Centros de extensão, “esperança na tempestade” para a juventude hondurenha

Fevereiro 10, 2015

5 minutos de leitura

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Centros de extensão, “esperança na tempestade” para a juventude hondurenha

Por Jillian Slutzker

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Amidst a storm of gang, drugs and violence, youth in at-risk neighborhoods are finding security, opportunity and hope at nearly 50 community outreach centers around Honduras. From English classes to sports and job training, these centers are preventing violence and changing lives.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][cor do vc_separador =”cinza” alinhar=”alinhar_centro” estilo =”” largura_borda=”” el_width=””][vc_column_text] HON10061474 Tegucigalpa, Honduras—Marco Antonio Ferrera is 13 years old and lives alone in Las Pilas, a community with violence rates well above average in Honduras, considered among the world’s most dangerous countries. Marco’s father works in the United States. He sends money to his son, which helped Marco, then just 10 anos, build the house he lives in.

Marco says his dream is to have a home, be with his family and live well—a dream that can be difficult to attain in his neighborhood.

In at-risk communities around Honduras, stories like Marco’s are common. Caught between gangs, drug-related violence and poverty, and sometimes with parents living in the United States, youth struggle to find opportunities for success and paths away from violence.

“These are the neighborhoods where no one wants to go and, às vezes, have been completely thrashed by violence,” says Miriam Canales, Coordinator of the Northern region for Aliança Juvenil de Honduras (Aliança Juvenil Honduras), a youth violence prevention program working in the country’s most at-risk communities.

For kids like Marco, Alianza Joven Honduras provides a key resource for them to develop, thrive and find an escape from violence. O programa é financiado pelos EUA. Agência para o Desenvolvimento Internacional e implementada pela Creative Associates International.

Através de seu 46 centros de extensão juvenil in communities in seven Honduras cities, youth access safe spaces for recreation, aulas particulares, aulas de música, habilidades para a vida, vocational training and volunteering. At the core of the outreach center methodology are positive messages of nonviolent conflict resolution, youth empowerment and community.

The outreach center methodology “makes me feel better,” says Marco. “I have more friends, more opportunities. I learn many things. I have fun with my friends. And I am always glad to volunteer here in the outreach center.”

Overseeing 27 centers in four municipalities, Canales has seen many cases like Marco’s and has witnessed the positive effects of the outreach centers on a large scale for youth and communities nationwide.

“It is a place of hope inside what is often a major storm,”ela diz.

Activities that empower

HON100914152 On the wall of every outreach center are the guiding principles of this prevention methodology, including forming values, um uso criativo do tempo livre, gerenciando oportunidades, voluntariado, fortalecendo o desempenho escolar, construindo capacidade para trabalhar, sustentabilidade e desenvolver um plano de vida.

Com base nestes princípios, as atividades dos centros apoiam os jovens de forma holística, desde o desenvolvimento de habilidades profissionais, como costurar ou cortar cabelo, até aulas particulares, esportes, coaching musical e habilidades para a vida.

Os centros, como diz Canales, são um lugar para as crianças “desenvolverem suas capacidades intelectuais, onde eles podem participar de workshops, tornar-se um pouco mais dinâmico e melhorar sua autoestima.”

Para Sofia Umanzor, um adolescente em San Pedro Sula que perdeu amigos devido à violência na cidade, o centro de extensão na sua comunidade proporcionou um espaço seguro “mantendo-a fora das ruas” e deu a ela e aos seus pares um novo sentido de auto-estima.

“Estamos muito orgulhosos porque ele realizou oficinas sobre cuidados de beleza, Inglês, computadores e crochê,”ela diz. "Antes, não tínhamos nenhuma dessas habilidades.”

Comunidade no coração

HON100814119 O sucesso da metodologia do centro de extensão levou a uma coligação de parceiros, incluindo o governo das Honduras, o sector privado e as fundações locais para contribuir com o seu tempo, energia e apoio financeiro. Mas uma chave importante para o sucesso, dizem os funcionários da Young Alliance, é um envolvimento significativo da comunidade

Coordenadores comunitários e voluntários, principalmente jovens que se beneficiaram dos programas de prevenção da violência da Alianza Joven, gerenciar os centros de extensão. Eles organizam noites de talentos e outros eventos para a comunidade em geral, construir confiança e apoio entre os pais e outros membros da comunidade que estão testemunhando as mudanças positivas em seus bairros.

Alemão Pérez, Coordenador do centro de extensão Las Pilas, faz questão de divulgar e trazer cada vez mais jovens para o centro. Último trimestre, ele diz, 400 jovens usaram os serviços do centro.

“Nós dizemos a eles: ‘Convide outras pessoas para que elas nos conheçam, podemos conhecê-los e juntos podemos promover o centro de extensão,'”, ele diz.

Pérez diz que ele e seus colegas coordenadores e voluntários estão “vendendo” a ideia de que o centro de extensão é um lugar de oportunidades. Quanto mais jovens passarem pelas portas, mais segura e vibrante a comunidade se torna.

Volunteers—who Canales calls “the heart of the outreach centers”— give their all and ask little in return. What they really expect, ela diz, is a better community.

Real results

The outreach centers are making a positive difference in the lives of youth like Marco and Sofia, but on a larger scale, communities are seeing a reduction in the rates of violence crime.

Em 2011, the city of Choloma has a homicide rate of 94.5 por 100,000 residentes, says Cristhy Orellana, a member of Choloma’s Municipal Violence Prevention Committee. At the end of 2013, the rate had dropped to 68.3 homicídios por 100,000 residents—more than a 20 percent decline.

“With this hard number, we have demonstrated that our integrated approach, along with the outreach centers, is demonstrating important medium-term results,” says Orellana.

UM recent study by Vanderbilt University’s Latin American Public Opinion Project found that the outreach center methodology as part of community-based violence prevention efforts is improving residents’ feelings of security and is a cost-effective approach to stemming violence in Honduras and other Central American countries.

Communities that were once ruled by gangs and hardly accessible to government authorities or outside groups are now hosting government officials and business leaders for outreach center talent shows.

“I think one of the most significant results that we have demonstrated is that we can work in the most violent communities in the country,” diz Salvador Stadthagen, Diretor da Alianza Jovem Honduras. “A former Minister of Security told us that he does not know how we do it. Muitos outros programas tentaram entrar, mas não foram sustentáveis.”

Com cada novo centro de extensão e cada jovem envolvido, Alianza Joven Honduras está “plantando as sementes,”diz Carlos Ramón Guzmán, um Oficial do Centro de Extensão do projeto que iniciou este trabalho em 18 anos. Um dia, ele diz, estas sementes florescerão para que “cada comunidade em risco se torne uma comunidade de esperança”.

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Proposed 2016 USAID Budget Includes Targeted Investment in Central America

Fevereiro 6, 2015

4 minutos de leitura

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Proposed 2016 USAID Budget Includes Targeted Investment in Central America

Por Jennifer Brookland

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]The President’s 2016 fiscal year budget proposes $1 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development to improve economies and resilience of Central American countries.

These account increases “aim to advance economic prosperity through reducing poverty, improving education and workforce development, and strengthening resilience in the region, all of which address underlying factors responsible for the continued flow of migrants from the region to Mexico and the United States,”de acordo com the budget request.

The proposal seeks funding for a “whole-of-government” approach especially targeted at El Salvador, Guatemala e Honduras, com $541 million in development assistance funding designated for programs that promote prosperity, governance and security.

Guilherme Céspedes, a crime and violence prevention advisor with Creative Associates International, says this is an important move for the United States.

“USAID has recognized the need for data-driven, place-based differentiated approaches that include tertiary, secondary and primary prevention along with community policing, all implemented simultaneously in geographic locations with the highest levels of violence and focused on those individuals most at risk of being victims or perpetrators,” Cespedes says.

The expert, who was the Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles before joining Creative, says “the science supports that this is the most effective strategy to reduce violence and those of us in the field are very encouraged by the adoption of this approach by USAID.”

A three-pronged plan with a focus on youth

HON100814119 USAID’s development assistance to Central America will fall along three overarching “lines of action,” according to the budget request.

To promote prosperity, USAID seeks to integrate regional markets, promote better education and vocational training, and create more inclusive economic opportunities for women and vulnerable groups.

It hopes that nurturing healthy business environments that include youth will encourage entrepreneurs who can operate above board, instead of contributing to the region’s swollen ranks of illicit groups that undermine security and government institutions and dampen legitimate economic activity.

The budget request makes specific mention of the need to boost opportunities for entrepreneurship and job placement for vulnerable youth to provide alternatives to violence and greater resilience for households and communities.

(Read about the young winner of a business competition who’s turning his life around with hamburgers.)

The agency’s other two focus areas are on enhancing security and promoting improved governance, which includes bolstering government services and providing support to civil society and the media.

All three lines of action are ultimately key to reducing the region’s endemic violence, economic inequality, poverty and corruption.

According to Cespedes, USAID is smart not to attempt to drive down violence as if it existed in a vacuum.

“USAID has stated clearly that violence reduction is a cross cutting theme that is interrelated with all strategies including economic development, educação, e governança. It is a critical component of the overall (approach in) América Central,”ele diz.

The budget request points out that these initiatives will complement the work of national governments and multilateral development banks, and support national and regional priorities and plans.

“Without significant progress, the region will continue to face extreme violence, severe economic inequality, social exclusion, and widespread corruption and poverty, thus compelling many Central Americans to flee their homes each year,” according to the budget request.

Budgeting for a change

The request for development assistance in the Northern Triangle of Central America shows the administration’s continual attempt to thwart thousands of migrants fleeing violence, corruption and economic insecurity at home.

Gang violence and narco-trafficking has resulted in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala having some of the highest homicide rates in the world outside of active war zones, and the region been a major source of unaccompanied minors immigrating to the U.S.

Last year’s budget included no reference to Central America.

Other USAID focus areas will include Asia and Africa, as well as initiatives to strengthen democracy, maternal and child health, and science, technology and innovation.

Together with the funding for the State Department, the federal budget request comes to $50.3 billion—a 6 percent increase over the 2015 enacted level and a nearly 9 percent increase over the 2015 request.

“The Budget proposes targeted investments in international programs that will help mobilize collective action to meet global challenges, counter terrorism and violent extremism overseas, strengthen the U.S. economia, and support United States citizens and the U.S. presence overseas,”de acordo com a fact sheet released by the State department.

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Documento salvadorenho para apoiar sonhos de jovens em risco

Fevereiro 2, 2015

3 minutos de leitura

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Documento salvadorenho para apoiar sonhos de jovens em risco

Por Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]A Imprensa Gráfica, um dos jornais diários de maior circulação em El Salvador, está se juntando à luta contra a violência em um país com um dos maiores taxas de homicídio no mundo.

À medida que o crime relacionado com drogas e gangues no país captura cada vez mais manchetes e a atenção de líderes mundiais, o jornal centenário está gerando algumas notícias positivas – imprimindo e distribuindo exemplares do “Desafio de Soñar mi Vida” (“O desafio de sonhar minha vida”) manuais para 10,000 juventude em 13 municípios mais atingidos pela violência. Esta ferramenta de prevenção ao crime foi desenvolvida pela Creative Associates International.

“A metodologia Challenge of Dreaming My Life permitirá que jovens em situação de risco nas comunidades selecionadas desenvolvam planos de vida que os tornem menos vulneráveis ao envolvimento com atividades violentas e criminosas,”explicou Harold Sibaja, quem dirige o Projeto de Prevenção ao Crime e à Violência em El Salvador, financiado pelos EUA. Agência para o Desenvolvimento Internacional e implementada pela Creative.

O projeto 77 centros de extensão em 13 os municípios oferecem espaços e programas seguros – incluindo recreação, treinamento profissional, aulas particulares, apoio a competências para a vida e oportunidades de voluntariado – que mantêm os jovens fora das ruas, onde muitas vezes se tornam vítimas ou perpetradores de violência. Os manuais dos sonhos ajudam os jovens a estabelecer metas e traçar seu progresso.

Compromisso do setor privado

A iniciativa de impressão “Desafio de Sonhar Minha Vida” faz parte de um $60,000 parceria, conhecido como “Estamos com você” (“Estamos com você”) entre La Prensa Gráfica e o projeto. Estes fundos irão somar-se ao $5.8 milhões investidos pela USAID no projecto de prevenção da violência em 13 municípios.

O acordo de parceria foi assinado em cerimônia é janeiro. 26, com a presença de funcionários da USAID, prefeitos, Membros do Conselho da La Prensa Gráfica, funcionários do projeto e jovens e voluntários de muitos dos centros de extensão do projeto.

Embora os níveis de homicídios tenham aumentado nos últimos meses após uma trégua fracassada mediada pelo governo entre duas gangues governantes, O compromisso da La Prensa Gráfica com o desenvolvimento da juventude e o combate ao crime é tão antigo quanto o próprio jornal.

“For a hundred years La Prensa Gráfica newspaper…. está convencido de que o desenvolvimento das competências físicas e culturais das crianças contribui para a prevenção da violência, progredir e melhorar a qualidade de vida das comunidades salvadorenhas tão necessária, ” said José Roberto Dutriz, Presidente e Diretor do jornal, falando na cerimônia.

As atividades comunitárias de prevenção da violência em El Salvador e nos países vizinhos provaram ser bem sucedidas em melhorar a percepção dos residentes sobre segurança, de acordo com um recente estudar pela USAID e Universidade Vanderbilt. Parceiros do setor privado como La Prensa Gráfica têm um grande papel a desempenhar no fortalecimento e sustentação dessas iniciativas.

“O documento assinado hoje contribui para um programa de prevenção à violência e ao crime,” disse Larry Sacks, Diretor Nacional da USAID para El Salvador, falando na cerimônia. "Esse $60,000 A parceria fornecerá materiais para apoiar os jovens que participam nos centros de extensão que apoiamos através do nosso programa de prevenção do crime.”

La Prensa Gráfica é a mais recente empresa a se juntar a uma coalizão de parceiros do setor privado que apoiam o projeto, incluindo o Microsoft Corp.. e Claro El Salvador, um grande celular nacional, provedor de serviços de televisão e Internet.[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/12″][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar barra lateral_id=”barra lateral primária”][/vc_coluna][/vc_row]

Holding out Hope for Children and Youth

Janeiro 20, 2015

3 minutos de leitura

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As I safely tuck my 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter into bed, I am still thinking about the 2015 UNICEF report on the State of the World’s Children that I read this morning. As a youth development professional and advocate, and as a parent, it is difficult to read the remarks of Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive Director, declaring 2014 a dire year for the 15 million children that fell victims of major conflict and crisis globally.

“This has been a devastating year for millions of children,” Lake wrote in the report. “Children have been killed while studying in the classroom and while sleeping in their beds; they have been orphaned, kidnapped, tortured, recrutado, raped and even sold as slaves. Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality.”

The situation is especially heartbreaking given that 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most important declarations for children globally: the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The results of the Convention have been tremendous, from lowering infant mortality to raising school enrollment. No entanto, the UNICEF report serves as a reminder and a call to action, imploring us to not rest on our laurels.

A more helpful way to address youth issues

There is still so much to be done, especially for the children and youth in conflict and crisis environments where the violation of their rights often has irreversible outcomes as they transition through adolescence to adulthood.

In Central African Republic, onde 2.3 million children are affected by the conflict, armed groups are believed to have recruited up to 10,000 children with close to 500 mortes. In South Sudan, uma estimativa 235,000 children age 5 and younger are suffering from severe acute malnutrition with close to 750,000 children displaced and more than 320,000 living as refugees, according to the report.

Ainda, in spite the terrible figures revealed in the report and the challenges for youth in so many countries, there remains hope for millions of children and youth effected by conflict and crisis.

If we assume all children, especially those who are marginalized, should and can have the same opportunities as those in safer or more developed countries—and we build community support to make those opportunities real for them—we can still give children and youth pathways to positive futures as we enter the Post Millennium Development Goals era.

Creating more asset-based youth initiatives, which build on assets instead of honing in on risks and challenges, can enable young people to change their life’s trajectory and become responsible contributors to their communities. It’s a much more positive, and we think effective way of addressing issues affecting youth.

Por exemplo, at-risk youth living in violent, crime-affected communities in Honduras have explored viable life alternatives through Aliança Jovem Honduras (Youth Alliance) programa, which is funded by USAID and implemented by Creative.

Aqui, where violent crime and gangs rule the lives of families and neighborhoods, this program countered the risk factors by providing more than 20,000 children and youth with computer literacy, treinamento profissional, aulas particulares, life skills and leadership opportunities—first and second chances to build resilience and engage in something positive.

Criativos Northern Nigeria Education Initiative fostered enabling environments for orphans and vulnerable children and youth, particularly adolescent girls and boys in informal Qur’anic schools. In these environments, vulnerable youth learned core academic concepts, received job and life skills training and accessed critical psychosocial support in one of today’s most confusing and violent environments for children.

Making new statistics

These two initiatives show us that, although children and youth around the world are too often victimized, they don’t always have to be victims.

Young people who find opportunities to engage their minds, learn new skills and involve themselves in their communities can form the ranks of another kind of statistic—the numbers of youth who are successfully using their own assets and resources to withstand so much negativity and create a positive future for themselves.

As the UNICEF report suggests, 2015 is a pivotal year for the field of children and youth development, and we must renew our commitment to the protection of their rights and creation of hope and opportunity.

Panamá: O que é bom para a empresa é bom para a comunidade

Janeiro 20, 2015

1 minutos de leitura

PANAMA CITY, Panamá — There are two Panamas: os ricos, e os pobres. A maioria das pessoas aqui vive vidas paralelas. Mas um número crescente de empresas está a envolver-se nas suas comunidades – e a colher os benefícios à medida que estes mundos se combinam.

Os “dois mundos” do Panamá se unem para a juventude

Especialistas: Mideast youth radicalism is “public health crisis”

Janeiro 16, 2015

5 minutos de leitura

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Especialistas: Mideast youth radicalism is “public health crisis”

Por Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]In refugee camps across Jordan, Líbano, Turkey and other countries, mais do que 3 million Syrians live in limbo. Especially for those in their teens and twenties, their life plans—education, careers, marriages and families—are suspended while a violent civil war at home rages into its fourth year.

“If you go into a refugee camp, every day is Ground Hog’s day. There is no tomorrow and there is no yesterday. Every day is frozen," disse Curt Rhodes, Founder and Director of Questscope, which works across the Middle East to create social, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities for marginalized youth.

Rhodes joined other experts in youth, development and stabilization on a panel entitled “Youth Programming in Jordan and Syria,” hosted by Creative Associates International on Jan. 6.

With the spread of Estado Islâmico and other extremist groups in an already unstable region, preventing marginalized young people from joining violent extremist groups is becoming a development and security priority.

Outside of the Middle East’s conflict hotspots, many youth in transitioning countries like Egypt and divided ones like Lebanon are also adrift. Com mais de 100 milhão juventude 15-29 in the region and a youth unemployment rate of 28 por cento, economic opportunities are slim.

Authoritarian governments and nascent, backsliding democracies leave youth with the “inability to feel like they had any say not only in their governments but even in their communities," disse Richard Jaskot, Director of Stabilization and Development at Creative.

Criminal treatment breeds criminal youth

To stem radicalization among youth, Rhodes said, governments and practitioners first need to adjust the lens through which they view the problem.

In the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and other communities where Questscopoe works, Rhodes said youth in juvenile detention centers often report being mistreated and abused by authorities. This abuse within a system meant to reform at-risk youth can in fact lead to even more alienation and violent behavior.

“The fact that you treat them in a criminal way helps them become better criminals,"ele disse.

Rhodes said that rather than labeling at-risk, marginalized youth as criminals to be tracked and punished, we should view radicalization among youth as a public health crisis, looking at its causes and symptoms and striving to reduce its spread.

Countering radicalization with connection

While headlines speak of new “recruits” to groups like ISIL and “recruitment” campaigns via social media, experts say that those who join these violent groups are largely seeking out membership, “auditioning” in the words of Guilherme Céspedes, Crime and Violence Prevention Advisor at Creative who has developed youth gang and violence prevention efforts in Las Angeles and throughout Central America.

Rhodes agreed that young people who join radical, violent groups are searching for them, largely pushed by marginalization and other risk factors.

“Terrorists are looking for a place to hire them,"ele disse. “They don’t get recruited.”

What they are often also seeking, said Rhodes, is connection and a sense of purpose.

Many young Syrians living in camps, have lost all their relationships to death or separation and do not know where loved ones have ended up outside of the country, ele disse, leading to a kind of “mental health crisis.”

Adolescence and early adulthood is a time when people seek meaning and define their social identities.

But deprived of connections, living in chaos and with a world of radicalism at their fingertips, Rhodes said, “I can be searching for my social identity in Aleppo, Syria and a guy in Brighton, England who is searching for his social identity—we can find each other and we can talk. We can be economically marginalized but we are no longer politically marginalized.”

Reestablishing relationships, particularly with adults but also with peers in a supportive environment, Rhodes said, can recreate a lost sense of family, identity and relationships and can prevent youth from seeking out connections and meaning in a radical movement.

Restoring agency & opening pathways

In seemingly dead-end situations from refugee camps to authoritarian societies where young people feel they have no legitimate means to affect change, said Creative’s Jaskot, youth may reason that “if [extremismo violento] is the only way you can make a difference then maybe try it.”

Giving youth avenues to regain a sense of purpose and personal agency, Rhodes said, is key to combatting extremism among youth.

“Everyone wants to know that I can do something and the thing that I am doing actually matters,” said Rhodes.

Where few opportunities for education, renda, political participation and social status exist, governments and program implementers need to step in with viable opportunities for youth as alternatives to radicalism, os painelistas disseram.

Often when programs to reach marginalized youth do exist, they are ill-fitting and ineffectual having been designed by adults outside of the Middle East, disse Eric Rusten, Education for Development expert at Creative and co-author of the Juventude fala metodologia e kit de ferramentas, a youth-led process of investigating an issue that affects them and mobilizing community action to address it.

Rusten said that programming geared towards vulnerable youth must put youth at the center so that those doing the bulk of the talking, thinking, idea-generating and implementing are the same young people who are supposed to benefit from the program.

This leadership is empowering for young people, agreed Rhodes.

“Out of your situation, if you feel like you can tell your story and it is told in such a way that people listen to you, you feel like you are on a different trajectory,” said Rhodes.

By the thousands

Violent extremism among youth is a problem that transcends borders. Marginalized young people from the camps of Jordan to the hearts of major cities around the Middle East and in the West are susceptible to this epidemic.

To be successful, initiatives to combat violence and extremism can’t just “go after the low hanging fruit,” said Creative’s Cespedes. Programs must engage those who are most on the brink of violence and radicalization and even those who are already involved in radical groups.

Rhodes said that although many youth in the Middle East perceive that the Western model for political and economic prosperity and security has failed, this does mean those youth are unreachable.

“We have to figure out how to get in dialogue with people who don’t particularly like us and people we don’t particularly like,"ele disse.

Effective efforts to counter youth radicalism in the region will also require scaling up programs like Questscope and Youth Speak that have been successful at generating positive relationships, restoring personal agency and opening opportunities for marginalized youth

“You can’t do it on a hundred kids, you’ve got to think in terms of thousands,” said Rhodes.[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/12″][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar barra lateral_id=”barra lateral primária”][/vc_coluna][/vc_row]

15 tendências de desenvolvimento a serem observadas em 2015

Janeiro 14, 2015

6 minutos de leitura

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15 tendências de desenvolvimento a serem observadas em 2015

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]2015 deverá ser um grande ano no desenvolvimento global, e especialistas criativos avaliaram as tendências e mudanças que antecipam. Do investimento social ao yoga, aqui estão 15 coisas para assistir 2015.

1. Dados abertos e em tempo real

Os financiadores e as ONG continuarão a melhorar a recolha e gestão de dados para que as informações dos projetos estejam cada vez mais disponíveis para análise em tempo real e tomada de decisões.

Um esforço contínuo pela transparência da informação levará mais governos a, agências de financiamento e implementadores disponibilizem seus dados abertamente. A USAID ajudou a colocar isto na agenda para 2015 ao liberar esses Diretrizes de dados de desenvolvimento no outono 2014.

De Jacqui Deelstra, Associado, Tecnologia para o Desenvolvimento e Ayan Kishore, Associado Sênior, Tecnologia para Desenvolvimento

2. Respostas sobre a relação pobreza-crescimento

O crescimento macroeconómico para os países significa melhores vidas e rendimentos para os seus cidadãos?

Em 2015, podemos aprender a resposta e como isso se correlaciona entre o crescimento e a redução da pobreza., se eles existirem. A USAID está actualmente a realizar um estudo multinacional utilizando o Índice de Crescimento Inclusivo (IGI) —uma metodologia para avaliar a situação económica dos países e o papel que o aumento do comércio e do investimento teve na vida dos indivíduos e das famílias nos países em desenvolvimento.

Espere mais pesquisas sobre a relação pobreza-crescimento por parte de doadores e especialistas em desenvolvimento este ano.

De Jerry Wright, Diretor Sênior, Divisão de Crescimento Econômico

3. Foco na urbanização e na migração juvenil

As cidades são a próxima fronteira para a economia, desenvolvimento tecnológico e social, de acordo com o setor privado. Enquanto isso, padrões de migração juvenil afetará programas de desenvolvimento urbano. Capacitar e proporcionar oportunidades aos jovens nas cidades e será uma prioridade de desenvolvimento em 2015.

De Bonnie Politz, Conselheiro Sênior para Juventude, e Madalena Fulton, Associada Sênior para Juventude e Elizabeth Mullen, Associado do programa para jovens

4. Uma abordagem baseada no bairro para a prevenção do crime e da violência

No outono 2014, A Vanderbilt University divulgou os resultados de um estudo de três anos estudar mostrando que os programas comunitários de prevenção da violência em bairros de risco em toda a América Central melhoraram a percepção de segurança dos residentes – 51% menos residentes relataram ter conhecimento de assassinatos, extorsão ou chantagem e 35% menos residentes relataram evitar áreas perigosas por medo do crime.

Em 2015, esperamos que os implementadores se concentrem no nível do bairro onde o crime e prevenção da violência pode gerar significativos resultados.

De Guilherme Céspedes, Diretor, Prevenção do Crime e da Violência

5. Mais "Sobre"

Para crianças e jovens – especialmente aqueles em situação de risco – mindfulness, práticas de meditação e ioga proporcionam foco mais calmo e equilíbrio interior, resultando em redução da ansiedade e estresse e maior autocontrole e autoconsciência.

Espere ver uma consciência crescente do poder desses métodos e uma maior disposição para usá-los na programação.

De Eileen St. Jorge, Diretor, Educação em Conflito

6. Inovações universitárias de ponta em matéria de integridade eleitoral

Em 2015, nove parcerias inovadoras entre USAID e EUA. universidades vão concluir, produzindo pesquisas de ponta, podemos esperar influenciar as recomendações ao Centro de Excelência em Democracia da USAID, Direitos Humanos e Governança.

Fora da pesquisa, veremos inovações que fortalecerão programas e missões de campo, incluindo uma ferramenta de avaliação de resultados eleitorais; um sofisticado instrumento forense para avaliar se as eleições são livres e justas; conclusões sobre se os esforços de compra de votos realmente afetam a forma como os cidadãos votam; e pesquisas sobre o impacto dos observadores eleitorais na fraude, representação política e responsabilização.

De Tihana Bartulac Blanc, Associado Sênior, Educação Eleitoral e Integridade

7. Integração da tecnologia para o desenvolvimento & construção da paz

Profissionais de desenvolvimento em 2014 discutiu-se cada vez mais as lições aprendidas e as melhores práticas para o uso da tecnologia para o desenvolvimento, incluindo o Princípios para o Desenvolvimento Digital, uma iniciativa apoiada por uma grande coligação de agências de financiamento e organizações internacionais.

Os intervenientes na consolidação da paz também geraram novas tecnologias e iniciativas para travar conflitos e enfrentar crises humanitárias. Em 2014, A USIP lançou o Laboratório USIP PeaceTech. Estas ferramentas podem ser utilizadas para combater gangues e terroristas que utilizam a tecnologia como meio de recrutamento e intimidação.

Em 2015, usando esse conhecimento, as intervenções tecnológicas tornar-se-ão ainda mais integrantes do trabalho de desenvolvimento em todos os sectores, incluindo a construção da paz e a resolução de conflitos, e será melhor concebido e implementado.

De Jacqui Deelstra, Associado, Tecnologia para o Desenvolvimento e Ayan Kishore, Associado Sênior, Tecnologia para Desenvolvimento

8. Mais investimento social

Embora o investimento social tenha se tornado moda nos Estados Unidos na década de 1980, só entrou em voga na ajuda ao desenvolvimento muito mais tarde, quando movimentos como o Fundo Social Calvert, a Fundação Clinton e o Business Call to Action surgiram.

Captação ativada investimento social por empresas e doadores pode ter sido lento, mas os impactos do investimento social têm sido impressionantes. Agora, é uma característica fundamental da agenda de desenvolvimento pós-2015.

De Jerry Wright, Diretor Sênior, Divisão de Crescimento Econômico

9. Um movimento além da “formação” para o desenvolvimento de capacidades humanas e institucionais

Com a USAID a concentrar-se mais no desenvolvimento da capacidade humana e institucional, os implementadores estão seguindo o exemplo e reformulando suas abordagens.

Consistente com esta tendência, Criativo está indo além do treinamento para implementar sua Abordagem Colaborativa de Apoio ao Desempenho que constrói, capacidade organizacional e sistêmica com diversas ferramentas baseadas em resultados.

De Michael McCabe, Associado Sênior, Treinamento e Desenvolvimento de Capacidades

10. Voz dos jovens e envolvimento autêntico

No ano passado, vimos jovens moldarem discussões sobre as Nações Unidas publicar 2015 objetivos de desenvolvimento; Malala Yousafzai recebe o Prémio Nobel pelo seu trabalho corajoso para promover a educação das meninas; e mais perto de casa, organizações como a Aliança para o Desenvolvimento Internacional da Juventude amplificar a voz dos jovens no Fórum de Interação 2014. Os programas concebidos com e pelos jovens são mais direcionados, eficaz, e sustentável de acordo com o mundo pesquisar e evidências geradas pelos programas liderados por jovens da Creative em Marrocos e América Central.

Incorporar a voz dos jovens e o envolvimento autêntico dos jovens será fundamental para todos os aspectos dos programas em 2015.

De Bonnie Politz, Conselheiro Sênior para Juventude, Madalena Fulton, Associada Sênior para Juventude e Elizabeth Mullen, Associado do programa para jovens

11. Aprendizagem combinada e aproveitamento de dispositivos móveis

No final de 2015, espera-se que o mercado global de e-learning duplique em relação ao seu 2011 vale a pena $35 bilhões para quase US$ 70 bilhões. A área de desenvolvimento está abraçando a revolução do e-learning que permite aos funcionários, parceiros e beneficiários para aprender habilidades “soft” e “hard” a qualquer momento, em qualquer lugar.

CreativeU. com e outras plataformas estão agregando qualidade, cursos compatíveis com dispositivos móveis e conversão de treinamentos anteriormente ministrados por instrutores em modelos dinâmicos que combinam aprendizagem presencial com aprendizagem móvel, que demonstraram melhor retenção a longo prazo.

Este ano, aplicativos móveis e jogos educativos continuarão avançando, dando aos jovens ferramentas envolventes para interagir com o currículo e criar e compartilhar suas histórias, real ou ficção, de maneiras que estimulem suas mentes criativamente, emocionalmente, intelectualmente e com propósito.

De Michael McCabe, Associado Sênior, Treinamento e Desenvolvimento de Capacidades, e Eileen St.. Jorge, Diretor, Educação em Conflito

De Eileen St. Jorge, Diretor, Educação em Conflito

12. Uma “revolução de dados de gênero”

Em dezembro 2014, Hilary Clinton anunciou seis novas parcerias estender Dados2X, uma iniciativa lançada em 2012 estimular uma “revolução de dados de género” e promover a igualdade de género e o empoderamento das mulheres a nível mundial através de políticas e programas baseados em evidências. Esperemos um impulso ainda mais forte para dados relevantes de género este ano, juntamente com uma maior procura por lições aprendidas em matéria de género e desenvolvimento.

Doadores, incluindo USAID, continuará a enfatizar a integração de género nos projectos e exigirá abordagens mais sistemáticas que envolvam análises e estratégias de género, basear-se em dados e evidências e demonstrar resultados.

De Rekha Martin, Associado Sênior, Gênero

13. Utilizar uma governação local eficaz para construir a eficácia do Estado

O reforço da governação local eficaz será uma prioridade na 2015. O Novo acordo de Busan e Estrutura dos Sistemas Locais da USAID apresentar uma plataforma que apela a uma melhor compreensão das economias políticas dos países e comunidades para enfrentar este desafio.

As relações Estado-sociedade serão uma área de foco chave este ano – e na agenda de desenvolvimento pós-2015 – para alcançar a consolidação da paz e a construção do Estado.

De Débora Kimble, Diretor, Governança e Sociedade Civil

14. Programas aprimorados de preparação para a carreira e de entrada no mercado de trabalho

Hoje, os empregos que mais crescem em todo o mundo são “digitais” e baseados em tecnologia. Jovens buscarão treinamento este ano em habilidades em informática e tecnologia para aproveitar as oportunidades económicas da economia actual. Empregos verdes e investimentos na agricultura também criarão oportunidades de emprego para os jovens.

De Bonnie Politz, Conselheiro Sênior para Juventude, Madalena Fulton, Associada Sênior para Juventude e Elizabeth Mullen, Associado do programa para jovens

15. Medindo o desenvolvimento do capital humano

Existem três vertentes de medição para avaliar o sucesso e o retorno dos investimentos em capital humano: educação, saúde e retornos económicos para indivíduos e famílias. Foi preciso muito trabalho e debate para que a comunidade de desenvolvimento chegasse a este consenso.

Agora em 2015, Os especialistas da Creative trabalharão com e ao lado da USAID e da Millennium Challenge Corporation para definir a melhor forma de conceber projetos que melhorem o desenvolvimento do capital humano, e também medir o seu impacto nos mercados, economias e – em última análise – padrões de vida das pessoas nos países em desenvolvimento.

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Debate Over E-learning a “First World problem” for many youth

dezembro 23, 2014

3 minutos de leitura

2011-mayo-063

Segundo, a young Embera Indian and indigenous environmental leader, guided my kids on a hot sticky trek through the Darien jungle explaining the incredibly rich biodiversity of this economically poor region of Panama. He leads these eco-treks as a volunteer through a local NGO, and with very limited job opportunities for Embera here, I was curious how Segundo made his living.

Segundo told me that he had not gotten much of a formal education: school was too far away from his indigenous village, not to mention that it had 50 students to a class and poor teaching. No entanto, he proudly talked about how he now fixes air conditioners in this hottest corner of Latin America. When I asked how he got this training, he flashed his smile and said his teacher was, “YouTube por supuesto,” (YouTube of course).”

Segundo represents a different side to what has become an international debate on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and e-learning, in which a growing number of op-eds, blogs and conference debate sessions question e-learning’s effectiveness, return on investment, sustentabilidade, completion rate and quality.

These are valid conversations for a growing industry that is predicted to have $52 billion a year in investments by 2016. But the reality is that many of the 357 million out of school and out of work young people worldwide don’t care whether social scientists think e-learning is an appropriate way for them to gain skills and knowledge.

Em vez de, across Latin America, Africa and other regions, young adults like him are flocking not only to YouTube educational videos, but to e-learning aggregator sites such as www.Alison.com, www.CreativeU.com and Coursera to get free access to just-in-time learning—even if it only gains them a certificate of competency completion and not a formal accreditation.

People like Segundo don’t always have time to wait for the results of international debate. And their need and desire to access educational content is not changed by the statistic that less than 10 percent of students in the U.S. finish MOOCs—a fact commonly used to temper the optimism of e-learning’s potential.

No recente Online Educa global e-learning conference, delegates from African countries also highlighted that the narrow Western definition of MOOCs as being only online multi-week courses offered by universities overlooks the technological limitations in some countries caused by limited bandwidth or Internet connectivity.

Em vez de, blended learning MOOC approaches from India to Nigeria to Central America have historically more often used Massive Open “On-Air” Courses through radio distance learning, and increasingly access to learning via their Android devices to deliver agricultural or literacy training.

The bottom line as highlighted at the Online Educa conference was the importance of more localized content in local languages. It is pretty intuitive, learners want knowledge contextualized to their situations and in their language rather than just an off-the-shelf example designed for a generic learner.

Colleagues also emphasized that what mattered most to many users in developing countries was either getting certificates to help with employment opportunities or just getting the pieces of information they most need when they need it, be that a course to advance or improve as a teacher or a fixer of air conditioners in the Darien.

Por agora, Creative will continue to support the tendências and the appropriate methodologies and learning effectiveness of online or blended learning platforms and courses, while also building the capacity of our partners to access what they need, when they need it.

Burgers & business give at-risk Honduran youth hope

dezembro 19, 2014

5 minutos de leitura

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Burgers & business give at-risk Honduran youth hope

Por Jillian Slutzker

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ASSISTA AO VÍDEO

Jesus Lanza was heading down a bad path—involved in gangs and drugs—until he had a chance to learn the basics of business with Alianza Joven Honduras and the Chamber of Commerce. With training and a small grant, he turned his life around and turned his small kitchen into a booming burger enterprise to support his family.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_separador][vc_column_text]Tegucigalpa, Honduras—In his family’s small kitchen in one of the capital’s most at-risk neighborhoods, 23-year-old Jesus Lanza, wearing an apron and gloves, flips hamburger patties and fries potatoes. Hoje, he will sell from 16 para 25 burgers, enough to help support his parents and 8-year-old sister.

HON101014132 Jesus, known by his nickname “Chuy,” has a steady burger business. Neighbors regularly pop in for a bite in the tiny kitchen restaurant. He even rides in his father’s taxi for deliveries farther away.

But “Chuy’s Burgers” is about to go through a growth spurt thanks to a prize of $5,000 he won on Dec. 19 in the “Honduras Emprende” entrepreneurship contest, held annually by the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Chuy hasn’t always been this successful. Just a couple of years ago, ele diz, he was off course, involved in drugs, drinking and destructive habits. A community pastor told him this path would likely end in “either death or jail.”

“I watched my friends, one by one,” Chuy says. “The drugs were going to destroy them….I did not want this for my life and for the future of my family, so I asked God to open a door for me, a better way for my future, better welfare for my life.”

Tegucgalpa is one of the most violent cities in Honduras, considered the most dangerous country in the world outside of a war zone. Gangs and drug activity plague many of the city’s poorest barrios, like the one where Chuy and his family live.

Reintegration through entrepreneurship

With help from the Aliança Juvenil de Honduras (Aliança Juvenil Honduras) violence prevention program, que é financiado pelos EUA. Agência para o Desenvolvimento Internacional e implementada pela Creative Associates International, Chuy enrolled in a social nreintegration through entrepreneurship and employment training program for youth at high-risk run by the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

O programa, “Second Opportunities for Our Youth,” has trained more than 150 18 to 29-year-olds in entrepreneurship, as well as conflict resolution, life planning and resilience skills. Participants learn how to start and sustain a business, and they are provided with small grants to get their ventures off the ground.

“The specific objective of the project is to reintegrate back into society people who in the past have been linked to criminal acts or have been imprisoned with a background in rehabilitation centers,” explains Fabricio Sierra, Project Coordinator for the youth-at-risk reintegration program at the Chamber of Commerce.

“What we are looking for is that these young people believe in themselves and seek alternatives to their economic problems rather than the violence, drug dealing, or belonging to criminal gangs. They have the potential to find ways to generate an income that would really be favorable—to pay their studies, pay for their houses, lights, their daily meals. We have such talented people with very entreprenuerial ideas,”ele diz.

For many former gang members or youth like Chuy living in violent neighborhoods, the stigma associated with their communities can prevent them from getting jobs in established businesses. Self-employment can be a viable economic alternative and a means of reintegration into society.

Collaborating on shared problems

Desde 2011, Aliança Juvenil de Honduras, USAID, the Honduran government and the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce have collaborated to support former gang members and at-risk youth with job skills training and key tools for adapting to post-gang or post-crime life.

“It was definitely a challenge for the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce to identify what way we can help our country to address the various shortcomings that exist,” says Karla Ruiz, General Manager of the Tegucigalpa Chamber of Commerce.

Ruiz says that when the Chamber saw the possibility to “teach what we know”—how to start a business—the program was born. Whether former gang members or at-risk youth, ela diz, “they definitely have the incredible potential that allows them to be linked to the labor market or even start a microenterprise.”

The Second Opportunities for Our Youth program received $30,000 in funding from Alianza Joven Honduras and another $30,000 from the government’s Security Tax Trust Committee for its 2014 e 2015 atividades.

Ruiz says that by teaming up with initiatives like Alianza Joven Honduras and partners from the public and private sector, the Chamber of Commerce and other groups can work on common objectives like reducing violence and reintegrating highly at-risk youth into society.

“I think that definitely we can have an impact,” Ruiz says.

Sustainable successs

The program has certainly had a positive effect on Chuy, who plans to use his “Honduras Emprende” contest award of $5,000 to expand Chuy’s Burgers, which will ultimately generate additional income for his family.

Enquanto isso, he continues to deliver his signature burgers to schoolkids and teachers, neighbors and even employees at the Chamber of Commerce. He jokes that his customers are from ages 7 para 80 anos.

“Jesus for us is a success story,” says Ruiz.

But he is not the only one.

Sierra, the coordinator of the at-risk youth project at the Chamber of Commerce, reports that more than 90 percent of program particpiants complete the full training.

Another entrepreneurship program graduate named Fernando, ele diz, is paying his way through a college degree in teaching thanks to profits from his small CD business, which he started with seed money provided by the Chamber.

“I believe that if we continue betting on reintegration, we will achieve having a successful country,” says Sierra.

HON101014142 As more former gang members and at-risk youth turned entrepenerus launch their own enterprises and succeed, they will be positive examples to the youth in their communities and show them that there can be viable opportunities outside of violence, Sierra says.

“This project is a great support for youth today,” says Chuy, noting that many young people in neighborhoods like his don’t live to reach the age of 20 due to violence, and youth are both victims and perpretrators of this crime.

“I think that providing jobs for society gives them the opportunity to engage. [Juventude] will give 100% and will fight for the longing in their hearts to become better people.”

With the support of Alianza Joven Honduras and the Chamber of Commerce, Chuy experienced that transformation.

“If you had seen me in the past, and now what I am, there has been a totally radical change,”ele diz. “If my friends had this opportunity, I think they would become better human beings for Honduras.”

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ASSISTA AO VÍDEO

Jesus Lanza was heading down a bad path—involved in gangs and drugs—until he had a chance to learn the basics of business with Alianza Joven Honduras and the Chamber of Commerce. With training and a small grant, he turned his life around and turned his small kitchen into a booming burger enterprise to support his family.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/12″][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar barra lateral_id=”barra lateral primária”][/vc_coluna][/vc_row]

Ownership the key to post-2015 development

dezembro 11, 2014

5 minutos de leitura

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Ownership the key to post-2015 development

Por Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]As the Millennium Development Goals end, today’s development practitioners must chart new goals that capitalize on programmatic successes, improve shortcomings and take into account markedly different realities on the ground, according to a panel of experts.

“It is a more complex and difficult environment than it was when the MDGS were formulated,” said U.S. Embaixador James Michel, a former U.S. Agency for International Development official and author of “Shaping the New Development Agenda,” speaking at a Dec. 9 panel on the same topic.

Fifteen years after the Millennium Development Goals were designed, development has changed, os painelistas disseram. The private sector is now a key player in stimulating growth. A surge in intrastate conflicts have rendered millions more vulnerable and less accessible. And good governance, rights and inclusion are priorities alongside economic progress.

Em resposta, the development industry is “changing-both in the goals it is setting for itself and the way development is funded,” said Leland Kruvant, President of Creative Associates International, which co-hosted the discussion with the Centro para Empresa Privada Internacional.

Groups like the UN High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which has proposed 12 new goals, and the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, which has proposed 17 metas, have taken these trends into account, said Michel.

Shifting paradigms

development_agenda-5 With the emergence of new players in development—from donor blocs with members like Brazil and India to the private sector—the way the aid industry goes about development must change, os painelistas disseram. Donors are no longer conceiving of a North-South aid flow but rather a true global partnership.

The emphasis on the word “partner” in USAID’s new mission statement “forces us to think in cross-cutting ways,” said Tony Pippa, Deputy Assistant Administrator in the agency’s Bureau of Policy.

These new partnerships will capitalize on innovations in technology and development, Pippa said, and will prioritize local solutions and developing country ownership to ensure lasting outcomes.

Igualmente importante, os painelistas disseram, is setting goals that center on inclusive growth, effective and accountable democratic institutions and climate sustainability—all critical elements to success in the post-2015 era.

“This paradigm shift in development is something that I think the US really welcomes,” Pippa said.

Private sector leadership

The private sector has long been a contributor to international aid, but the ways in which business invests in emerging markets today marks a move from philanthropy to smart social impact investing.

“Bill Gates doesn’t write checks anymore,” J.W. Wright, head of Creative’s Economic Growth Division, told the audience. “He writes programs and policies, and that is changing the dialogue.”

By investing in development, private companies can improve their “triple bottom line”— benefiting people, the planet and profits, wrote Bradford Strickland, economic growth expert at Creative, e Charito Kruvant, the company’s CEO, in their paper “Making Positive Social Impact an Everyday Part of International Business.”

As the development industry seeks to leverage the interests of the private sector, they should reach out to other entities besides big names like Microsoft and the Gates Foundation, said John D. Sullivan, Executive Director of the Center for International Private Enterprise.

“We always talk about public-private partnerships, and we think that means we are going to find a big multinational corporation to a form a partnership,"ele disse.

Small and medium enterprises in developing countries are not only valuable, ele disse, but in many cases, are essential to creating inclusive, crescimento sustentável.

Particularly in conflict and post-conflict settings, engaging the private sector can accelerate recovery and growth.

Sullivan said the informal sector, qual de acordo com o Banco Mundial makes up from 25 por cento para 40 percent of annual output in Asia and Africa, should also be brought into to economic growth efforts. Unlocking the potential of informal sector workers will be a boon to developing economies.

Beyond traditional partnerships, companies should also engage in dialogue with governments, Sullivan said, on how to create enabling environments for growth and investment. Without these institutional frameworks, inclusive growth and the other sustainable development goals will be hard to achieve.

Reaching the most vulnerable

Nowhere are these goals more difficult to achieve than in fragile and conflict-affected states.

Mais do que 1.5 billion poor people live in places plagued by conflict and fragility, and more than half of the populations in post-conflict states live in poverty, de acordo com o Banco Mundial.

development_agenda-14 “This is a class of countries for whom special needs are required if you really want development,” disse Pauline Baker, President Emeritus of the Fund for Peace and contributing author to Creative’s series on Crescimento econômico, Fragilidade e resiliência.

Development progress is typically charted through indicators and data, which are hard to obtain in a crisis context. The Sustainable Development Goals, por exemplo, stipulate a daunting 169 alvos.

In these environments, Baker said, a census has often not been conducted for decades, records of land ownership are nonexistent and records like voter registration can be subject to political manipulation.

By only viewing development in a kind of “antiseptic way” and looking at economic indicators alone, Baker said, “you’re really writing off a whole class of conflict-affected states”

The new agenda, Baker said, must address the humanitarian and development needs of these most vulnerable people and build the resilience of societies and states to overcome fragility.

Development implementers cannot ignore these critical groups—including a surging youth population, millions of refugees and internally displaced people, and women who have been blocked out of political and economic development processes.

But reaching these populations will require some innovation.

“We are going to have to be more creative and come up with effective methods by which we can work in places coming out of conflict and achieve those development gains,” said Pippa.

Today’s development policymakers certainly have hurdles to overcome as they prepare for the post-2015 world, but with stronger partnerships and shared knowledge, these experts are optimistic.

“The potential benefits and the quality of the work to date provides grounds for hope and optimism that these efforts will contribute greatly to a sustainable world of freedom, opportunity and dignity for all,” Michel wrote in “Shaping the New Development Agenda”.

“The outcome cannot be guaranteed,” he wrote. “But the vision is certainly worth pursuing.”

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Development companies hope multinationals become clients

novembro 20, 2014

5 minutos de leitura

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Development companies hope multinationals become clients

Por Jennifer Brookland

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]In a time of federal budget uncertainty, lingering sequestration anxiety and bursting competition for development dollars, international development companies should look to multinational corporations to expand their client roster.

“There are companies out there bringing in billions and billions of dollars,” disse Charito Kruvant, co-founder and CEO of Creative Associates International, who spoke at the Council of International Development Companies’ 2014 conferência em Washington, DC. “We have to grow, so we’re looking at our client base.”

Though Congress slashed the U.S. foreign assistance budget slightly less heartily than other appropriations, international development companies once reliant on U.S. government funding have increasingly eyed big business as a type of donor less prone to turnover, freezes and inefficiencies.

These development companies are also uniquely situated to provide real benefits to multinationals that recognize the humanitarian importance—and good business sense—of engaging with communities where they work, according to Stan Soloway, Presidente e CEO da Conselho de serviços profissionais, the national trade association of the government professional and technical services industry.

International development companies “are perfectly positioned to provide the needed interface between multinationals and emerging markets because they speak both ‘languages’ – development and free enterprise,” Soloway wrote in an introduction to a paper published by the Council and co-authored by Kruvant and colleague Bradford Strickland.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Better storytelling needed

photo-1 De fato, development companies like Creative are still figuring out how to use the syntax and colloquialisms of this language.

“To appeal to the private sector, we need to know how to explain what we do and how we do it,”disse Kruvant. “We need to tell our story of how wonderful we are at changing people’s lives.”

The way to do it isn’t always with nice pictures and brochures, ela disse, but hard numbers and statistics that business can use to improve their supply chains, incorporate technology and make their human resources more farsighted.

“We need to transfer our language in cross-cultural way to speak to those companies without giving up on our mission,”disse Kruvant. “Understanding the private sector and understanding their precise needs lets us figure out how to be of service to them.”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Shared opportunity

Companies ranging from beverage distributers to clothing manufacturers can benefit from international development companies’ expertise in capacity building, negotiation and workforce development. But for that to happen, those multinationals need to know this community exists.

Many large companies do not automatically think to turn to international development firms when they work in emerging or fragile markets, just as development organizations are unsure of how to move beyond targeting a firm’s corporate social responsibility arm or foundation and partnering with the company itself.

Foundations only provided 10 percent of philanthropic funding in 2013, according to Susan Rae Ross, founder and CEO of consulting company SR International and author of Expanding the Pie: Fostering Nonprofit and Corporate Partnerships.

“The real money,"ela disse, “is in the business. If you want to think about doing HIV training for employees of Levi Strauss, that money comes out of the HR department.”

Com 72,000 companies in medical technology company Medtronic’s supply chain, Managing Director of International Relations Dr. Trevor Gunn says the company’s fundamental problem is that it cannot find enough suppliers around the world—the perfect “in” for an international development company with expertise in livelihoods development, economic growth and capacity building: if Medtronic or a development organization thinks to partner.

“Do we really understand our future? We always think we do, and that’s why we need help,” Gunn said.

Corporations need help developing markets for smallholder farmers, por exemplo, or strengthening the health or education sectors, but are more likely today to turn to large nonprofits or boutique consultants, said Devex’s Raj Kumar, who moderated the panel.

The prospect of multinationals and development companies turning to each other could be a mutual opportunity, according to Denis O’Brien, Chairman of the global communications provider Digicel.

“There is a growing movement in corporate America and worldwide to make multinationals more responsible,” O’Brien said.

For big business, it is “your time to actually do something in countries where you generate income,” O’Brien said. “If you want to sleep at night and you’re making a lot of profits in a poor country like Haiti, you’ve got to do something that is super impactful.”

O’Brien recommended reinvesting profits back into community projects, and then running those projects as managers would the core business.

Kruvant and Strickland suggest companies are starting to do this: “Rather than channeling work through a Corporate Social Responsibility (RSE) department, corporations seeking to affect positive change are using new products and services that are helping to build social impact into their everyday business practices,” they write.

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The trouble with partners

Ainda, as speakers at the CIDC conference pointed out, partnering with large companies is not a mindless solution for development organizations wishing to expand their pies.

They can be complicated to get off the ground, for starters.

“Most people underestimate the time it takes to do a partnership by at least 40 por cento, especially in the development community when there’s a big gap between when you establish a partnership and when you get the funding,” said Ross. “In many ways doing these partnerships, you have to be a risk-taker.”

“I don’t have a bottom line that’s endless that will go on while we discuss partnership,”disse Kruvant. “I need to be able to plan and deliver services for the next three years, not dance with CEOs who tell you how great you are. Think of us as vendors first, and then partners.”

But when that relationship is achieved, Ross pointed out that true partnership must extend beyond the bankroll.

Instead of hunting for a donor to support a cause, development firms must come to the table clearly able to articulate their assets and expertise, but also open-minded to the idea that big businesses want to have a hand in shaping the solutions, and not just funding them.

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Outreach center success touted at IADB

novembro 20, 2014

3 minutos de leitura

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Outreach center success touted at IADB

Por Jillian Slutzker

[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][/vc_row][vc_row][largura da coluna_vc=”2/3″][vc_column_text]To tell a story about transformation in the barrios of San Pedro Sula to diplomats, policymakers and business leaders in the corridors of Washington, CC, a picture says a thousand words.

O Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento showcased images of youth in the Aliança Juvenil de Honduras violence prevention program. The exhibit debuted during a summit of leaders from Central and South America, Europe and the U.S. focused on growth and development in the Northern Triangle region of El Salvador, Guatemala e Honduras.

O 49 vibrant photos on display show youth and the community volunteers, faith-based organizations and leaders who support them in many of the program’s 46 centros de extensão in at-risk, high-crime neighborhoods across the country.

“That is my favorite,” said David Medina, Deputy Director of Alianza Joven Honduras, pointing to a photo of eight teenage volunteers jumping in mid-air with their hands raised. “It shows the energy of the volunteers. They are the most important thing in the outreach centers. Because of them, everything happens. It is youth helping youth.”

The Honduran government, através do seu Security Tax Trust Committee, is contributing $1 million to develop 11 new outreach centers and support all the other centers in Honduras, alcançando 23,000 children and youth with additional equipment, prevention activities and support.

Alianza Joven Honduras is funded by the U.S. Agência para o Desenvolvimento Internacional e implementada pela Creative Associates International.

“A lot of this project we have done together,” said Alejandra Hernández, Honduran Vice Minister of Security in Prevention, discussing the cooperation between the U.S. and her government on violence prevention. “It is important to know it is not just money. It’s really reaching our children.”

Gang violence and narco-trafficking has resulted in Honduras having the highest homicide rate in the world outside of a war zone, and it has been a major source country of unaccompanied minors immigrating to the U.S.

The Alianza Joven outreach centers, which provide at-risk youth with safe spaces and opportunities including life skills, treinamento profissional, tutoring and volunteer opportunities, are helping to counter these trends, de acordo com um recente estudar by Vanderbilt University.

Cutting-ribbon-2 During the summit—which was attended by Presidents Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras, Otto Pérez Molina of Guatemala and Salvador Sánchez Cerén of El Salvador and U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden—leaders discussed innovative approaches, like the outreach centers, to improve security, saúde, economic opportunities and education to reduce crime and stem migration from their region.

“A peaceful Central America, with opportunities for its people, with justice and security, will be of great benefit not only for our citizens but also for the United States and other peoples of the world,” said President Hernández, speaking at the event.

Surrounded by flashing cameras, President Hernandez made a special visit to open the exhibit in between event sessions. The President and First Lady have been vocal supporters of youth-focused crime prevention and the USAID outreach center partnership.

Violence has many causes and is a complex phenomenon in the country, explained Alejandra Hernández, Vice Minister of Security in Prevention as she toured the exhibit.

She said it is important for partners and donors in the U.S. and from outside of Honduras to know that Honduras is not just fighting crime through the criminal justice system. The smiling faces on display in the hall of the Inter-American Development Bank attest to this.

“Prevention is the most important thing,”ela disse.[/vc_column_text][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/12″][/vc_coluna][largura da coluna_vc=”1/4″][vc_widget_sidebar barra lateral_id=”barra lateral primária”][/vc_coluna][/vc_row]