Latin America Bulletin

Guatemalan presidential candidates pledge to maintain conditional cash transfer and other social programmes

allianceadmin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:54:45 +0100

The next Guatemalan administration, to whichever political stripe it belongs (at the time of writing, the election was undecided, with a second round of voting to be held early in November), is likely to keep the social programmes instituted by the administration of outgoing president Alvaro Colom (pictured). Giving the programmes continuity and improving and expanding them is a key pledge of all 10 presidential candidates.

Calls for greater cross-sector collaboration in the region

allianceadmin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:54:02 +0100

The diminution of resources and the growing sophistication of both corporate social responsibility practices and social organizations all point to the need for greater cooperation between the sectors working on social development.

Region sees uneven progress towards MDG on child health

allianceadmin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:49:55 +0100

While many countries in the so-called Southern Cone of Latin America have made significant progress in the area of child health, others have not – and even in the most advanced countries, progress remains uneven, with wide disparities within countries.

CIVICUS World Assembly draws lessons from Arab Spring for CSOs

allianceadmin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:49:13 +0100

This year’s CIVICUS World Assembly, held in Montreal in September, boasted a strong Latin American presence, with roughly 10 per cent of the 900 delegates coming from the region, and Anabel Cruz, the only former CIVICUS president from Latin America, among the speakers.

10,000 women for Brazil

allianceadmin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:48:29 +0100

Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC), one of the academic partners for Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women initiative, is recruiting women for its first 100-strong cohort of programme scholars in Rio de Janeiro. 10,000 Women is a five-year funding programme by Goldman Sachs to provide 10,000 underserved women around the world with a business and management education. It operates through a network of more than 75 academic and non-profit institutions. These partnerships help develop locally relevant coursework and improve the quality and capacity of business education worldwide.

Three new Latin American and Caribbean investments for European venture philanthropy fund

allianceadmin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:47:44 +0100

Liechtenstein-based venture philanthropy organization LGT Venture Philanthropy has recently added three organizations from Latin America and Caribbean to its portfolio.

UN report finds room for improvement in region’s progress towards MDGs

allianceadmin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:29:49 +0100

The newly released Millennium Development Goals report from the UN paints a generally optimistic picture of the likelihood of the goals being met across the region. However, while Latin America and the Caribbean were often better placed in respect of them than most developing regions to start with, progress towards their achievement has sometimes been slower.

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New initiatives to encourage and chart CSR in Latin America

allianceadmin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:29:05 +0100

Revista Mercado (Market Magazine), a leading Argentine business sector publication, is to carry out a large-scale research project on the breadth of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in Argentina, their scope and content, perspectives for the future, and how other companies can replicate this practice. This year, Revista Mercado is generating a baseline for the study, which will take place annually, drawn from the annual reports of companies with developed CSR practices.

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Mixed record for Latin American governments on NGO relations

allianceadmin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:28:21 +0100

Among Latin American countries, Brazil and Chile lead in terms of respecting the right to freedom of association. Cuba trails the pack. These are the findings of a study recently concluded by Carlos Ponce, a fellow at the US’s National Endowment for Democracy. According to his research, Brazil and Chile have fair systems for registration and operation of NGOs and online access to information, and NGOs can register in less than six months.

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IDB to support latest Brazilian efforts to combat extreme poverty

allianceadmin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:25:24 +0100

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is to provide technical assistance to support Brazil's efforts to fight extreme poverty, helping the country’s government to measure the development impact of social programmes. The country has just announced a new initiative, the Brazil without Poverty Plan, which will seek to lift more than 16 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty. The bank is also to invest about $6 billion by 2014 to improve infrastructure, such as urban transportation and water and sanitation, in Brazilian cities participating in the football World Cup.

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