latin america and the caribbean

a new strategy for latin america and the caribbean

Since the 1940s, still in the life of Mr. Kellogg, the foundation began working in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) supporting hundreds of projects in health, education, rural development, local philanthropy, racial equality and other topics that are a priority to children's development. It also has supported multiple leadership programs whose participants champion important actions in more than ten countries.

In 2009, after a two-year planning period, the Board of Trustees of the Kellogg Foundation approved a new strategy for LAC aiming to "help weave healthy self-reliant communities where children can have better opportunities now and in the future." This strategy is based on three key lessons that came from the foundation's previous work in the region and other countries:

• Comprehensive Development
  In order to have better living conditions and opportunities for the future, children, families and communities need comprehensive development platforms, which include adequate nutrition and healthcare, access to quality education and economic security, engaged residents and a non- discriminatory context.
• Long-term Geographic Focus
  To improve the potential for having lasting positive impact, a long-term geographic focus allows the Kellogg Foundation to better understand a community, build the necessary trust with local stakeholders and concentrate its resources over at least ten years.
• Effective Multi-sector Partnerships
  To successfully meet the complex challenge of helping vulnerable children and their families succeed, it is necessary to build effective multi-sector partnerships with communities and social organizations, other foundations and private donors, government at all levels, multilateral organizations, business and academia.

With these lessons, the foundation formally launched the new LAC strategy in 2010 focusing in micro-regions, defined as rural or semi urban areas clustering around 200,000 people, with high levels of poverty but also good potential for improvement. Ideally, the foundation aims to work for at least ten years in these micro-regions. Potential is identified as the presence of a strong social fabric and local leadership, availability of natural and/or cultural resources, the possibility to connect with more dynamic economies and a shared sense of priority with governments, private sector and other funders.

In these micro-regions, the Kellogg Foundation supports a participatory planning process that will enable citizens to create a ten-year vision for their community and a basic roadmap to achieve this vision. It then invests in projects designed and executed by civil society groups and organizations, schools and universities, cooperatives, companies and/or other foundations with the following priorities:

Within the selected micro-regions and these priorities, the Kellogg Foundation gives preference to projects that have the following characteristics:

• Empowering. Fully engages the community and strengthens the capacities of local citizens.
• Clear and measurable. Has a good understanding of the problem or the opportunity, and concrete objectives from the beginning. It also has a process to monitor progress embedded in the proposed methodology.
• Environmentally responsible. Aims to operate in harmony with the ecosystem.
• Co-funded. Considers multiple funding sources avoiding long-term dependency on a single donor, fostering accountability and cooperation among donors and strengthening the operating institution.
• Sustainable. Has a mid to long-term vision and foresees concrete mechanisms to guarantee its financial and operational sustainability.

In addition to the participatory plans and the priorities, the foundation invests in a monitoring system that annually tracks 20 socioeconomic indicators in the micro-regions to assess the advances in living conditions and opportunities. This information will be available to the public in the hope that a wide array of stakeholders can use it for purposes of analysis and decision-making. The foundation is also investing in a leadership program where 20 to 30 young adults from the micro-regions meet monthly for a year to gain new skills, share experiences, strengthen their capacities and network with key thinkers and decision makers. Finally, the Kellogg Foundation works to foster a strategic and systematic dialogue between foundations and private donors interested in specific geographies aiming to improve communication, cooperation and ideally some degree of coordination around common issues. The spirit of this dialogue is fully respectful of each foundation's investment strategy and governance and tries to build upon exchanging ideas, potentially leveraging each other's resources and finding shared concerns to be addressed.