Category: Novedades

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.

This year, we inaugurated a new segment, in which we aim to interview and learn more about the RACI’s partners. This is why we interviewed them so they could tell us about their organization and how they work with RACI.

This month, we interviewed to Carlos Persini, Founder and President of the Huellas para un Futuro Foundation, which has been part of the Network for several years.

Carlos, very kindly, told us about the objectives and the function of the foundation. He said that “Fundación Huellas para un Futuro is an NGO that deals with social and environmental problems within a 100 km2 area of in the province of Misiones. The region belongs to the buffer zone of the Yaboti Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera Yaboti) where local people of diverse origins (Brazilian, German, Ukrainian, Creoles) and four Mbya guarani communities live together. Our challenge is to put into practice concrete actions and synergies on the ground between Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Change, in line with Agenda 2030 and the 17 SDG. In parallel, we have adhered to the Global Compact, emphasizing our commitment to encourage the active participation of the private sector in order to raise awareness and broaden the range of financial resources required for the effective implementation of solutions that concern humanity as a whole.”

On the other hand, he explained that what encouraged them to join as RACI partners was “the articulation with the whole spectrum of actors involved in the diagnosis, approach and resolution of local and global problems in all aspects”. He also added that what they value most about the networking they find with RACI is “in principle, the growth that the Organization has had, the appropriate role it plays and its progressive, coherent and seamless positioning. The contribution they make to our sector, today through the form of Federation, is unquestionable. The heterogeneity of its members guarantees a broad and inclusive outlook that, coordinated by RACI in an impeccable manner, bodes well for a solid and ideal representation of our sector. It is no coincidence that their presence at the G20 co-coordinating the C20 has been a credit. This is just the beginning.”

To conclude, Carlos made a small assessment of his organization in the years they have worked as Partner of the Network. He explains that: « We consider RACI as a strategic partner. They have enormously facilitated the research and the access to funds, being aware what they represent for us in our sector. In our case, it opened the doors of the international cooperation, but the most important thing, is the permanent partnership in order to consolidate these opportunities in the future. I am certain that, in the medium-term and through a strategic vision, RACI will culminate in positioning the CSO sector as a relevant actor and with the appropriate interference and within a transversal model in which society, the state and international organizations will responsibly execute their role, without overlapping or squandering their ever-scarce resources. Time is our nonrenewable resource, more scarce than the one that runs with a vast humanity plagued with necessities and inequalities as the environment is progressively deteriorating. We need action and I consider that RACI is the tool which allows our sector to raise our voice and acquire the visibility that our organizations need. »

We appreciate Carlos for taking the time to join us in this space. If you want to know more about the Huellas por un Futuro Foundation, do it here.

In the world of associations, the merging of organizations is often frowned upon. Uncommon and unknown, they tend to be associated with a poor financial health. Worse still, as the author and consultant Thomas McLaughlin points out in his book Nonprofit Mergers and Alliances: “For some in the non-profit field, the idea of mergers is scandalous and tasteless. In a way, it is not surprising that mergers have so few supporters in the community. They are often associated with leadership failure, financial difficulties and rarely good intentions.

But now, it is time to change our point of view. The mergers of CSOs are very promising, as demonstrated by the recent Estudio Metropolitano de Investigación de Fusiones sin Fines de Lucro de Chicago (Metropolitan Chicago Nonprofit Merger Research Study). Nonprofit organisations can and must consider the use of the mergers as an effective tool to achieve its objectives, advance its mission and and augment its impact.

This study is based on a partnership of the Kellogg School of Management, Mission and Strategy Consulting of Northwestern University and eight foundations of Chicago. Together, they completed an analysis of 25 mergers of nonprofit organisations from different sectors which took place in the Chicago area between 2004 and 2014.

The result is definitive. In 88% of the cases, the acquired organisations reported that its organisation was in a better situation after the merger, defining « better » in the sense of achieving the objectives of the organisation and increasing its collective impact. Moreover, the result showed other interesting figures: in 80% of the cases, there was a previous collaboration between the merging organizations; in 85% of the cases, the president of the council of administration or a member of the council of administration of one of the organisations became the main supporter of the merger.

Through this Study, we discovered that the associations that were merged hastily have much less possibilities to achieve a a successful merger than associations that plan their mergers well in advance. Once merged, organizations that claim to be in a better position generally have better financial health. But it is is not just the change in the scale of the market which makes a merger a good thing. This transformation allows the merged organisations to grow to a completely different rhythm than before.

The example of the UCP Sequin Chicago is surprising. In 2013, United Cerebral Palsy (UCP), a nonprofit organisation of $9 million, merged with Sequin Services, a $27 million company, to create UCP Sequin Chicago. For this merger to be successful, a comprehensive, deliberate and particularly thoughtful approach was adopted. It is important to understand that UCP and Seguin knew each other through previous collaborations, and that their partnership spanned more than five years. UCP and Sequin operated separately during more than 60 years in the area of the disability services, with similar offerings and both in good financial health. Despite these similarities, it was their differences that brought them together. UCP has promoted independence for children and adults through a multi-state company called Infinitec. Seguin Industries has pioneered integrated community living in group homes. Therefore, when UCP approached Sequin, it was not difficult for management teams on both sides to see that by negotiating these core competencies through a merger, they would be able to achieve greater organizational strength and industry growth.

So, in a ever-competitive world, it looks necessary today to promote strategic mergers between nonprofit organisations to permit economies of scale, give access to another level of action, and to be an efficient strategy to succeed.

Source: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/nonprofit_mergers_that_work

In recent years, the internet and new information technologies have promoted alternative forms of consumption of services and products . The collaborative economy model is based on lending, renting, buying or selling products in terms of specific needs over economic benefits, demonstrating that money is not the only exchange value for transactions. This has allowed the construction of communities of exchange and has strengthened the capacities of entrepreneurs, business people and individuals.

This model has awakened the interest of the Civil Society to be able to exchange services and products for their own empowerment. From this initiative, COMUNIDAS, a collaborative economy platform made up of social organizations from Latin America and the Caribbean which promotes the exchange of services, products and knowledge that allow them to enhance their skills and abilities, was born. The platform has been designed and made available to CSOs as an online ecosystem that mainly seeks to solve three problems:

1.The lack of solidarity in Latin American and the Caribbean. In the latest study from the organization Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) on levels of solidaroity called the World Giving Index, there is no country from Latin America and the Caribbean on the top 20 countries showing the most solidarity. This proves a weak civic and philanthropic culture predominating in most countries of the region and in all sectors of the society, including the civil society.

2. The need to strengthen the volunteer culture. Recent studies conducted by the Latin American Volunteer Center showed that, for civil society, the recruitment of new volunteers and the continuity of participation of the current ones continues to be a major challenge, which affects the impact of the projects implemented by the organizations of the civil society and diminishes its credibility.
3. The lack of financial resources. According to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Latin America and Caribbean region has reaped the least amount of benefits of official development assistance (ODA) relative to other continents. This, coupled with the lack of solidarity and limited financial support from the private sector, makes the development of civil society organizations complicated.

For the first phase, ComuniDAS has two interactives modules. In the first one, organizations can register by giving basic information to join the initiative. The second one is the service registration and exchange module, which allows organizations to add new services for their exchanges under the following considerations:

1. Services can be offered remotely and in person.
2. The types of services can be consultancy, training or the development of a product.
3. The thematic areas can be communication, institutional strengthening, advocacy, research and volunteering.

If you still have not joined the initiative, the Regional Center of Latin America and the Caribbean invites you to do so at: http://comunidas.org/and thus the region will revolutionize the collaborative economy for Civil Society Organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

After great anticipation from Civil Society Organizations, both local and global, that work year after year on the development of the C20, the official discussion forums for each topic are now open.

The website representing the Civil Affinity Group 20 (C20) is already receiving users from all over the world involved in the production of proposals that will be presented by the Civil Society to the political leaders that make up the G20 Summit.

Seeking to influence a variety of topics, the topics chosen ones by the third sector were: “anti-corruption”, “Architecture of the International Financial System”, “Gender”, “Education, Employment and inclusion”, “From local to global”, “Investment and infrastructure” and “Global Health”. For each one of these working groups, a discussion forum has been created where the organizations, with a coordinator as a moderator, will discuss ideas and proposals of high technical content in order to promote changes toward the end of the Argentine G20 mandate.

It is important to emphasize that the topics supported by the organizations promote a certain continuity with the ones chosen during Germany G20 Summit from last year. Besides, the content of each discussion is the decision of the members of each group.

Be a part in the conversation now! If your organization isn’t already registered, go to https://civil-20.org/registration/ and make your contribution.