As part of the activities of IJJO in Latin America, the IJJO has had on several occasions his generous cooperation, notably in the Annual Ministerial Revision 2008, in the organization of the Regional Innovation Fair for Latin America 'Youth: the core of Sustainable Development' held in 2008 in Costa Rica, as well as his participation in the IJJO International Conference and other international events. His collaboration and contributions were always rich and instructive for the team and the IJJO mission as the integral promotion of the rights of children and youth in this society and promoting social inclusion.

"The purpose is to recognize the full citizenship of young people and not consider them only as a segment at risk. Therefore, it would improve the potential and capacity of young people themselves in the cultural, socio-economic level as well as monitoring and education for peace and nonviolence. The policies dealing with school violence in developing countries show great potential. Among the actors, we need educators and others persons assisting in the socialization, like teachers, police, judges, civil servants, local authorities or local politicians, who themselves must understand the potential of youth to stop to stigmatize them as the cause of insecurity."    

Ronald Woodbridge
Third IJJO International Conference - Valencia 2008
[read presentation]

Biography
Mr. Ronald Woodbridge, from Costa Rica, was graduated with a Bachelor degree in political sciences and with a master in public policies and administration from the Institute for Social Studies of The Hague (Netherlands). He was a consultant in international cooperation for the United Nations Latin-American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD) whose headquarters are at San José, Costa Rica. He based his work on the design, drafting, negotiation, execution and assessment of plans, strategies, programmes and projects in the field of governance, criminal justice administration, reinforcement of the Rule of Law, human security, and the solution and handling of conflicts and decrease of violence. From his position at the International Cooperation Agency, he had collaborated actively in the field of institutional development, definition of work plans and obtaining resources before international organisms and international cooperation agencies to reinforce the Institute’s programmes in all Latin America.
In a parallel way he had coordinated the IX, X and XI Regional Preparatory Meetings for Latin America of the United Nations World Congresses on the Prevention of Crime and Criminal Justice and he has represented the Institute before the United Nations Commission of Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. He had also coordinated or directed multiple programmes, projects and activities.