The International Forum of Catholic-inspired Organisations is a place for dialogue and exchange between Catholic-inspired NGOs in consultative status with intergovernmental institutions, created in 2007 with the aim of identifying and developing ways of collaborating on international issues and achieving more effective presence and action. This year’s meeting was opened by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, H.E. Cardinal Parolin. Mayca San Andrés represented OIDEL by participating in all the sessions and taking the floor in several working groups.

In the working group on the marginalisation of human dignity, OIDEL shared two good practices when it participates in educational debates at the Human Rights Council or in UNESCO consultations: broadening the notion of vulnerability to realities that go beyond the material and insisting that vulnerable groups should not be crystallised, but that states should generate inclusive frameworks for all groups. In another working group, the one on education, OIDEL shared its experience as coordinator of the Platform of NGOs for the right to education (34 NGOs), which allows many actors to bring their voices to the educational debates.

The Forum was also an opportunity for OIDEL to meet new colleagues interested in our work for the defence of the right to education and educational freedoms.