Raúl Valdés Cotera
Hall of Fame Class of 2022
Raúl Valdés Cotera has strengthened the national, regional, and international field of adult education and lifelong learning through his leadership and contributions to development, implementation, and monitoring of integrated, intersectoral, and holistic adult and continuing education policies and strategies. His work has inspired professionals and volunteers in adult education and influenced ministries of education, departments of adult education, city governments, regional and international agencies, academia, civil organizations, and the private sector throughout the world. His efforts have helped to develop new institutional partnerships and networks that have improved policy dialogues, capacity building, research coordination and training, and policy development, first in the Latin American and Caribbean regions and later at the global level.
As leader of the Policy Support and Capacity Development in Lifelong Learning team at the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, Valdés Cotera has inspired the development of inter- and cross-sectoral adult education and lifelong learning policies and strategies in many countries, specifically in the areas of adult literacy, youth employability skills and recognition, validation, and accreditation of learning outcomes (RVA). He has played a significant role in developing the UNESCO RVA Guidelines and the Global Observatory on RVA. These guidelines and the cases in the Global Observatory are used worldwide. He has been leading capacity-building activities in how to establish lifelong learning systems in more than 20 countries. In more than 30 countries he has conducted multisectoral dialogues to improve the concepts of adult learning and education and lifelong learning, contributing to developing more comprehensive policy frameworks for promoting lifelong learning and implementation of programs.
His greatest contribution is his development and leadership of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC), which has greatly contributed to the heritage of adult and continuing education. The GNLC is a policy-oriented network and platform providing expertise and best practices to/from more than 200 cities from all world regions in how to organize inclusive sustainable urban development through lifelong learning. He has played key roles in five world conferences, collection of case studies, publications, learning videos, and training materials.
Valdés Cotera has led research projects such as the Regional Report of Adult Education in Latin America (2007). For this particular project, he conducted a subsector diagnosis of adult learning and education in 21 countries, which involved the participation of national authorities, researchers, and the collaboration of the Latin American Adult Education Council (CEAAL).
He led the CONFINTEA VI follow-up process by organizing regional conferences in four UNESCO regions. Outcomes of these regional meetings included the development of the Adult Education Observatory for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) together with seven regional partners and the development and publication of an expanded glossary for adult education in the LAC region. The latter publication, in collaboration with the Organization of Ibero-American States, has become an important resource for developing education policies and plans in the region.
Valdés Cotera’s doctoral thesis—Public Policies in Education of Young People and Adults: Comparative Analysis Between Brazil and Mexico—was recognized by the Centre for Cooperation in Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean as the most relevant research in the field of adult education in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2012. His other important work includes the publications Conceptual Evolution and Policy Developments in Lifelong Learning (2011), Unlocking the Potential of Urban Communities (2015 and 2017), and more recently Making lifelong learning a reality: A handbook (2022). Valdés Cotera also has written several book chapters and articles in journals that have advanced the field of adult education.