Latin America Bulletin

Chilean quake, following Haiti emergency, may strain resources of aid agencies

allianceadmin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:40:02 +0000

A number of aid agencies have expressed concern that ongoing rebuilding efforts in Haiti may affect their ability to respond to last month’s earthquake in Chile. Even before the earthquake, the US Agency for International Development last month alerted some relief groups that government funding for foreign disaster assistance could be affected by the cost of operations in Haiti.

Global Partnerships extends operations to Mexico to provide ‘more affordable’ microfinance

allianceadmin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:39:18 +0000

IDB support for community participation project to bring gas to low-income communities

allianceadmin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:38:32 +0000

The Inter American Development Bank (IDB) is supporting the development of a community participation project to increase the provision of gas supplies in greater Buenos Aires. FOMIN, the Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund, will provide a $3 million loan and a $690,000 technical assistance grant to equip low-income communities to organize themselves to make a collective demand for gas services, build additions to the external network and install home service connections to the network themselves.

International Finance Corporation to finance ‘systemic change in Mexican retailing’

allianceadmin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:37:47 +0000

IFC, the World Bank’s investment arm, has signed a long-term agreement with Sistema Integral de Abasto Rural, SA CV (Mi Tienda), to finance an expansion of Mi Tienda’s operation. The proposed expansion will create 36 distribution centres, whose main target group will be rural shops in 14,740 small Mexican villages. In addition to providing necessities such as food and consumer goods, Mi Tienda’s distribution system will provide a platform for services such as insurance, payment of utility bills, branchless banking and microcredit.

‘Hybrid’ partnership key step in cross-sector cooperation for Mexico

allianceadmin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:36:34 +0000

Ashoka, the network of social entrepreneurs, and Fundemex, the foundation created by the Mexican Council for the Coordination of Business, have launched a partnership to promote what they call hybrid value chains – collaborations between social entrepreneurs and businesses that will use the strengths of both sectors to create, among other things, new products, channels of distribution and access to finance which will benefit poorer communities and provide greater access for businesses and social enterprises to those communities.

Conferences and events

allianceadmin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:35:47 +0000

23-26 March
ANDE Latin America Conference: Growing Small Businesses in Latin America
Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs
Granada, Nicaragua
Contact www.andelatinamerica.org

7-9 April
6th GIFE Congress on Private Social Investment: 2020 Vision
Group of Institutes, Foundations and Enterprises (GIFE)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Contact www.gife.org.br

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Americas conference held in Uruguay

allianceadmin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:54:51 +0000

With more than 800 attendees and presentations of numerous case studies, the 7th Annual Inter-American Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, entitled ‘Facing Challenges with Responsibility,’ took place from 1 to 3 December in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The Inter-American Development Bank’s annual event was held this year in cooperation with the Uruguayan government and the DERES association of Uruguayan companies active in corporate social responsibility.

Football for Hope launched in Latin America

allianceadmin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:54:05 +0000

In many countries, work is being done to transform communities with programmes based on football. Streetfootballworld is a worldwide network that brings together companies, social entrepreneurs, international organizations and governments to develop programmes for social change through the use of football.

GIFE puts forward 2020 Vision for Brazil

allianceadmin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:53:12 +0000

GIFE (Group of Institutes, Foundations and Enterprises) is developing a ten-year plan for the growth of the philanthropy sector in Brazil. The motive behind ‘2020 Vision for Social Investment’ is the need to support civil society in Brazil, which has at least tripled in size since 1996 to over 300,000 organizations.

Brazilian entrepreneur among the best philanthropists, according to Barron’s and the Global Philanthropy Group

allianceadmin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:52:23 +0000