Between 10 July and 18 August 2006, evaluators will conduct field visits to 26 projects chosen by the Selection Committee for the 2005-2006 Cycle of the Experiences in Social Innovation contest, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) with the support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
The selected initiatives will be evaluated in situ by outside experts, who will in some cases be accompanied by ECLAC officials. The initiatives are being conducted in Argentina (2), the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (1), Bolivia (1), Brazil (4), Chile (1), Colombia (6), Costa Rica (1), Mexico (1), Paraguay (2), Peru (6) and Uruguay (1). Most of them are conducted by non-governmental organizations (12), followed by local community organizations (8), local government (3), provincial, state, department or regional governments (1), and mixed enterprises (1).
They relate to areas such as youth programmes (8 projects), income generation (6), rural and agricultural development (5), community health (2), basic education (2), food security and nutrition (1), corporate social responsibility (1) and volunteer work (1).
These initiatives were selected because they showed the highest levels of innovation, replicability, sustainability and the possibility of broadening their scope, according to evaluations made previously by a group of experts in the subjects concerned.
The complete list of the 26 projects can be found on the ECLAC website by following the link.
Following the field visits, the project finalists will be selected and will be invited to the Innovation Fair and the prize-giving ceremony, which will take place in Mexico City from 8 to 10 November 2006.
This year, the first prize will be US$ 30,000; second prize, US$ 20,000; third prize, US$ 15,000, and fourth and fifth prizes, US$10,000 and US$ 5,000 respectively. A further 15 finalists will receive honourable mentions. Also, the semi-finalist projects will be publicized extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The 2005-2006 Cycle was launched in July 2005, and applications were accepted up to 9 September 2005 inclusive. The first Cycle was successfully concluded with the Innovation Fair and the prize-giving ceremony, which took place on 11 November 2005 at ECLAC Headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
The objective of the contest is to identify and recognize the merit of innovative social development initiatives which can be analysed and systematized in order to derive lessons and disseminate such experiences. It is hoped that such dissemination will help to improve social practices and policies in the interest of the populations of the countries of the region, particularly low-income groups.
Read more
- Experiences in Social Innovation Award
- Presentation
- 2005-2006 Cycle
- 2004-2005 Cycle
More information about the Experiences in Social Innovation Award: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
