Month: May 2021

Next Monday, May 31, the 2021 membership period that RACI is carrying out will end to incorporate national Civil Society Organizations interested in being part and working together to create a space for dialogue and exchange in the direction of sustainable development and social transformation. Through virtual meetings with different organizations throughout the country, during this month new horizons were reached for the entire Network.

Before starting the process, the RACI team held 2 virtual informational meetings on April 21 and 28. In them, we share with the organizations interested in being part of the network all the work carried out by RACI and the benefits of the articulated work, and the commitments that this entails.

Once the membership period opened on May 1, different activities were deployed to invite the different Argentine organizations to build a future together. Within this framework, on May 10 we organized a virtual meeting with Fundación León focused on increasing the federal character of the Network through dialogue with organizations in the north of our country. Likewise, the dissemination expanded digitally with publications on social networks and via e-mail throughout the month.

The Argentine Civil Society Sector faces a future marked by transformation, which invites social organizations to increase their voice and build and grow platforms that promote them. Throughout the membership period, and thanks to the support of allies and member organizations, we have managed to get our message of articulation to a large number of organizations throughout the country, which expressed their willingness to join this common cause. From these actions, we contribute every day to the strengthening and regionalization of the actions of each member, so we are very eager to welcome the next new members of the network and begin to work together.

From the multiple instances of reflection on the social sector and as part of a plural framework of work, on 1st June, from RACI and AGNA (CIVICUS) we will be holding the Unconference 2021. Under the slogan “Redesigning the social sector advocacy agenda”, we will be sharing the results of the project Rebuilding for Good/Reconstruction with a lasting character and the 2020 Unconferences. Besides, we join efforts and co-create together with those who present an advocacy strategy for the coming months. 

In the last times, from RACI we have met to talk and analyze the actual situation and the social sector perspectives of transformation. On one hand, we achieve three multi-sectorial Unconferences between August and October of 2020, with the support of AGNA (CIVICUS) to exchange experiences and knowledge about the mobilization of social sector resources. Similarly, these instances fostered the generation of proposals to catalyze changes in action for development in Argentina. On the other hand, as members of the CIVICUS initiative “Rebuilding for Good/Reconstruction with a lasting character”, we convened key actors to debate through focus groups on the current scenario of the link between Civil Society and other interested parties (State, International Cooperation, Private Sector, etc). This project, in which we participate together with two other organizations from Ghana and Barbados, aims to improve collaboration between Civil Society and Governments, while at the same time creating an international and plural framework of work that especially incorporates a bottom-up view above the Global South. All the knowledge and tools acquired during these processes drive us to take concerted action in the future.

In this framework, we invite you to be part of the Unconference 2021, to know the diagnosis we have reached, and to outline a strategy that will guide the sector in the coming months. The time for transformation has come and we would love to have you.

We invite you to join through the following link.

We wait for you!

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, especially for Civil Society Organizations in terms of their funding. Peter Brach of Funders 2025 Fund, a donor-advised fund dedicated to helping high-impact initiatives achieve exceptional results, notes the need for continued support for umbrella organizations, i.e., those organizations that coordinate and organize the activities of several others. He adds that the benefits of such support have been large enough for him to label it a “social impact revolution”.

At such a critical time as the one we are currently facing, many organizations could not have continued to exist without the effort and commitment of their working teams. However, the role that donations play in the field of civil society certainly cannot be discounted. This is where umbrella organizations enter the game. Because of their wide reach, they have the potential to carry out high-impact fundraising campaigns. Peter Brach names several examples of how these organizations have helped smaller organizations move forward with their missions and visions. One of them is NGO Source, which, through its support services, enabled several organizations to expand their donor base and outreach. Another is the Funders 2025 Fund that helped WINGS access a European Union fund for 1 million euros, the largest grant in this nonprofit’s history.

It is precisely for this reason that, under the right circumstances, these organizations deserve to be taken as a priority since the results they have had in the past could be replicated. According to Brach, to achieve a meaningful change, it is necessary to strategically leverage those change agents with the greatest reach. However, new private and institutional donors should emerge in parallel to support philanthropy and enable umbrella organizations to reach their full potential. 

Given today’s global situation, it is no longer possible to think in terms of the individual organizations, rather the collective interest should be kept in mind: achieving the SDGs. According to Brach, his mission is to inspire more and more donors to support those institutions that are most likely to have a major impact. The idea is that this will then lead to a chain, where even the smallest institutions will benefit. In conclusion, he adds that we should “see ourselves as belonging to a much larger family working together to leverage our respective strengths to achieve the greatest and broadest impact possible.”

For more information, visit https://members.wingsweb.org/news/40541. 

The Argentine Network for International Cooperation (RACI) is developing the regional version of its initiative “Civic Perspective, Taking the Pulse of Civil Society”.  

Civic Perspective is a periodic study carried out by RACI that seeks to identify the conditions in which Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) work and develop. It is based on a survey of individual perceptions of leaders of Social Organizations and their working teams, who give their view on the general state of the Social Sector – the main concerns for the future, strengths, weaknesses, and needs of CSOs, etc. 

The most recent study was ” Civic Perspective, Research for Advocacy in times of Covid-19″, a qualitative-quantitative analysis that explores the role played by Argentine Social Organizations during the hardest months of social confinement in 2020. This study sought, firstly, to highlight social organizations as supporting agents of numerous vulnerable communities during social confinement Secondly, the study sought to analyze, based on data generated in the field, the impact of the pandemic on CSOs and their capacity to respond to the needs posed by the situation. Finally, it aimed to provide a relevant perspective to reflect on the future scenarios for the Social Sector in Argentina. 

In this opportunity, Civic Perspective has decided to focus on a deeper understanding of Social Organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean – their conditions of emergence and possibilities, their main challenges and strengths. 

The study, whose conceptualization was the product of numerous conversations and brainstorming meetings with key actors – leaders and working teams of CSOs and CSO networks from numerous countries in the region, regional and international networks, representatives of international NGOs with a strong presence in the region, donors, researchers and specialists in the Social Sector, among others – is based on the epistemological premise of expressing a view that is rooted in the reality of the Global South. The proposal is for this to be a study on Latin America and Caribbean Latin America and the Caribbean. 

We know that, in the process of professionalization of Social Organizations, many of their working teams have acquired tools/approaches that are global or prevalent in the Global North on the Social Sector, and in this sense we want to recover here an approach from the Epistemologies of the South.  

We proceed from the premise that ours is a region plagued by inequality, inequity, and informality. We also understand that despite these difficulties, our region has significant strengths when it comes to building links and networks, ingenuity in the use of available resources, and a great working and creative capacity. And we want to observe how all these aspects are reflected in social organizations. 

In this proposal we adopted a mixed qualitative-quantitative methodological strategy, generating data from in-depth interviews and focus groups with key informants, as well as from a semi-structured survey that we will soon distribute among CSO leaders and working teams in the region and for whose dissemination we hope to count on all of you.

The 2020 Sustainable Development Goals Report has been released through the official United Nations website. It presents an overview of the progress made to meet the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 193 UN Member States. Although some progress was being observed, the report details that the change was not yet taking place at the necessary pace or scale. Added to this, the Covid-19 outbreak has led to health, economic, and social crises that put at stake the achievement of the Goals proposed for the 2030 Agenda.

The year 2020 marks the beginning of the Decade of Action to achieve the proposed 2030 agenda. The current situation catalyzes to drive a joint approach to the future, identifying the most pressing challenges. As has been shown, the crisis does not affect everyone equally, with the most vulnerable sectors suffering the most from the consequences of the pandemic. The pandemic exposed the inequalities that exist today. In the words of António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, “Far from undermining the foundations of the SDGs, the original causes and unequal effects of COVID-19 demonstrate precisely why we need the 2030 Agenda”.

The first report performs an analysis of the general panorama of the 17 SDGs, identifying the status of each one of them before and after the pandemic. For example, before Covid-19, it was clear that by 2030 poverty would not have ended. However, today, we are experiencing an unprecedented increase in poverty globally. It also emphasizes the fact that progress in health should be accelerated and that the pandemic could topple the gains made in past decades.

Projections indicate that the pandemic will push 71 million people back into extreme poverty in 2020, many of the workers in the informal economy, and half of the world’s workforce supports their families through unsafe and often risky jobs. While the effects of Covid-19 are also worsening the vulnerability of the one billion slum dwellers, who are more likely to suffer the great effects of this pandemic.

On the other hand, the report refers to the need for “timely, quality, open and disaggregated data and statistics” for the preparation and implementation of measures and policies that are not only efficient but also equitable. Meanwhile, the continued pursuit of these universal goals will keep governments and organizations focused on growth, but in turn, on inclusion, equity, and sustainability.

There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, however, we must remain firm in our convictions and not let the crisis derail our hopes and ambitions.

For more information, visit: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2020/.

Crece Selva Misionera is an initiative that seeks to reforest 180,000 trees by 2022. In the first massive action of the year, Hora de Obrar planted 2,500 trees in a protected area of ​​the province of Misiones with great youth participation.

In April, a reforestation day was carried out in the Monte Seguín Ecotourism Reserve, an area that was affected by the 2020 fires. The indigenous Mbya Guaraní Yvyrá Poty community lives in this protected territory.

The coordinator of the Missionary Forest Grow Program, Romario Dohmann, said that “it was four hours of intense planting. Two thousand plants were planted through the project and 500 were donated by the Ministry of Ecology of Misiones ”. He also highlighted the participation of more than 50 young volunteers from Fundación Misión ODS and Junges Netzwerk, organizations dedicated to caring for the environment and complying with the 2030 Agenda.

The mayor of Puerto Rico, Misiones, Carlos Koth stated that: “For us, it is extremely important and valuable and gives us the commitment to care for these tree species.” Likewise, provincial deputy Yamila Ruiz presented a draft declaration of provincial interest in the activity. The municipality of Puerto Rico was in charge of preparing the land and in the future will provide maintenance tasks for the plants to prosper.

“The missionary jungle concentrates the greatest diversity of species of flora and fauna in our country and today it is in danger. Every year, about 2,000 hectares are destroyed, something like 2,800 soccer fields. That is why it is important to reforest the future of our forests today ”, the organization warned.

It is not the first time that reforestation actions involve indigenous communities in Misiones. In 2020, reforestation actions were carried out in the Mbya Tupamba-é community. In addition, a new massive planting day is planned for September 2021.

These actions are part of the Crece Selva Misionera project, through which Hora de Obrar seeks to reforest 300 hectares in the next two years and involve more than 25 missionary municipalities, thanks to the cooperation with Bread for the World (Brot für die Welt ).

The agreement with Fundación Vida Silvestre

Hora de Obrar and Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, one of the leading environmental organizations, signed an agreement in January 2020 to exchange experiences and collaborate in joint actions.

“As member organizations of RACI, it is important to create synergy. We are very happy about this agreement, which seeks that we can support and complement each other in our reforestation actions. Vida Silvestre is working on creating a Green Corridor that connects protected areas so that certain animal species can circulate freely. We will gladly try to collaborate on this project as well ”, expressed Nicolás Rosenthal.

To collaborate with the donation of seedlings for this project at https://bit.ly/creceselvamisionera