Semifinalist Projects Selected in Social Innovation Award

Forty-five projects have been selected as semifinalists in the Experiences in Social Innovation Award, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. During the next phase of the selection process, external experts and ECLAC staff will visit the 45 projects between July 11 and August 15 to continue the evaluation.

Brazil and Colombia are the countries with the most projects selected so far, followed by Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. Projects from Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela are also among the semifinalists. The thematic areas most represented by the selected initiatives are education, community healthcare and rural and agricultural development.

Using the information gathered during the field trips, 20 finalist projects will be selected in the last week of September. These will be invited to the award ceremony on November 10-11, 2005, which will complete this cycle of the Experiences in Social Innovation Award .

During the ceremony, a Notables Committee will select and announce the names of the first five winners, which will be awarded cash prizes, while the 15 runners-up will receive an honorable mention. The event will be open to the general public.

An Innovation Fair will also be organized, an event enabling finalists to share their experiences with the public and encourage implementation of their projects in other countries in the region for the benefit of the whole population.

The award received a total of 1600 entries from different ECLAC-member countries in the region. Among the projects selected, the vast majority are run by non-governmental organizations, followed by social and community organizations, cooperatives, education institutions and religious communities, and municipal authorities.

All the projects have made an important contribution to the struggle against poverty in the region. They provide innovative approaches to improving healhcare, education, nutrition, agricultual production and per capita income, especially for the poorest, most excluded sectors of these societies.

The “Experiences in Social Innovation” award will be held annually. The next cycle, spanning 2005-2006, will be launched at the end of June 2005.

More information on the award may be found in the Internet pages www.eclac.cl and www.wkkf.org, by telephone (56-2) 210-2297 or by e-mail: Innovacion.social@cepal.org.

The media may contact the following e-mail: dpisantiago@cepal.org, or telephone (56-2) 210- 2380.

Projects Selected for the Second Phase

Each of these projects will be visited by an expert between July 11 and August 15, 2005

Argentina

• Alternation Education for the Third Cycle of EGB (Basic General Education) in the
  countryside – U.E.F.A.S. (Union of Santa Fe Family Agriculture Schools)


• “Curtains up…kids in action” – School No.  234 “MANUEL BELGRANO”


• Huerta Niño (Children’s Kitchen Garden) Project – Huerta Niño Foundation


• Andean Crops Integrated Program – C.A.U.Que.Va 2004 – Quebrada and Valleys Artisan Cooperative Union – C.A.U.Que.Va Ltda.

Bolivia

• Educación para el Desarrollo Local en Distritos Municipales – Centro Boliviano de Investigación y Acción Educativas (CEBIAE)


• Ecotechnological Project – PRODENER / ALISEI

• “Living with the Reality of the Semi-Arid Project” – Grassroots Education and Union Training  Center-CEPFS


• Community Health Efforts in the Tapajós National Forest – CEAPS – Center of Advanced Studies for Social and Environmental Promotion / Health and Joy Project


• “SACI Network – Solidarity, Support, Communication and Information” – CECAE – Executive Coordinating Committee for University Cooperation and Special Activities


• “Revision of the Healthcare Model reflecting directly in the Quality of Life of a
  Population” – Municipal Town Council of Lucas do Rio Verde


• Chapada Project – Association of Parents, Teachers and Farmers from Caeté-Açú


• Brazileirinho Program – NGO RioVoluntário


• Education in Cooperating Cells Program (PRECE) – Coraçâo de Estudante (Heart of the Student) Institute


• Sustainable development of the sisaleira region – Association of Small Farmers from the Municipality of Valente


• Victory of Life Community Committees – Municipal City Council of Vitória – MUNICIPAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT


• Health and Education among the Hupdäh Indians – HEALTH WITHOUT LIMITS (SSL) ASSOCIATION


• Guaratinguetá Friends of Waste Project – Voluntary Organization “Guaratinguetá Friends of Waste Project”


• Brazil Nut Project – Brazilian Institute of Education in Sustainable Business – IBENS


• Ecoorgânica – Cooperative of Family Organic Farmers – Ecoorgânica – Cooperative of Family Organic Farmers

Chile

• Intercultural Health Program-Williche People of Chiloé Complementary Health Model – General Council of Williche Chiefs from the Indigenous Community of Buta Huapi Chilhue


• Reforging Ties: Reencounter between incarcerated mothers and fathers, their families and their children – Social Pastorate of the Archbishopric of Santiago


• Huichas Islands Development Council (CODIH) – Neighborhood Council No.12 of Puerto Aguirre, Neighborhood Council No. 13 of Caleta Andrade, Neighborhood Council No. 19 of Estero Copa


• Promoting quality of basic education through bilingual intercultural education in Mapuche communities – Peasant Development Foundation (FUNDECAM)


• “Latin American Network of Toy Libraries in Marginalized Urban Neighborhoods” – French NGO C.I.E.L.O.

Colombia

• “Strengthening and Promoting the Traditional Medicine of the Indigenous Pijao and Páez del Tolima People” – Association of Town Councils and Traditional Authorities of the Tolima Regional Indigenous Council “CRIT”


• Institutional Rural Education Project of the Sabanilla Rural Post-Primary School – Sabanilla Rural Post-Primary School


• Community Based Rehabilitation District Health Department


• LITTLE SCIENTISTS, strategy to develop a scientific spirit and teach science and
  citizenship – Manizales City Council – Education Department


• School Meal Program “School Restaurant, School Glass of Milk and Food Parcel
  Projects” – Municipality of Medellín


• Training bilingual teachers from among the Cofan people and the Valle del Guamuez and San Miguel Indigenous Councils. – Zio-A’I Union of Wisdom Foundation


• Tarso Municipal Constituent Assembly, “An Attitude Change for Development and
  Peace” – Studies and Projects Corporation of the Tarso Municipal Constituent Assembly “CEPACT”


• Drinking water supply for the rural population – Santa Elena Multiveredal Aqueduct
  Corporation (that serves more than one vereda, or village)


• El Digestor (The Digester) – Las Toldas Educational Institution (Headquarters, El Rosario)


• Tulapa Horizon of Hope – Uraba and Western Cordoba Community Association “ASOCOMUN”


• Environmental Sustainability Model of the subparamo area of Ciudad Bolívar – Peasant Association for the Sustainable Development of the Vereda – or village – of Pasquillita “ASOPASQUILLITA”


• Strengthen the bilingual multicultural program by expanding the infrastructure of the main headquarters of the Kamusuchiwo’u rural ethno-educational center to provide, besides the basic primary level, secondary education for the purpose of increasing the student body size and improving the quality of education – Carbones del Cerrejon LLC – CERREJON


• “Production of radio programs with an emphasis on health, by training groups of grassroots presenters” – Guillermo Berón Cardona

Ecuador

• Men and women conduct sustainable management of the “Cascada de Peguche” Protected
  Forest – Ecuadorian Social Development Foundation “FUNEDES”

Guatemala

• Prevention of the drug and street gang phenomenon in marginalized urban and rural areas – Ceiba Association

Haiti

• Leche Agogo: Support Program for the production, processing and marketing of milk in
  Haiti – VETERIMED

Mexico

• Regional Development of the Zapotec People from the Sector Zoogocho – Union of Municipal Authorities from the Sector Zoogocho, Villa Alta, Oaxaca

Paraguay

• Neighborhood Cooperation with Small Farmers – “COVEPA” – Volendam Ltda. Production, Consumption and Services Cooperative

Peru

• Growth and Collective Development – Taller de los Niños (Children’s Workshop) Association

Uruguay

• Organic School Kitchen Garden Program – Logros Foundation

Venezuela

• Educational Toolkit. Learning through Play – Eugenio Mendoza Foundation

Read more: Experiences in Social Innovation Award

6/23/2005