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.
- The training of new observers, who are currently applying the knowledge and tools of the course in their own municipalities, actively participating as citizens.
- 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.