Month: November 2019

The Directory of Civil Society Organizations of CABA, created by RACI, is a dynamic, updated, easily accessible digital platform that contains systematized and reliable information about the universe of more than 1,000 CSOs working in the City of Buenos Aires.

CSOs take care of making visible the needs and demands of society and act as a representative to the State in order to design public policies and proposals for development. For this reason, the need arose to publicize the organizational profiles of CSOs.

You can add your organization to this platform that works as an essential tool for both CSOs and donors working in Development, promoting social connectivity and a sense of community between these actors and the general public. You can do so by completing the following form: http://directoriodeosc.org.ar/como-funciona#agregar_ong.

This year, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has published its tenth edition of the World Giving Index. The report considers the ten countries that celebrate the greatest amount of giving as well as the last ones. It also analyses those countries with the highest rates of increase and decrease in giving in the last decade.

The report includes the results of 1.3 million interviewed individuals from 128 countries over the past 10 years. In terms of giving, it is the largest survey that exists.

In order to ensure that giving is understood in its various forms, the report analyses the following three aspects of generous conduct: helping a stranger, donating money to charities and volunteering.

The first and last ones in giving

With a scoring of 58%, the most generous country of the world in the last decade has been the United States, followed by Myanmar in the second place and New Zealand in the third one. Indeed, New Zealand is the only country which appears in the top 10 of the three registered measures. However, Indonesian is the only country of the 10 in the first range which experienced an increase on scores, whilst the other ones have experienced a downward trajectory.

For example, the levels of giving in the United States and Canada have decreased in the last years. The United States reached a maximum of 64% in 2014, falling to 58% in 2018. Canada also dropped by 11% in the last 5 years, from 61% in 2015 to 50% in 2018.

It’s important to realize that the countries with mayor giving don´t merge because of one trait. The countries with best performance represent a wide range of geographies, religions, cultures and levels of wealth. In fact, Myanmar, South Africa and Indonesian are in the first position, although they are classified as countries of low average income by the UNO.

In terms of countries with the lowest levels of giving, China occupies the last position in each one of the three categories with 16% in general. It should be pointed out that the lowest scores come from various different continents, the majority of them includes countries affected by wars and heavy economic problems, as well as countries where a young civil society exists or where the relation between the state and the civil society is frenetic.

Helping a stranger

In the whole world, more than 2.500.000 persons have helped a stranger in the last decade. Of the ten countries where the people have more likelihood of helping a stranger, seven of them are located in Africa. This is probably due to Ubuntu, a central component of the african philosophy which demonstrates the capacity of express compassion, reciprocity, dignity, humanity and mutuality in areas of building and maintaining communities with a proper and mutual charity.

Donating money to a charity

The people in Myanmar are the most liable of the world to donating money to a charity, which can be claimed to the fact that 90% of their population are practicing Buddhists.

Volunteering

Across the world, 1 of 5 adults are volunteers. Sri Lanka has the highest rate of volunteering worldwide.

 

The results of this inform are essentially, since they proportionate a map of routs helping to identify areas which merit further investigation in the impulse of CAF in order to increase giving in all its forms. To read the full article, visit https://www.cafonline.org/docs/default-source/about-us-publications/caf_wgi_10th_edition_report_2712a_web_101019.pdf

The 2019 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), offers data of 101 countries, that cover 76 percent of the world population. The MPI provides a complete and thorough image of global poverty, in all of its dimensions, and studies the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal 1 to end poverty in all its forms.

In this index, there are multiple elements to focus on, for example, it presents the progress of the eradication of poverty in all its forms or presents the success that India and Cambodia have reduced their MPI values faster than abandoning the poorer groups. However, it indicates that there exists a great rural-urban division and also demonstrates the necessity to go beyond the poverty measures of income and study how the MPI can help refocus the norms.

The most notable finding is that in 101 countries, 1.3 billion of people (23.1%) are multidimensionally poor. Two thirds of multidimensionally poor people live in countries with average incomes and half of the 1.3 billion multidimensionally poor people are children under 18 years of age, one third being under 10 years old.

The results of the 2019 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) shed light on the disparities on how people experience poverty, revealing great inequalities between countries and between people who find themselves in this poor situation.

One can find all of the information in http://hdr.undp.org/en/2019-MPI.

On Tuesday, October 8th, the RACI team led the workshop, Laboratories of Regional Innovations: Strengthening Organizations, Generating Impact at the Misiones province House of Representatives, with the support of Banco Galicia and accompanied by our local partner, Fundación Desarrollo Agropecuario (FUDA).

Along with Lucas Carneiro, FUDA’s director, Luana Esquenazi and Clarisa Piccione from RACI commented on the workshop in an interview they conducted on Channel 6 Digital and in the newspaper El Nacional de Misiones.

The innovation laboratory aims to strengthen civil society organizations in Misiones so they can develop social projects that have an impact on their territory and generate sustainability over time. The idea was to analyze a problem, find an innovative and creative solution, and lay the foundation for a project that allows them to foresee the possibility of financing. The laboratory had eight themes: sustainability of organizations, education, environment, youth, civic technology, rural communities, early childhood and social development, and inclusion.

According to Carneiro, the workshop’s training tools are very necessary nowadays in the third sector of the province. “It is very difficult to remain a formalized organization,” says Esquenazi, “the cost is very high.” The context in which these organizations are trying to generate impact must be taken into account: economic sustainability is a challenge at this time, as is the continuity of the projects.

“We are in a context where the enabling space is being restricted,” Esquenazi explains. “There are more and more bureaucratic elements that we have to comply with, it is increasingly difficult to maintain an open organization, the amount of resources that must be available.”

According to Piccione, in order to avoid the vicious cycles of bureaucracy and to carry out organization sustainability, alliances must be generated supported by networks and projects together. The resources need to be diversified, because at the end of the day, financing does not only come from state subsidies, but also from cooperation with private companies and international cooperation.

As for Misiones, “there is a very strong culture of working with the public sector […] that often culminates in these instances of financing,” says Carneiro. “The challenge is to open the game to generate more alliances and networks and add to the private sector.”

On Wednesday, after having conducted the workshop, RACI accompanied FUDA’s daily tour of the Barrio El Porvenir. There we learned about their work of empowering rural women through the creation of organic gardens for personal consumption and for sale in the area. Through this work, FUDA promotes projects to strengthen women as a social sector, the growth of remote rural communities, and the building of a sustainable society in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Posadas.

We want to highlight and congratulate the work of our local member, FUDA, for welcoming us and introducing us to the great work of many women in the province of Misiones. We hope that this will help create ties, build a network, and cooperate in the generation of alliances with the social sector.

A new edition of the workshop will take place in the province of Córdoba, on November 6 at the Student House, with free admission. Attendance certificates will be delivered.

To sign up, click on the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe1YAoiQtQSQeO4SQAbe5m5JV2_ACuOUU5_gt8JXEE-95c1iw/viewform

In the first week of October, members of the RACI team traveled to Lima, Peru to participate in the “Advocacy Campaign Accelerator” training organized by the Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean for Innovation for Change, where various representatives of Civil Society Organizations from the region participated.

On the first day of the training, the methodology was presented, a tour of the different modules was carried out, and the problem that would guide the exercises and activities developed throughout the week was raised: the low level of trust towards the Organizations of the Civil Society in the region.

During the training days, attendants participated in activities to think about how to attack this problem, what are its causes, its effects, and the main actors involved. Then, the groups discussed different ideas and proposals in order to find solutions.

During the final days, groups had to create prototypes, test them, and improve them. For this, the feedback of other participants was critical as well as the opinion of the citizens. This feedback was collected through surveys conducted during the training.

The various activities carried out allowed us to improve our understanding of existing perceptions in our society regarding civil society. Additionally, all participants were able to learn about and experience the process of developing creative and innovative ideas, as well as the principles and tools necessary to lead future spaces like this.

Likewise, the importance of having a regional space for dialogue, exchange of experiences, practices, and knowledge was highlighted, not only for the strengthening of our organizations, but also for addressing common problems and thinking about finding solutions together.

The training concluded with the aim of strengthening regional participation spaces for finding solutions to problems affecting civil society in the region as well as using innovative practices for strategic development within organizations.

If you want to know more about Innovation for Change, you can visit their website: https://lac.innovationforchange.net/.

CIPPEC is an independent non-profit organization that creates awareness and offers recommendations for the construction of improved public policies.

Their mission is to propose policies for fair development and the strengthening of Argentine democracy, which anticipate future issues through applied research, open dialogues, and accompaniment to public governance. They work for a free, equitable, and diverse society, and for a democratic, fair, and efficient State that promotes sustainable development.

 

What do they do?

• Identify needs for the implementation of public policies.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of public policies in different areas of government.
• Evaluate the impact of public policies and transfer tools for monitoring and evaluation.
• Share information in a clear, simple manner to a wide audience.

 

Area of Social Protection

CIPPEC works to consolidate, focusing on rights, a system of integral, federal protection that promotes a country with improved wellbeing and social development (Social Protection Program) and to strengthen the State in the design and implementation of policies that contribute to advancement towards greater educational justice in Argentina (Education Program).

Area of Economic Development

They motivate reforms that stimulate transparency, equity, and efficiency in the use of public funds, in a context of fiscal solvency and democratization of budgetary decisions (Economic Development Program). Additionally, they seek to influence integral development of cities in the region and endow their leaders with tools to promote more equitable, resilient, and intelligent cities to improve the quality of life for their populations (City Program).

Area of State and Government

They promote: 1) Reforms in the management of the State that help to strengthen and democratize political decisions (Political Institutions Program); 2) Reforms linked to the quality of State management, envisioning the governmental administration as a space for interaction between the political system, bureaucracy, and citizens (Public Management Program); and 3) The inclusion of knowledge in the political process to generate more democratic, inclusive, effective, and transparent policies (Evaluation and Monitoring Program).

 

#META: Strategic Goals for Transforming Argentina (Metas Estratégicas para Transformar Argentina)

The project seeks to promote dialogue between the main actors in the Argentine political environment, with the objective of coming to consensuses to achieve a more developed, equitable country, with equal opportunities and solid, efficient public institutions.

Through an evidence-based discussion, CIPPEC articulates spaces for dialogue so that presidential candidates, major political leaders, and those responsible for sector leadership may reach consensus and assume political commitments on the solutions to the structural problems that Argentina will face in the next four years. For this, the project will not only seek to install strategic issues on the public agenda, but it will also work to form agreements that allow the monitoring of compliance with any commitments acquired in the future.

To access the memos of the ten #METAs, click here.

 

T20 Argentina 2018

In 2018, CIPPEC co-chaired Think 20 (T20), the network of think tanks and research centers whose main objective is to develop and recommend concrete and feasible public policies, in addition to evaluating the operation of the G20 plans and monitoring their implementation. T20 brings together experts from the most recognized think tanks in the international arena and presents public policy recommendations to G20 member countries in different fields. During the Argentine presidency, more than 300 think tanks and universities from 56 countries actively participated in the T20 process and produced 83 public policy documents.

Once the Argentine Presidency of T20 is finished, CIPPEC will continue its participation in the network as part of the Troika and with many of its experts in charge of the different Working Groups, including the future of work, climate change, infrastructure in the digital era, gender economic equity, and the future of politics.

 

If you want to know more about CIPPEC, you can visit their web page or email them at desarrolloinstitucional@cippec.org.