Telefonica Foundation promotes efforts to eradicate child labour in Latin America

Social investment in children is ‘the only real future investment’, according to the Lima Declaration. The Declaration, released at the end of the II Encuentro Internacional Proniño – Articulación para la Prevención y Erradicación del Trabajo Infantil (2nd International Pro-Child Meeting – Coordination for the Prevention and Eradication of Child Labour) in October, also defines the steps to follow to end the worst forms of child labour by 2016 and all forms of child labour by 2021. Click here to read ...

New strategic alliances to tackle gender and diversity issues in Latin America

In early October, the Vital Voices Global Partnerships international organization, together with Goldman Sachs, the Inter American Development Bank (IADB), the World Bank, Exxon Mobil and the Club of Madrid, announced that it would invest USD 28 million over the next three years in Latin America and the Caribbean to benefit 5,000 women.

Vital Voices played a fundamental role in uniting the IADB with other key players to help empower women in the region. Meanwhile, in March 2008, Goldman Sachs launched the 10,000 Women initiative, which will provide unattended women with education focused on business and administration. Click here to read ...

Economic crisis requires greater solidarity from Mexican businesses

‘The private sector must avoid cuts in funding for philanthropy, since being in solidarity is what is most required in these times of economic crisis.’ Thus ran a statement by the board of directors of the Fundación del Empresariado en México (Businesspersons Foundation of Mexico – Fundemex) at a public meeting on 15 October to show the results of Fundemex’s work. Companies, said Fundemex’s directors, have a great responsibility in the struggle against inequality in a country where the level of poverty ‘is shameful’. Click here to read ...

Solidarity in decline in Chile?

The Estudio Nacional de Voluntariado, 2008 (National Volunteering Study, 2008), carried out in Chile for the third year by the Fundación Trascender (Transcend Foundation) and Collect GfK, reveals that although more people believe solidarity is a national characteristic (up from 57 per cent in 2007 to 64 per cent in 2008), fewer Chileans see themselves as acting in solidarity with their fellow citizens (from 67 per cent in 2007 to 50 per cent in 2008) and the percentage of those who affirm that they do not see themselves in those terms rose from 8 per cent to 19 per cent. Click here to read ...

Shakira’s pulling power attracts donations from around the world

The Fundación Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Foundation), created in 1997 by Colombian singer Shakira, which supports children and their families by offering quality education to 5,000 students and 30,000 people, has become an immense multinational philanthropy effort. Click here to read ...

Robert Bosch Institute to support professional training for entrepreneurial development in Brazil

The Robert Bosch Institute and the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas (Brazilian Support Service for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises – SEBRAE) have joined forces to develop a project to support third sector undertakings. The objective is to train employees and administrators of the 100 institutions affiliated to the Federação das Entidades Assistenciais de Campinas (Federation of Support Entities of Campinas – FEAC) and organizations registered in the Conselho Municipal de Assistência Social (Social Assistance Municipal Council – CMAS) of São Paolo. Click here to read ...

Reform of Mexican fiscal regime ‘necessary but not sufficient’ for strengthening civil society

Mexico’s Proyecto sobre Filantropía y Sociedad Civil (Project on Philanthropy and Civil Society – PFSC) has arrived at the conclusion that, given the ‘state of underdevelopment’ of civil society, a favourable tax framework is a necessary but not sufficient tool to strengthen organized civil society. Click here to read ...

New study sheds light on third sector in Puerto Rico

A recent study on the third sector in Puerto Rico by the Red de Fundaciones (Foundations Network) revealed that its 6,378 not-for-profit organizations (hospitals, schools, universities, community organizations and hostels) benefited more than 800,000 people in 2007. Click here to read ...

Awards for innovation and social investment in Latin America

Four international organizations and organizations from Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua received awards in October from the programme Innovación para un Desarrollo Inclusivo (Innovation for Inclusive Development), co-sponsored by the Italian Fund for Information Technologies and the Inter American Development Bank (IADB). The awards were for their programmes to improve the quality of life of the poor in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Meds and Food for Kids in Haiti was awarded for its Sowing, Processing and Providing Nutritious Foods project, which seeks to increase peanut production in Haiti, where 23 per cent of all children suffer from malnutrition. Click here to read ...

Online technology donation portal for Mexico

The Mexican Center for Philanthropy (CEMEFI) and TechSoup Global (TSG) are to launch an online information and communication technology donation initiative later this month. The idea of the programme, OSC Digital, is to encourage the donation of hardware and software to civil society organizations in order to increase their effectiveness. CSOs and donors can make known their requirements, on the one hand, and what they can offer, on the other, through a website. The idea is already in successful use in other parts of the region and the world. Microsoft Mexico will become the first of the programme’s donors, following its launch at CEMEFI’s 20th anniversary meeting in mid-November. Click here to read ...