Month: November 2021

Do we really have diverse and plural work teams? Does the work environment present in our organization celebrate differences? What  could we improve? And what points of view are we not taking into account? 

We are honored to present Diversidad Visible, an invitation to collective reflection on how we are as social organizations. At RACI, we are fully convinced that there is still a lot to do in our organizations and we believe that it is our duty as Civil Society to be agents of change and to work tirelessly to continue amplifying voices and to challenge exclusion more and more every day.

I WANT TO JOIN THE COLLECTIVE VOICE! 📣 

The survey was co-created by the Research Area and the Diversities Work Team of our network, composed of 19 organizations that address Human Rights on different neuralgic fronts of diversity. It collects the concerns, questions, debates, analysis and reflections that its member organizations raised throughout this year.

Starting from the base of the Epistemologies of the South and, always understanding that all knowledge is collectively co-created, the research seeks to carry out a contribution to the inquiry on the main challenges for diversity in social organizations today. The research will cover Latin America and the Caribbean, the survey being available in four languages for 34 countries in the region.

We hope that this proposal has a great reception, in aim to generate quality information in the construction of a more diverse future for all. For more information about the research, click here.

Between November 15th and 25th, 2021 the New Zealand Fund in Mexico 2021-2022 was open. The Fund supports sustainable development in developing countries with the objective of reducing poverty and make the world a safe, prosperous and fair place to live.

During this period of time, RACI received and systematized 278 applications from Mexico (203), Guatemala (18), El Salvador (28), Nicaragua (5), Costa Rica (5), Panama (2), Dominican Republic (14), and Cuba (3).   

The applications were based on the following axes:

• 147 promote the Development of Communities, particularly indigenous and rural.
• 94 projects focus on Climate Change and Resilience.
• 93 are linked to Sustainable and Agriculture Development.
• 90 work Education axis.
• 30 of Migration.
• 21 projects based on the LGBTQ+ Community.

Next step of the process:

As phase 1 of the application is closed, RACI team will be analyzing the concept notes received. A pre-selection will be done to determinate those projects that satisfy the Fund requirements and criteria. The pre-selected organizations will be notified by email on December 9th and will be invited to participate on a second phase where they will be required to present an Extended Application Form. 

All applications must be submitted as follows: 

1. The form named “Form 02 – Extended Application Form” will be sent by email to the pre-selected organizations.
2. Download and complete application. The form must be:
   1. Written in Spanish.
   2. Accompanied by additional information, budget, goods and services suppliers purchase orders.
   3. Signed by a responsible member of the requesting organization. 
   4. Presented in editable Word or PDF format.
3. Send “Form 02 – Extended Application Form” document. 

The reception period for those pre-selected organizations to send the Extended Application Form will be open from December 13th to 23th, 6:00 pm (Mexico City time).  

During this period, RACI team will be open to receive inquiries and assist pre-selected organizations through the email: fondoembajadanzmexico@raci.org.ar. 

For more information about the Fund, visit our news. 

Recently, RACI has continued its work to promote dynamic accountability among Civil Society Organizations.

Dynamic accountability is based on the use of a set of self-assessment mechanisms through which organizations can improve their performance in meeting that objective. In the process, organizations consult with internal and external actors, detecting and solving problems that prevent greater transparency and legitimacy among working communities.

In this regard, RACI offered between July and September, with the support of Iniciativa Regional Rendir Cuentas, the workshop “Rendición de cuentas centrada en comunidades de trabajo”. More than 70 organizations participated in the workshop to inform about the importance of accountability among Civil Society Organizations.

The organizations highlighted the importance of dynamic accountability, and agreed to include the commitments of the Global Standard for CSO Accountability in annual planning processes. In addition, they agreed to implement it in daily processes, generating more spaces for dialogue between the work communities.

The workshop went beyond financial accountability, and focused on diverse topics such as housing, human rights, people with autism, education, environmental care, art, entrepreneurship, health, youth and gender equality. The focus was especially put on their core audiences: the people and organizations with whom they work, who are served and whom they represent.

The main measures that the organizations proposed in the final diagnostic activity include:

• The assembly of an accountability manual for the internal use of the organization.
• Incorporation of improvements in the website, based on the recommendations of the Global Standard.
• Establishment of greater spaces for dialogue between the team and the recipients of the programs.
• Rethink the way financial information is presented.
• Incorporate the recommendations of the Global Standard into annual planning.
• Incorporate self-assessment into the annual planning space, so that the entire team participates.
• Improve the systematization of existing practices to make the work of the organization visible.

RACI will continue to support organizations in the implementation of improvements to their institutional practices based on the self-evaluation exercise.

In addition, Guillermo Correa, Executive Director of RACI participated in the event “Social Innovation Laboratory: Transparency and Accountability” organized by Grupo FARO in Ecuador, together with the directors of other Organizations in the region. On this occasion, work was done to transform the well-known dynamic accountability into a continuous dialogue of learning in times where civic space is reduced. The feedback of the parties in the decision-making process, in performance, and in trust, synthesized in the Global Standard, was highlighted as essential.

The Global Standard includes 12 aspirational commitments made with the aim of future CSOs performing better in establishing links, strengthening their individual and collective impact, and increasing their contribution to the SDGs. This new approach to which RACI adhered will contribute to strengthening the efficiency and interaction capacities of CSOs.

On the other hand, on November 22, 23 and 24, the World Accountability Week (GAW),an initiative of AGNA, was heldwithin the framework of CIVICUS, with the purpose of increasing and learning more about dynamic accountability, in which more than 60 organizations participated.

In addition to participating in the 90th Day Accountability Challenge last year, RACI committed to participate in this new process of highlighting the cultures, structures and participatory mechanisms of organizations and their flexibility in the face of changing needs. Dynamic accountability involves CSOs engaging in ongoing dialogue with the people and communities they help or benefit from, and ensuring that decisions are informed, co-created and validated by these stakeholders.

We continue to work from the team to create spaces that promote interest and effectiveness in the accountability and transparency of CSOs. We expect to continue to grow in this compelling capacity, in conjunction with the Third Sector as a whole.

RACI, next to Right CoLab, Predistribution Initiative and Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, organized a webinar that aimed to debate the private sector’s role on reducing the inequality gap.

In this occasion we were accompanied by the panelists Paula Cardenau, Arbusta’s co-funder; Constanza Gorleri, Banco Galicia’s sustainability manager; Alicia Montoya, climate change advocate and member of El Álamo; Contanza Conolly, co-founder of Keidos Impacto Legal; and Paul Rissman, from Rights Colab. 

During the event, Paula Cardenau stated the fundamental role the private sector has when it comes to generating job opportunities for young people who are in economically vulnerable contexts. On the other hand, in representation of the private sector, Constanza Gorleri explained the importance of businesses from the financial sector on contributing to the local development of a sustainable economy that is able to include the whole chain value. In addition, Constanza Connolly added to the agenda the crucial role of private businesses on generating strategies that allow the articulation of the three sectors, while strengthening the Civil Society. Contributing to the debate, Alicia Montonya gave us her insight on how social investments from private businesses can lead to important changes. However, she stated that it is fundamental for the state to  intervene, making sure that those strategies become policies which contribute to the fight against inequality. 

Lastely, Paul Rissman mentioned that the Task Force on Inequality-related Financial Disclosures (TIFD), is looking to reduce inequalities on Civil Society Organizations by facilitating and providing investors with enough information about possible risks.

From RACI, we would like to thank everyone that participated on the webinar. We will continue to host events that allow us to discuss possible strategies on combating inequality, while hearing different voices with either local, regional, or international perspectives.

We present the third edition of the series of interviews with the winners of the COVID 19 Emergency Fund – Latin America and the Caribbean. Keep reading to get to know them!

As a part of the Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean, 15 organizations received up to US$5,000 to develop their projects. We sought projects that contribute to protecting public space with innovative initiatives, creatively addressing the community challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Below, we share some of the questions and answers that we received!

What did it mean for your Organization to be a beneficiary of the Fund? In what aspects do you think it was strengthened institutionally?

For CIPPEC: “The Fund implied a significant support to advance with a diagnosis that would provide knowledge that had been lacking until now: How is the right of access to information used and disseminated in poor neighborhoods? In this sense, the Fund allowed us to work with consultants specialized in access to information and data, who were key to prepare documents and also to have the resources to carry out interviews. In terms of institutional strengthening, we can mention two issues: i) the link with new actors; and, ii) the strengthening of two work agendas, one on access to information and active transparency and the other on working class neighborhoods”. 

Editor’s Note: Through this link, access the reports produced by the project on the situation of the right of access to information in vulnerable neighborhoods in Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

What was the challenge you wanted to face with this project? To what extent did it worsen with the advent of the pandemic? What did you and your organization propose to solve it?

For Datalat, on the other hand: “The challenge we faced in the project was access to open data, proof of this situation was evidenced during the pandemic related to Covid-19 where the lack of access to public information caused delays in decision making at government level, affecting various sectors.  In this sense, this project allowed us to know the benefits of having updated governmental open data to improve decision making, access to information and its use from different sectors, through a campaign with free resources on open data, and a virtual training process”.

Editor’s Note: Access Datalat’s ABC of Open Data via the following link.

What challenges did you encounter along the way?

For CEADEL,the challenge was tripartite and closely linked to the pandemic context:

“1. Not having the authorization of the Department of Education to interview teachers, students and parents; due to the risks of the covid-19 pandemic.

2. Carry out the investigation while the municipality of Chimaltenango is in the red alert system; risking contracting the virus because in the communities there is reluctance to wear a mask.

3. Delay in the investigation process because all the staff of the association (CEADEL) was infected with the virus.”

Gladis Marroquín, CEADEL Project Coordinator (Guatemala).

Editor’s Note: Access the report made by CEADEL on the educational situation of children, adolescents and young people from six rural communities of Chimaltenango (Guatemala), within the framework of the COVID-19 pandemic through the following  link.

Could you mention three positive changes that the project has produced and that are sustainable over time?

In FOPRIDEH,  the following stand out as positive and sustainable changes:

“1. The Reactivación de la Escuela de Veeduría y Auditoría Social of FOPRIDEH. 

2. The training of new observers, who are currently applying the knowledge and tools of the course in their own municipalities, actively participating as citizens.
3. La Entrega de la aplicación móvil con fácil descarga desde el hospedador de FOPRIDEH para realizar la Veeduría Social a los cursantes. Esto tendrá un efecto multiplicador ya que se puede difundir a más interesados en utilizar la herramienta, impulsando así la participación ciudadana.”

Lesly Álvarez, Financial Administrative Manager of FOPRIDEH (Honduras).

Editor’s Note: to enter the platform “Social Oversight on the use and management of Municipal Budgets to address the COVID-19 pandemic” developed by FOPRIDEH, click  here.

Could you share a brief quote from the direct beneficiaries of the Project regarding what it meant to be a participant in it?

One of the beneficiaries of the Fundeps project – an organization that worked in an articulated way through the Noise Network in the realization of a report on public procurement during the pandemic in Argentina – meant:  “A great learning of collective and coordinated work with a common interest, that of providing greater quality and transparency to public institutions,  even in times of emergency.” 

Nina Sibilia, Democracy Coordinator at Fundeps (Argentina).

Editor’s Note: Access the Report on public procurement in pandemic during 2020 made by Fundeps by clicking here.

INICIA, Comunidad de Emprendedores and HOLA América present their initiative Programa de fortalecimiento para emprendedores migrantes en Argentina.

Hola América is an initiative held by Ashoka and 2811 from Chile and Argentina was inspired by Hello Europe, an European project approved by over 15 countries all over the world. Its main purpose is to strengthen social innovation focused on migration, helping provide new and better solutions to the challenges that these communities face. It aims to support migrant entrepreneurs and migrants through their social projects.

INICIA is an entrepreneur community whose main objective is to promote responsible businesses. It encloses quality development projects for different stages of a business, and supports sustainable enterprises. They encourage entrepreneurial values such as effort, creativity and resources that are essential to the development of the country.

In this case, both programs invite migrant entrepreneurs in Argentina to participate in their federal strengthening project.

It is a free project that provides 12 training courses, that are given by icons on business and entrepreneurial experience, aiming to provide information on management and growth for new businesses.

The topics covered by the program are related to being an entrepreneur, its purpose, identification and validation of entrepreneurial opportunities, business models, effective communication, sales and marketing, e-commerces, legal aspects, sustainable business, costs and finances.

Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to address their projects in a broad and integral manner, having access to 108 hours of online training, coming in contact with other entrepreneurs, to receive personal assessments next to other volunteers of the community, thinking of short and medium term plans of action that will be presented to an advisory board formed by entrepreneurs and professors.

For more information, visit their website: www.inicia.org.ar.

Fundación Brincar is a non-profit organization whose objective is improving people with autism’s quality of life from early detection to adult life, focusing on their skills, interests and dreams, and creating containment networks for their support group.

Why do they do it? As an organization founded by parents, Brincar knows firsthand how difficult first steps are, from the moment of suspicion, until getting the diagnosis. Adding to this uncertainty, more difficulties emerge during the process of getting the CUD -Unique Certificate of Disability- to achieve access to therapeutic treatment. Families must face a long road, accompanied by the complications caused by lack of health coverage and the misinformation that still exists.

What are they doing? On this occasion, it invites the entire community to learn about its new free training platform AUTISMO: INICIANDO EL CAMINO, with guidance and practical tools to accompany families with recent diagnosis day to day. The platform was developed thanks to the support of the Karelsie Foundation and RACI. 

Being able to strengthen families and give them tools to start the journey is key: from information on autism alerts and daily guidelines on stimulation tools for children, to helping them know their rights, have support, and find vacancy in schools.

For that matter, informative videos were developed in didactic language of easy understanding, together with outstanding specialists in autism: Dr. Natalia Barrios child and adolescent and adult psychiatrist; Prof. Lucia Vidal, special education teacher; Dr. Silvia Figiacone psychologist and educational psychologist; and Dr. María Inés Bianco, a lawyer specializing in disability. Each specialist developed the contents of the following courses: Developmental Alerts, Early Stimulation, School Inclusion and Legal Aspects.

The platform will be available free of charge through various channels (web, virtual campus and youtube) to facilitate information to families, especially those who live in areas far from health centers and in contexts of vulnerability.

Get to know them more on their website: https://www.brincar.org.ar/herramientasiniciales/?v=2.

We present the second edition of the series of interviews to the winners of COVID 19 Emergency Fund – Latin America and the Caribbean. Keep on reading to meet them! 

As part of the Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean, 15 organizations received up to US$5,000 to develop their projects. The projects were sought to contribute to protecting public space with innovative initiatives, creatively addressing the community challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Here are some of the answers we received! 

What did it mean for your organization to be a beneficiary of the Fund? How do you think it strengthened your institution? 

According to PODER, “The challenge we set out to address in this project was to turn available key information about those relevant companies and institutions, for people and organizations in communities whose rights were violated by companies and megaprojects. With the pandemic, transparency and access to information have become difficult, especially in marginalized and vulnerable communities: public information gatherings have suffered delays and cancellations, and requests for information in government agencies have been postponed. At PODER, we have tried to restructure our activities with communities, reinforcing online activities, providing communication equipment, and structuring field activities taking into account health protocols.”

Elena Arengo, Co-Director of PODER (Mexico)

Editor’s Note: Visit their website.

Could you mention three positive changes that the project has produced and that are sustainable over time? 

For Chile Transparente, the positive changes were:

“1. Creation of a website that will allow permanent contact with citizens, in order to receive complaints on irregularities of municipal procurement and to generate training workshops for local leaders in the field. 

2. Experience in working with the community. 
3. Acquisition of new knowledge in public procurement, bidding processes, main associated risks, etc.” 

Tania Tabilo Morales,  Coordinator of the Anti-Corruption Legal Assistance Office of Chile Transparente (Chile).

Editor’s Note: Visit their website  “Caza Chanchullos” here.

What was the challenge you wanted to face with this project? To what extent did it worsen with the advent of the pandemic? What did you and your organization propose to solve it?

For Fundación León, “the main challenge was the application of a project that involved an almost 90% remote implementation, the face-to-face instances were few and reduced in number of participants. The main test was to generate ties, networks and active participation in all virtual instances. On the one hand, a challenge that we considered an obstacle ended up enabled us, for example, in the case of training for municipalities, to involve more municipal officials from different areas and units, since they had to connect from their offices with their teams.”

Federico Diaz Marino, Program Director of Fundación León (Argentina)

Editor’s Note: Visit their website.

Could you share a brief quote from the direct beneficiaries of the Project regarding what it meant to be a participant in it? 

Get to know the experience of the direct beneficiaries of the project developed by FACILITAR (Colombia)! 

“Like my colleagues, I think that being part of this project was one of the most rewarding experiences we have been able to have, because through these workshops, I was able to learn a little more about some topics in terms of politics, leadership and journalism; thus expanding in a very pleasant and constructive way my knowledge and I am fully sure that my colleagues’ knowledge was also enriched. I feel very satisfied since through these workshops, many talents and personal qualities that I did not know were made known, as well as talents and qualities of many of the young people who participated in the municipality, both guests and attendees to the project. Therefore being this project a window for all those young people who have an aspiration and who have a born talent that deserves to be known and exploited, this project became, in a certain way, a range of possibilities for new workshops and projects of equal magnitude that promote progress and improvement of some young people within the municipality. We are hoping that the mayor’s office will continue to promote and carry out this type of project, but with a slightly broader intensity in order to promote new perspectives of life and personal development of young people in the municipality.” 

Att: Richard Antonio Araujo Ortiz, (Young participant from the municipality of San Cristóbal)

VERSES ALLUDING TO THE PROJECT “YOUTH: LET’S TALK ABOUT TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY UNDER COVID-19”

As a young person I wasn’t interested

In knowing anything about governance

But this project awoke in me

To have judgement and temperance 

Governments must be transparent

Let us see their works and their actions

And never hide between their teeth

What their true expenses are

Now more awake I feel

With leadership and with a clear mind

Thanks to RACI and its financing

In this project that I acclaim

Covid did not stop us with its evils

To receive good training

With interviews on radio programs

and the communication workshop”

Att: Claudia Toro (Corporación Facilitar)

Editor’s Note: Visit their website.

We held an event together with Banco Galicia and Pacto Global with the aim of sharing good practices and tools for the delivery of the SDGs.

In representation of the private sector, Banco Galicia and Pacto Global Argentina were present, while RACI, CIPPEC, and Fundación Huellas para el Futuro acted as speakers for the third sector.

Laura Belfiore, specialist in Corporate Sustainability in Pacto Global, presented the current advances of the private sector in terms of compliance with the SDGs, and the status of the 2030 agenda. On the other hand, Belén Arce, leader of Strategic Social Investment at Banco Galicia, stated the importance of private sector actors getting involved in achieving the SDGs and becoming social investors.

Representing the contribution of Civil Society to the 2030 agenda, Luana Esquenazi, Director of Research at RACI, presented the SDG Platform (https://plataforma-ods.org/),which invites CSOs to enter their project in order to make their work around the objectives visible. So far, 1088 organizations are registered on the platform, with the most represented provinces being Buenos Aires and CABA. On the other hand, the most represented SDGs are Education, Reduced Inequalities, Partnerships for the goals, No Poverty, Good Health and Well-being, and Gender Equality.

Both Huellas para el Futuro Foundation and CIPPEC presented the progress of their organizations around the achievement of the SDGs. Verónica Carbone, head of biodiversity at the Huellas para un Futuro foundation, presented the impact that her projects have had in Argentina and Latin America. Natalia Aquino, director of CIPPEC’s Monitoring and Evaluation Program, commented on the extent to which the projects carried out by CIPPEC contribute to the achievement of the agenda.

From RACI we thank those who participated in this event and we are committed, as we have always done, to continue promoting institutional dialogues between different actors to achieve the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

RACI, together with the organizers of C20 Italy 2021, held an event within the C20 summit, which took place on Wednesday, October 6. Entitled “Restrictions on Civic Space in the Age of COVID: Why is Democracy at Risk?” was moderated by RACI Deputy Director Juliana Catania and held as panelists, Marianna Belalba Barreto of CIVICUS, Florence Nakazibwe of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law-ICNL, Anja Bosilkova-Antovska of the Balkan Civil Society Development Network and Harsh Jaitli of VANI India.

The main objective of the event was to reflect on the current situation of the enabling environment for Civil Society Organizations and discuss the restrictions that have been imposed by states around the world in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, seeking to explore the immediate – and future – consequences that they have on our democracies.

During the pandemic that the world faced and faces, restrictions on fundamental freedoms have become more visible and a very common and dangerous government practice around the world. The panel reflected on how with the pandemic as a framework – and in some cases used as justification, generating uncertainty and in many cases fear – many governments used it as a pretext to impose restrictions on civic space using different types of methods (ranging from excessive use of force in protests, barriers to access information, suspension of parliamentary sessions, limit of protests and demonstrations, among others), which resulted in a reduction – and in some cases in severe limitations – of civic freedoms, putting democracies at high risk. From RACI we consider that this worrying context showed the need to discuss this crucial issue within the C20.

In addition to sharing experiences and practices in different regions, the panel emphasized the importance of governments recognizing the central role that organizations have had during the management of the pandemic, so they must include Civil Society as a relevant and irreplaceable partner when it comes to discussing public policies.

As several years ago, RACI continues to participate in the Civil Society affinity group within the framework of the G20 discussing issues as necessary for Civil Society as the enabling environment, to include it within the final communiqué of the C20 on the way to the G20 Italy 2021 summit.

To access the final communiqué of C20 2021: C20-Final-Communiqué-2021.pdf (civil-20.org)