01.16.07
News

Deadline Closes this Week for the ECLAC/Kellogg Experiences in Social Innovation 2007

The deadline to apply to the 2006-07 ECLAC/Kellogg social innovation contest is Friday, 12 January 2007. This is the third round of the Experiences in Social Innovation Competition, which is organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The application process opened on 10 November 2006.

The two previous rounds (held 2004-05 and 2005-06) attracted more than 2,600 applicants from around the region.

A community response programme to confront domestic violence in Cuzco, Peru won first prize in the 2005-06 version of the ECLAC/Kellogg competition, which was announced last November. Second prize went to a mentoring programme for young lawbreakers in Argentina. Third place was shared by sustainable development/income generation experiences being conducted by two indigenous groups: trout production in the Peruvian altiplano; and the recovery of traditional seeds in the Ríoblanco community of Colombia’s Cauca region.

Other prizewinners included: a successful new community health model in Paraguay; a project providing assistance to visually-impaired students and families in rural Brazil; an employment programme for youths at risk in Medellín, Colombia; and a communications network among indigenous communities in Argentina.

The ECLAC/Kellogg Experiences in Social Innovation Competition fosters active community participation in eight areas: community health; primary education and youth programmes; income-generation; corporate social responsibility; volunteer work; rural/agricultural development and food security/nutrition. The experiences should offer new models of attention through community participation as a means of strengthening citizenship and, with it, democracy.

First prizewinner in this year’s competition will receive US $30,000; second place, $20,000; third, $15,000; fourth, $10,000: and fifth, $ 5000.

Applications can be downloaded from ECLAC’s website. Or request by e-mail from: innovacion.social@cepal.org.