On November 19^th, 2003 the "IACD Conference on Elements of a New Consensus to Confront Poverty in the Americas" took place on the PAHO Headquarters. The event was organized for the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD/OAS), Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), and the Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development (IDB).

The Conference brought a group of leading experts in the region to address the social agenda issues centered on democratic institutions, fostering a broad national consensus on the issues. Specific themes discussed were:

• Primary educational for all

• Inequities and exclusion in health

• Role of the private sector

• The political-democratic dimension in the fight against poverty

• Science and Technology for social development

• The role of social capital and ethics in the fight against poverty

• The rule of law

The Conference was organized with one plenary session, and concurrent sectoral meetings conducted in a roundtable where a moderator engaged the participants in an active dialogue aimed at providing no more than three priority recommendations to two fundamental questions:

1. What are the most critical things governments need to do to engage a national consensus to address the issues that are the subject of the panel; and

2. What must be the priority actions to be undertaken in order to get there, including taking into account successful experiences?