Forging a way forward in latin american psychology

Psychology International | December 2015 The Colombian Congress of Psychology and the First Regional Latin American Conference of Psychology: Building Capacity for our Region Forging a way forward in Latin American psychology By Wilson López López, PhD, María Constanza Aguilar Bustamante, and Pablo Vera Villaroel Last September, a combined Colombian national and Latin American regional conference were held in Armenia, Colombia The Colombian Congress of Psychology and the First Regional Latin American Conference of Psychology were hosted by the Colombian College of Psychologists, and the Colombian Association of Faculties of Psychology, with support from the International Union of Psychological Science (IUPsyS), the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) and the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology This was a landmark event in the history of Colombian psychology There were more than 2200 participants, and over 1000 presentations in an intense agenda that combined a national, regional and international focus The international schedule, linked to the regional conference, had the goal of creating a framework for future work in Latin America, aimed at building and strengthening the capacities of psychology as a discipline and as a profession in our countries The conference was attended by representatives of psychology organizations in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Cuba, the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Argentina: 15 countries in Latin America We also hosted representatives of organizations linked to IUPsyS, IAAP and others such as the Ibero-American Federation of Psychology (FIAP) and the Interamerican Society of Psychology Other organizations, such as APA, were also participants and observers The capacity development proposal was carried out using the United Nations Development Program methodology (2009), which aims to go beyond the development of tasks to create sustainable, lasting attitudes This methodology involves five steps: Identifying actors Assessing capacity assets and needs 3 Formulating a program Implementing it Evaluating development For our exercise, we identified and consulted with a number of regional leaders or people with leadership potential, assessed needs and then grouped them into the four proposed topics for the workgroups: Organizations Training Social Impact International presence of Latin American psychology We also collected the experiences of organizations and leaders in the region such as the “i ergia proje t After dis ussio , the out o es of orkgroups’ ork ere prese ted to all the capacity development session attendants for comment This resulted in a longer, consensuallyachieved document and a declaration that is intended to direct our actions in the future The work carried out by each group will be a permanent resource for Latin American psychology This declaration (see box) is relevant for the context of Latin American psychology With close to one million degree-holding psychologists, thousands of training programs and a growing scientific output, psychology in Latin America is stronger than ever before The Latin American scientific literature is supported by more than 80 open-access psychology journals (PDF, 168KB) that are edited in the region and are accessible through the Redalyc system, a project that has been promoted and supported by the Ibero-American organization of psychology associations, FIAP Every journal in the system has achieved a high value in over 60 quality criteria and publishes abstracts in English and Spanish Latin American psychologists also continue to publish in international journals in growing numbers, as shown by an increase from 308 papers in 2000 to 2241 in 2014 The dynamics of Latin American scientific output in psychology are being actively discussed, for example in the special issue of Información Psicológica devoted to Ibero-American psychology, or papers recently published in Universitas Psychologica, and a special issue that will be published shortly in Psicologia: Reflexão e Critica The Psicologia Coopera proje t o i es the efforts of o er resear hers fro countries, working to increase the visibility of our regional knowledge Despite strong development, psychology in Latin America faces many challenges that are reflected in the conclusions reached by the workgroups These challenges include:      A need to foster the emergence of strong leaders in the region A need to strengthen our organizations A need to achieve better synergies among local, regional and international entities A need to promote more collaboration and cooperation in every level A need to strengthen communication processes and training in psychology Another most important need is to increase our participation in public forums, addressing both public policies and public opinion, to enable us to work toward a more socially-oriented psychology that can help the most vulnerable groups in our societies All these issues are reflected in the Armenia Declaration, signed at the end of the conference Armenia Declaration The psychologists present at the capacity building meeting, representing 16 countries of Latin America, gathering at the Latin American Regional Conference of Psychology 2015, recognize:       The fundamental role of psychological science in the well-being of our societies and especially of the mos vulnerable individuals and populations The need to strengthen professional and scientific organizations of psychology in the region to accomplis their mission The importance of an effective cooperation among national organizations and search for synergy with regional and international organizations The importance of interdisciplinary cooperation, based on scientific and professional strengths of psychology The need to promote training and professional behavior with high ethical and quality standards, within th context of diverse societies and cultures The relevance to promote participation of psychology in public policy, its incidence in the quality of life, social well-being and sustainable development, as well as the societal recognition of the profession We agree to promote actions that contribute to the attainment of goals derived from the present declaration Signed by representatives from: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, The Bahamas and Venezuela We are certain that this declaration will direct our future work in the region and we anticipate continuing to count on the support of APA for the development of these actions, which will translate into the improvement of our societies in Latin America share this page:      FACEBOOK TWITTER LINKEDIN GOOGLE+ EMAIL Subscribe Related APA Resources      Newsletter Article (4281) Web Page (2615) Magazine Article (1848) Scholarship/Grant/Award (652) Newsletter (613) More 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Join APA | Renew Membership Follow APA: More APA websites:      APA Style APA Practice Central APA Center for Organizational Excellence ACT Raising Safe Kids Program APA Education Advocacy... journal in the system has achieved a high value in over 60 quality criteria and publishes abstracts in English and Spanish Latin American psychologists also continue to publish in international... Declaration, signed at the end of the conference Armenia Declaration The psychologists present at the capacity building meeting, representing 16 countries of Latin America, gathering at the Latin