valdivia,
La presente publicación contiene los resultados de un estudio sobre el desarrollo de las org
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¡Aquí estamos! Niñas, niños y adolescentes afroperuanos
2013Martín Benavides, , Nestor Valdivia, ,
Este estudio ofrece un primer acercamiento al ejercicio de los derechos de las niñas, los niños y adolescentes afroperuanos en tres dimensiones claves para su desarrollo integral: salud, educación y protección.
No se han encontrado publicaciones de Ethnicity, Gender and Citizenship en la categoría Mimeo
Projects
- Adolescents and youth in Peru. An approach from different perspectivesMarch 2019
- ”Hello ?, I have a problem”: Impact evaluation of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations Line 100March 2109
- The Peruvian institutional response to Venezuelan migrationFebruary 2019
- Measuring the prevalence of physical and psychological violence against children and teenagers: evidence of Young Lives PeruNovember 2018
- Domestic violenceJanuary 2018
- Etnicidad y sistemas de informaciónJuly 2015
- Revisión Sistemática: ¿Cuál es la efectividad de las intervenciones orientadas a incrementar la participación femenina en ocupaciones consideradas de mayor capacidad y mayor valor social en países de ingresos medios y bajos?July 2015
- Consequences of domestic violence against women on children’s school progress in Peru: a countrywide study differentiated by genderDecember 2014
- Preparation of an academic document on women’s situation in the Peruvian social sciencesAugust 2014
- Evaluación de intervenciones que promueven el liderazgo de las mujeres en pequeñas empresasOctober 2014
News
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It is with enthusiasm that we announce our membership in the Global Alliance for Care, the first global multi-stakeholder community that facilitates and promotes spaces for dialogue, analysis, exchange of experiences and learning about care, recognizing it as a necessity, a job and a right. “We take this opportunity to recognize and congratulate the work that GRADE […]
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[RESULTS] CALL FOR PROPOSALS: Care Economy Public Policy Innovations Collaborative Action-Research Fund Latin America and the Caribbean
July 4, 2023 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
The Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE), in collaboration with United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and the Global Alliance for Care, and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), launch the call for proposals for the: Care Economy Public Policy Innovations Collaborative Action-Research Fund Latin America and the Caribbean […]
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“Venezuelan migration is an important labor force that could contribute a lot to productivity in the country.” An interview with Fernando Távara, coauthor of a GRADE’s research
April 20, 2023 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
“The national survey of Venezuelans that was conducted last year shows that, on average, the Venezuelan migrant is better educated even than Peruvians. It is an important labor force that could contribute a lot to productivity in the country.” Fernando Távara, co-author of GRADE’s research study, “Barriers to the socio-economic integration of migrants in Peru: […]
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Wilson Hernández is winner of the SVRI Knowledge for Action to End Violence Against Women and Violence Against Children Research Grant 2023
April 13, 2023 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
We congratulate our Adjunct Researcher Wilson Hernández, whose research proposal “Playing Safely: Football as a means to transform harmful gender norms and address violence against children and adolescents” (together with Daniel Orrego of Futbol Más Perú) was the winner for Peru in the Violence Research Initiative Knowledge for Action to End Violence Against Women and Violence Against Children […]
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#8M La Mirada: Women workers, in the crisis and after, by Miguel Jaramillo
March 19, 2023 Employment, productivity and innovation, Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
“Women have more self-employment and less salaried work, figure less among business employers and more among unpaid family workers.” Miguel Jaramillo, senior researcher at GRADE, writes about the impact of the pandemic and the policies implemented in that context on the participation of women workers in economic activity. Read the full op-ed in El Comercio […]
Events
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Vanessa Rojas will be a speaker at a National Institute of Mental Health “HD – HN” meeting
09/06/2025 10:00 am - 11:30 am Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Our Senior Research and coordinator of the qualitative component of the Young Lives study Vanessa Rojas will be a speaker at the meeting Mental health today: innovation, evidence and action in the face of new challenges, held by the National Institute of Mental Health “Honorio Delgado – Hideyo Noguchi”, from June 9 to 13. Vanessa […]
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First Annual Meeting of the Network of Think Tanks of the Americas (CEPAS)
16/05/2025 10:00am (hora Perú) Salón de Honor, Casa Central UC (Av. Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins 340, Piso 2, Santiago de Chile) Employment, productivity and innovation, Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
The First Annual Meeting of the Network of Think Tanks of the Americas (CEPAS) will bring together leading experts from Latin American think tanks to discuss two regional challenges. The meeting will feature a keynote address by CEPAS President Felipe Larraín, followed by a keynote presentation by economist Jeffrey Sachs. This will be followed by […]
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GRADE researchers join the XXXV Annual CIES 2024 Research Seminar
11/12/2024 → 13/12/2024 UPC San Isidro Urbanization and sustainable cities, Ethnicity, gender and citizenship, Poverty and equality
Del 11 al 13 de diciembre, investigadoras e investigadores de GRADE serán expositores, comentaristas y moderadores en el XXXV Seminario Anual de Investigación CIES 2024. El evento, organizado por el Consorcio de Investigación Económica y Social (CIES) de manera híbrida, abordará el tema “Retos y perspectivas del Perú y América Latina: inversión, sostenibilidad y cohesión social”. A continuación, […]
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GRADE’s researchers are speakers at the international seminar for the 60th anniversary of the Faculty of Social Sciences at PUCP
20/08/2024 → 23/08/2024 Campus de la PUCP Ethnicity, gender and citizenship, Natural resources, extractive industries and social conflict
Our researchers are participating as speakers at the international seminar “60 years of dialogues and development with Peru”, organized by the School of Social Sciences of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in the framework of its 60 anniversary. On the first day, during the opening of the event, Juan León, senior researcher at GRADE, […]
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Public event Building care systems from the territories in Latin America and the Caribbean: Evidence from the Program “Partnerships for Change in the Care Economy”.
28/05/2024 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm Auditorio de la Universidad de Cartagena, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Aunque se han producido importantes avances para promover la transformación de la economía del cuidado en América Latina y el Caribe, aún existe poca evidencia sobre sus impactos y aprendizajes. Para compartir los avances y desafíos de los sistemas de cuidados en la región, con especial foco en Colombia, la Universidad de Cartagena, el Ministerio […]
- Education and Learning
- Employment, Productivity and Innovation
- Rural Development and Agriculture
- Ethnicity, Gender and Citizenship
- Methodologies for Research and Evaluation of Policy and Programmes
- Poverty and Equity
- Natural Resources, Extractive Industries and Social Conflict
- State Reform and Public Institutions
- Health and Nutrition
- Urbanization and Sustainable Cities






