At the end of 2020, Innovation for Change LAC Hub (I4C LAC) – with the support of Tides Center- launched the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Latin American and Caribbean Civil Society Organizations (CSO).
RACI received and evaluated a total of 186 (one hundred eighty six) project proposals from various countries in the region. Most of the proposals received came from Argentina with 42 proposals, followed by Colombia with 33, México with 23 and Dominican Republic with 12 proposals.
In terms of subject matter, there was a clear preponderance of proposals on access to information; followed by monitoring access to public services and, thirdly, proposals focused on Transparency and Accountability with Public Funds used during the pandemic.
The proposals were evaluated with the same scoring system based on objective criteria where the following categories were analysed: strategic fit of the project with the objectives of the announcement; project structure; possibility of linking with other stakeholders; risk and budget analysis.
Having concluded the evaluation process, the 15 winning organizations of the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean have already been selected. Each of these organizations presented innovative projects, strongly committed to increasing the capacity and resilience of CSOs to operate and defend civic space.
The selected organizations and projects are:
- Chile Transparente, Capítulo Chileno de Transparencia Internacional, from Chile, presented the project “Caza Chanchullos,” whose objective is to detect irregularities in the management of public funds and report them to the Comptroller General of the Republic and the Public Ministry so that those responsible for the misuse of State resources are punished, in addition to contribution to greater citizen control regarding the expenditures made by State Institutions.
- Asociación Centro de Estudios de la Diversidad Sexual y Genérica (AMATE), from El Salvador, presented the Project “Social Action for an inclusive government response to COVID-19 in El Salvador” which seeks to influence through actions to monitor the use of public funds and access to public services, in the context of emergency response generated by the COVID-19, so that different government institutions comply with social standards that prevent damage to population groups historically marginalized from public projects.
- TECHO Internacional, from Chile, presented the Project “Open Settlements: the impact of COVID on Popular Settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean,” which aims to make the impact of COVID-19 on popular settlements in Latin America and the Caribbean visible, by updating a digital platform that contains the information already collected by thousands of volunteers and inhabitants of the settlements, in order to contribute to the construction of definitive solutions that improve the quality of life of millions of people who live in these territories.
- Fundación Nuestra Mendoza, from Argentina, presented the project “Transparency that Feeds”. This aims to generate a mechanism of Transparency and Accountability on the purchase and distribution of food by the Provincial Government, in order to make the use of resources more efficient (both the State and CSOs since many times these overlap in territory), to prevent the Right to Proper Nutrition from falling prisoner of political patronage, and to promote the local production of healthy foods (promote food purchases from local actors).
- Fundación León, from Argentina, presented the project “Access to information on poverty during COVID-19 in Tucumán, Argentina.” It aims to strengthen access to information on poverty in the province of Tucumán.
- Centro de Implementación de Políticas Públicas para la Equidad y el Crecimiento – CIPPEC-, from Argentina, presented the project “Quality of Access to Information on public services in popular neighborhoods of CABA”. With this initiative they seek to contribute to improving the quality of the right of access to public information (DAIP) on public services (water, electricity, urban sanitation and internet) perceived by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) based in popular neighborhoods ( selected) of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA).
- Proyecto sobre Organización, Desarrollo, Educación e Investigación (PODER), from México, presented the project “Strengthening the capacities of community organizations to access information on the impacts of extractive industries and infrastructure megaprojects.” In this, PODER will work with grassroots organizations in communities affected by extractive activities (mining) and infrastructure megaprojects, to strengthen the capacities these organizations have of understanding the dynamics of these megaprojects and their impacts on the community fabric, local economies and the environment. PODER will also develop training activities on industries, the use of public information sources, and organizational strengthening to advocate for a greater participation of affected communities and for greater transparency about these projects that affect them.
- La Corporación para el Desarrollo Humano y Social – Facilitar, from Colombia, presented the project “Youth: Let’s Talk About Transparency and Accountability under COVID-19”. They seek to sow political awareness in the young people of the municipalities of San Cristóbal and Soplaviento, and in general of the Canal del Dique subregion, through training, social communication and the promotion of transparency and accountability under the COVID-19 in a virtual radio program of young people and for young people.
- Federación de Organizaciones No Gubernamentales para el Desarrollo de Honduras –FOPRIDEH – from Honduras presented the project “Building citizenship through social oversight exercises to manage municipal budgets assigned to the COVID19 pandemic.” With this, they intend to promote and strengthen citizen enforcement actions, through exercises of social oversight on the management of municipal budgets assigned to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Asociación Cátedra de la Paz y Derechos Humanos “Mons. Oscar A. Romero”, from Venezuela, presented the project “Young community monitors for public advocacy.” Monitoring for Public Advocacy is a project that seeks to strengthen a network of young monitors through training in strategies for leadership, organization and monitoring of public services, as well as problems related to malnutrition associated with poor diet, gender violence and youth violence. It aims to carry out face-to-face or virtual public advocacy campaigns in order to provide solutions to problems that were notably increased by the COVID-19 pandemic and the humanitarian emergency in Venezuela.
- Fundación CIRD, from Paraguay, presented the project “Promotion of Citizen Control to the Rendering of Accounts of the Equity Funds of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare.” They aim to leave installed capacity in the citizenship to promote and monitor the Rendering of Account of the Equity Funds destined this year for the health contingency due to COVID-19, of the Local Health Councils (CLS) provided by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MSPBS) of the cities of Itauguá and Fernando de la Mora of the Central Department, to encourage the correct use of these funds and prevent corruption.
- Instituto Makarapy – together with APIB – from Brazil, presented the project “Platform and System for the Safeguarding of Data of Brazilian Indigenous Peoples”. Its objective is to structure both a platform and an information system in order to protect the databases produced by indigenous peoples during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus guaranteeing the necessary structure for the continuity of community and participatory monitoring.
- Datalat – in representation of the Red Ecuatoriana de Datos Abiertos y Metadatos (REDAM) – from Ecuador, presented the project “Overcoming the pandemic with quality data.” It seeks to promote the openness of government data to improve the quality and access to public information by all social sectors through training activities and promotion of the new open data policy and guide in Ecuador, supported by Civil Society, in force since April 2020. This project will impact both public entities and public data (supply), on how Civil Society that uses the information to exercise the right of access to public information and generate actions with it (demand).
- Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables – Fundeps- from Argentina, presented the project “Transparent emergency purchases: making visible the use of public funds in pandemic at the federal level”. The initiative aims to make visible how was the use of public funds for purchases that occurred in the context of emergency derived from COVID-19 in different provinces of Argentina.
- Centro de Estudios y Apoyo al Desarrollo Local – CEADEL, from Guatemala, presented the project “COVID-19, a barrier for the educational progress of children, adolescents and young people in Chimaltenango.” They aim to determine, through a diagnosis and monitoring, the access and quality of education for children, adolescents and youth in 6 rural communities of the municipality of Chimaltenango during the pandemic.
Once again, we extend our gratitude to all the Organizations that submitted their proposals to this Call.