Month: May 2018

“International aid will end before the eradication of extreme poverty”,. This is how Indermit Gill, the Director of the Center for International Development at Duke University,  embodies the idea that the “official development assistance” is a type of aid that tends to die out.

His article is positioned within a framework of cutbacks in development aid by the United States and United Kingdom, and being that these two countries are the main donors in world, so this would not be a minor fact.

In researching the long-term tendencies of foreign aid, the author states that official development assistance tracked by the OCDE has quintupled since 1960 from thirty-two (32) billion to one hundred and fifty-eight (158) billion American dollars, in prices from 2015.  But at the same time, the world economy has also grown. It is possible to describe the international context from examples from the East of our continent. “Most of us assumed that the external aid will continue until extreme poverty is eradicated. But a look back shows that this is not what’s  happening. China, India, Indonesia and South Africa stopped receiving aid some years ago, but still have millions of people living with under than 1.90 dollars per day. In the same way, it is expected that the countries with medium-sized incomes will take care of their own population in a state of extreme poverty. With more than half of the population of sub-saharan Africa living now in medium-income economies, the article tells us that we should hope that African aid, that has been increasing since 2000, has found its limit and starts to decrease”, says the author.

Indermit Gill comes to the conclusion that the future of international aid could be financing: with China increasing its presence as an investor, financer, builder and donor since 2000, the financing for development is being tested for the second time in Africa. This continent is looking more and more to the East, to China, India, Turkey and other Asian economies (between 2000 and 2015, China granted loans of approximately one hundred billion dollars to Africa). The aid from the West, based on altruism and political influence, complements the finances from the East, mainly driven by their own interests. Nevertheless, the author has his doubts and declares that is too soon to say that things will work better this time. The IMF has warned that the relation between debt/PIB in African economies is growing rapidly. There are also concerns about the destabilizing political and ecological effects these investments have. But this time, trade with Asia is growing and there are notable investments in infrastracture. 2018 could be the year in which the world in development decides whether foreign aid and finance for development should be complements or substitutes.

Source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2018/01/19/the-end-of-aid/

During the 4th and 5th of April the C20 Face-to-face meeting took place. There the eight working groups met in order to advance in the preparation of policy documents that will be delivered to the G20.

Within the activities planned by the Civil Affinity Group 20, the eight Working Groups (Anticorruption; Architecture of the International Financial System; Education; Employment and Inclusion; Environment, Climate and Energy; Gender; Investment and Infrastructure; Local2Global and Global Health) they met to strengthen and work in person on the objectives that began to be discussed in February in the forum of the official page of C20.

The conferences, held at the Palacio San Martin, were inaugurated by the Co-Chair Guillermo Correa; and the Sherpa, Ambassador Pedro Villagra Delgado, who  emphasized in his speech the challenges that G20 has in Argentina. Also, after the welcome speeches work started with a brief round of questions from the representatives of the civil society to the track of Sherpas and Finance of G20.

Being the first time that Argentina presides the G20, this meeting was an unique opportunity for the organizations of our country that wanted to start participating and get involved to be part of this G20 Affinity Group. Reflection of this was the registration of more than 100 participants of argentinian organizations, who showed their intention to incorporate on the C20 and participate in a world-wide event. They were joined by representatives of organizations from countries, who contributed with their experience and valuable contributions having participated on this kind of process. Result of this was the work that during two days 150 representatives of OSC from around the world did together.

The singularity of the Face to face meeting was the presentation of the Working Group Local2Global. This group aims to create an space for debate on the enabling  environment of Social Organizations around the world, seeking to strengthen the environment of action and influence in the context in which they operate. In addition, it seeks to generate greater knowledge and participation of the Social Organizations in the mechanism of participation and defense of G20; democratize the access to this kind of key places for incidence of public policies and strengthen the OSC from around the world in order to achieve a continuous participation in the next summits of G20.

 Both days were made up of plenary sessions and parallel meetings that enriched the joint participation between the members of the different groups of work of C20, also they generated specialized spaces of work to elaborate documents that will be delivered to G20.

 The plenary sessions counted with the presence of specialists like Delia Ferreira Rubio (Transparency International Cahir), Inés Pousadela (CIVICUS), Hideki Wakabayashi (representative of the Civil Society of Japan, where the G20 2019 will be performed), Cora Steinberg (Education Coordinator of UNICEF), among others.

On the other hand, the parallel meetings counted with the presence of representatives of the Argentinian G20 commission, who shared the mainstream topics on the government’s agenda to be treated on G20 summits.

From the government they also attended the vice Chancellor Daniel Raimondi, and the Minister of Finance of the Nation Nicolás Dujovne, who were the responsible for concluding the first journal. On their speeches, both appreciated the presence and work of every assistant during the Face to Face Meeting. Also they highlighted the importance for Argentina to count with the presidency of G20, in what international insertion for the country means.

The next steps to follow will be the Summit of C20, to be celebrated on August the 6 and 7. There will be presented the C20 official release to be delivered to G20.

For more information about the group go to  https://civil-20.org/

In Latin America, almost 61 million people live in extreme poverty. “For us, employment is the key to get the people out of poverty”. This is how Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, Executive Secretary of Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), defines the situation.

The week, between April 18 and 20, the 33 State Members of ECLAC gathered for their second Forum of Latin American and Caribbean countries about Sustainable Development in Santiago, Chile. There, they had the chance to debate the application of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in a context of mutual assistance and self-assessment. Ultimately, these meetings should allow the States to access instruments to finance and implement the SDG.  The participants discussed how to incorporate the SDG to national development plans, on which indicators they should focus on, and how to mobilize more national resources.

Last year, on the first summit of its kind, the ECLAC made a balance of the situation. The States examined and traced a map of the existing institutional frameworks, the institutions that had already adopted certain measures and areas in which further progress is necessary.

While some countries of the region already have national action plans and others do not, the ECLAC created a methodology that can be used when working with countries to determinate how they could incorporate the objectives in their national plans and, according to Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, how to “move from the rhetoric to the public budgeting”.

ECLAC, through the American Statistical Conference, helps each country to determine which of the numerous indicators that supervise are the more important and how to improve the national statistic systems. It is also working with leading data companies to find the best way of aggregating information. Since key statistics are often found in different governmental agencies, this work is necessary.

Beyond the mapping exercise, ECLAC helps countries to mobilize internal resources, mainly through the control of tax evasion, that represents a lost of 6,7% of the PIB, that means, 340 billion dollars annually.

In this sense, Alicia Bárcena Ibarra states: “We are not asking for an increase of taxes, we know it’s very controversial, but at least the exploitation of resources that go out of the region. We are trying to see how the ministers of finance can be more active on this program”.

In summary, ECLAC strives to help the region benefit in a more equitable way from commerce-related funds that are transformed into programs that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Source: https://www.devex.com/news/how-eclac-is-in-helping-latin-america-achieve-the-sdgs-92370

Every year, during the month of May, RACI opens its membership process so that all organizations that wish to join a collaborative workspace, both locally and internationally, can do so.

This year, the membership opens May 2nd and accepts applications until May 31, 2018.

The requirements for organizations wishing to join the Network are the following:

• To be a Non-governmental organization, non-profit, and non-partisan.
• To be a Social Organization of cause; meaning it is constituted to carry out an activity for the common good, democratically organized, and whose financial resources are used to help to pursue its own objectives.
• To be an Argentinean organization which works within the country.
• To be registered under Argentine legal regulations, in any forms which the law provides fornon-profit organizations (civil associations, foundations, the cooperators, co-operatives, etc.)
• To have been in operation for at least 2 years since its legal registration.

The admission process is divided into two stages. In the first stage, you must follow the following steps:

• To send a letter signed by the members of the Executive Comittee or by a representative of the applicant organization, with its logo, specifying both the organization’s interest in joining RACI and the reasons for this interest.
• To complete level 1 of the Membership Form.
• To complete the form, you must go to the following link: https://raci.org.ar/formulario-membresia/

If you have any questions, please write to: membresia@raci.org.ar

This year we set as a goal to share the work done by members of the Network. For this reason, this month we interviewed Marta Lescano, President of FEPAIS Foundation. ‘The organization was founded in 2011 to promote Positive Coexistence in society through Education in values. Its mission is to educate by supporting communities and Civil Societies Organizations (CSO) in the management of participatory projects and proposals for proactive social integration,. This is accomplished by an education in values for a healthy positive coexistence that promotes mutual respect and social responsibility and working in teams with the actors involved to detect and resolve conflicts, thus empowering communities for their transformation’she told us.

On the other hand, she added that the organization has a national scope with the objective of ‘giving and supporting diverse initiatives focused on positive coexistence, with diversity of groups that include public and private schools, public institutions, civil organizations, enterprises, unions and community spaces’.

Marta also expressed the Foundation’s core ideas: respect for diversity, teamwork, nonviolent communication, coexistence agreements and care for the environment. Various workshops based on these ideas are available:

• Environmental Promoters PAC-Communitarian (Promotores Ambientales Comunitarios-PAC) (Ecology + coexistence): The objective is to promote the awareness, the development and the sustainable exercise of an education in values, regarding care for the environment based on the creation and the implementation of concrete projects in the community.
• The Coexistence Circle (La Rueda de la Convivencia)(Relation + coexistence): Directed to educational organizations. It focuses on the facilitation of teaching – learning processes and on the promotion of a healthy institutional environment.
• Coexisting in Existing (Convivir Viviendo) (Relation + coexistence):Directed to non-educational organizations: companies, groups and the community in general. It focuses on the promotion of healthy environments through a culture of peace.

Both “The Coexistence Circle” and the “Coexisting in Existing” workshops concentrate on the construction and the implementation of strategic responses to solve coexistence issues through detection, management and suggestions of a peaceful resolution of conflicts, based on an education in values and on the development of social abilities.

• Assistants for the Healthy Life – AVISA (Asistentes para la Vida Saludable) (Health + coexistence): Based on the promotion of healthcare consciousness, considering it as an integration between body, mind and responsible behaviour. It seeks that every social actor to acquire consciousness and autonomy regarding his personal care, as well as to be a replicator of healthy practices as a model for others.
• Generate (Generar) (Gender perspective + coexistence): It is aiming at raising awareness of gender issues, as well as at acquiring tools for self esteem and strengthening connections. It provides strategies and communitarian politics for the promotion and the prevention of issues related to gender and violence. This project contains material from the Woman’s Office, of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Argentinian Nation with the support of the UNO Women, along with other organizations.

With regards to why they decided to join the Network, Marta mentioned that ‘the objective of Education for Coexistence brought us closer to the work that RACI does as a Federation composed of more than 130 CSO, which enables the sharing of experiences and results between organizations within the country with both local and international agents available to invert financial and social capital for the development of the country”

She added that ‘it is essential for any organization to have spaces for inter-institutional dialogue, for learning and updating, as well as an environment that collaborates in the management of resources and knowledges to promote in a sustainable way the transformations a country needs. Being part of a community that enables us to grow up and strengthen seems to us to be key,which is why we find in RACI a fundamental pillar in order to continue to share experiences, to learn and professionalize our practice along with others.’

As for the balance they can do as partners, the FEPAIS President expressed it is highly positive because it enables them to learn about the work of other organizations’, to deepen their work by forming networks with various CSO of the country, participate in workshops and events, and to connect with local and international agents. ‘For the FEPAIS Foundation, being a partner implies counting on a highly professionalized network that listens and channels concerns and is willing to offer its knowledge, experience and time so that member organizations continue to grow in order to achieve its objectives. Through the experience of these shared years, we encourage other organizations to join RACI to strengthen themselves and to contribute to the social transformation of Argentina through collective and plural spaces’, she added.

We thank Marta for having joined and participated in this space. If you want to know more about FEPAIS, you can visit their website www.fundacionfepais.org.ar. If you are a RACI Partner and you wish to be part of this section, send us an email at socios@raci.org.ar.

 The Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE) from MIT has opened its call for the Inclusive Innovation Challenge award with the objective of recognizing entrepreneurs from all over the world who use technology to reinvent the future of  work. The closing date to register is May the 7, after that date having two more weeks to upload the registration.

The support includes and allocation of 250.000 US Dollars for each of the 4 awarded categories. The projects must meet one of the following objectives defined in categories: -skill development and matching of opportunities – income growth and job creation – access to technology – financial inclusion.

To be admitted, all non-profit, or profit  organizations of any size, seniority, type and nation. Priority is given to organizations  that use technology to reinvent work and create economic opportunities for those who work below the upper range of the economic scale, demonstrating traction and impact, who have passed the “idea phase”.

To register interested parties must complete the form of the website and then complete the application that will be presented with the following questions. For consultation about the application write to icc@mit.edu.

For more information visit the website of the Award http://www.mitinclusiveinnovation.com/ or the website of the Latin American region   http://www.mitinclusiveinnovation.com/america-latina-es/.

CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance of which RACI is a part of, published its State of Civil Society Report 2018. The reports are published annually and examine the main events that affect civil society worldwide.  

Every year, this Report aims to examine the main events that involve and affect the Civil Society worldwide. To do so, various interviews are carried out with specialists, leaders and participants of the tertiary sector. Additionally, they use the ongoing research and analysis by CIVICUS and the findings from the online platform CIVICUS Monitor that tracks the space that Civil Society works in worldwide as inputs.

One of the highlights of this year’s report is that it identifies 10 key trends that affected the Civil Society during 2017 and, according to this publication, will continue to do so. They are: the globalized neoliberalism that is failing all over the world; the political polarization that is dividing societies; the personal domain of political leaders that is undermining democratic institutions; the rising attacks on journalists that report on corruption and public protests; the growing vigilance and manipulation of opinions that is betraying the promise of social networks; the “uncivil” society that is claiming the space of civil society; the multilateralism that is in the line of fire; the growing role of the private sector in governance that demands more scrutiny; the patriarchy that is now more firmly under the spotlight; and the civil society struggling and building a determined resistance.

Likewise, the particularity of 2018 Report is the focus on resistance and the fact that the struggle continues, making it one of its key findings of the same. On the other hand, it is worth noting that during the next months the content of the Report will go further into depth with a series of dialogues and conversations on the theme of “reinventing democracy”.

The Report also has a review detailing month by month, the main events that affected civil society in different states of the world.

To read the full report visit https://www.civicus.org/index.php/state-of-civil-society-report-2018

Source: CIVICUS (2018), Informe del Estado de la Sociedad Civil 2018,  https://www.civicus.org/index.php/state-of-civil-society-report-2018

In the framework of the activities planned by the Civil group 20 on April 4 and 5 the eight Working Groups will meet in two days of exchanges and deliberation.

Saint Martin´s Palace will be the selected headquarter for the eight Working Groups: Anti Corruption;  Architecture of the International Financial System; Education, Employment and Inclusion; Environment, Climate and Energy; Gender; Investment and Infrastructure; Local2Global and Global Health, to meet to continue the conversation they opened in february through a forum on the official page of the C20.

C20 Face-to-face meeting, will be the only instance in which Organizations of the Civil Society from all over the world could meet in order to move along with the preparation of policy documents that will be, with the final release of C20, delivered to G20. The meeting will last two days and will be divided in plenary sessions and parallel meetings from each Working Group of the C20:

1) Plenary Sessions: will be the instances in which every Working Group of C20 will be gathered on the same physical space and in which, at the same time, high level panels will be carried out. Through this panels, the main problems that both the G20 and the C20 have been working on will be addressed. To guarantee the multiple views, the panels will be composed by the representatives of G20, the Civil Society, and other Confrontation Groups and Multilateralist Organizations.

2) Parallel Meetings of the Working Group of C20: in this meetings, each of the Working Groups of the C20 will addressed in depth the main topics that concerns its respective Group, will move forward in the elaboration of its final policy document. Also will be the opportunity to dialogue with the representatives of G20.

It is important to outstand that during the face-to-face meeting in Buenos Aires, the forum of discussion will be available for every organization that have been inscribed on the official website, will continue to be active.

For more information about the Group of the C20, visit  https://civil-20.org

Give & Gain is a global movement that promotes the corporate volunteering as a key tool for investment in the community in the framework of SRE strategy and sustainability of organizations. CSR360 Global Partner Network, global network of non-governmental organizations that work with companies to improve their positive impact on society, offers an infrastructure of local experience and supports Give & Gain worldwide.

This year, the 6th edition of International Week of Corporate Volunteering will be held in Argentina from May 18 to 28, 2018, by Fundación Compromiso, an organization that receives the reports of the activities carried out in the country. In addition to positioning once again the theme of corporate volunteering, Give & Gain provides the opportunity to communicate and value the work carried out by companies and their employees.

The International Week of Corporate Volunteering brings together volunteers from companies and organizations from all over the country who participate in specific corporate volunteering activities concentrated in the same week. By involving a large number of volunteers, it promotes the talent, the skills and the energy of the employees and the role they can have in helping communities.

In 2017, Give & Gain recorded the participation of 1.370 volunteers in Argentina from 20 companies and organizations. There were 34 activities in 9 provinces of the country, reporting 5,861 hours and a total of 4,263 direct beneficiaries.

Interested companies and organizations can participate of Give & Gain 2018 in three different ways:

• Your own way:the company develops its own corporate volunteer activities and shares their results. Fundación Compromiso is responsible for reporting them nationally and worldwide, and disseminating the experience in social networks in Argentina.
• To your needs: Fundación Compromiso offers a series of activities for the company to participate in, generating a link with the implementing organization and coordinating the The experience is disseminated in social networks in Argentina and is reported nationally and worldwide.
• Sponsorship: in addition to coordinating a “customized” activity, live coverage is provided with photos and video. Every “customized” activity of the company is disseminated and the brand is visible in the event’s promotional material as well on the t-shirts.

If you want to learn more about this initiative, go to: http://giveandgainargentina.org/

For the second year in a row, monthly visits to a RACI partner have begun in order to learn more about the day-to-day work of our partners in their effort to strengthen Civil Society.

Each month since mid-2016, , the RACITeam, together with the volunteers, designates one day to visit a partner of the Network.  In addition to getting to know their work in-depth, the objective of these visits is to get to know the team of the organization visited by spending time together on a shared activity.

The first visit of 2018 was to the Huerta Niño Foundation. This organization has its headquarters in Buenos Aires, and works since 1999 to alleviate undernourishment and child malnutrition in Argentina, through the construction of half-hectare vegetable gardens in rural schools in disadvantaged areas.

During the visit, RACI’s team and part of the Huerta Niño Foundation worked together with children from a school in San Fernando in a planting activity in the students’ vegetable garden.

If you would like to know more about the Huerta Niño Foundation, you can do it here. If you are a partner of the Network and would like to share a working day with the RACI team, write to us here.