Social Innovation Contributes to Eradicating Poverty
Communities improve their living conditions with a dozen projects selected by social innovation contest.
(16 October 2008) "Social innovation is a privileged tool people have to solve their problems," said Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), during International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. An array of social entrepreneurs from the region has demonstrated this with income-generating projects based on sustainable development models.
Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean has dropped from 44% in 2002 to 35% in 2007. However, new circumstances could alter this progress. Possible slower growth rates and rising food prices may revert nearly a third of poverty reduction already achieved in the region, with about 15 million people falling below the poverty line, says the Commission.
These figures could be lower if governments, civil society and communities were to take action. On the one hand, governments are implementing transfer programmes, occasionally conditioned, that have effectively helped to alleviate poverty conditions. On the other, community organizations, sometimes with the support of local authorities or other civil organizations, have been for years designing and carrying out innovative programmes that have allowed them to rise above the conditions of extreme poverty in which they were living.
These are the kind of successful examples ECLAC has sought to identify through the "Experiences in Social Innovation" contest, supported by the Kellogg Foundation. "We are convinced that these initiatives will serve as an inspiration to others in the region who may be facing similar situations," said Ms Bárcena.
Abundant milk production
In Haiti, the poorest country in the region, the local NGO Veterimed has created the associative company "Lét Agogo" ("Milk Galore"), with the active participation of the Limonade and Cap Haitien communities. Small farmers living under conditions of extreme poverty, with poor quality, scarcely productive lands over which they did not have tenure, improved the production and distribution of milk products, radically changing their quality of life by receiving income equivalent to nearly four minimum salaries.
Haiti annually imports US$ 40 million in milk products; milk is the second largest food import in the country. National milk production covers only 30% of domestic consumption requirements, and most local distributors have closed down over the past decade. The production units of "Lét Agogo" contribute to food security, in that they are the only ones in the country processing and adding value to locally produced milk.
Making the most of local resources
In the highlands of Peru, men and women have created income-generating alternatives that have changed their lives. In the Iniquilla Chullpia community in the District of Ocuviri, overcoming all sorts of adversities, the Fishing Association "Flor de Yancacauha" (Yancacauha Flower) has developed a model for producing fingerlings and trout, and has become one of the main producers of smoked and canned trout in the Department of Puno, distributing its product nationwide. Each member's annual income has increased by 250%.
In Brazil, farmers came together in the Association of Small Farmers of the Valente Municipality (APAEB) to negotiate better prices for the sisal plant and build an industry that now benefits 2,000 families. The project "Sustainable Development in the Sisal Region" has been the starting point for an industry that now generates 900 jobs, and has educated nearly 1,800 students through its family rural school. Its achievements include better prices for sisal, development of the local industry, production loans, more abundant, healthy goat meat and milk, curbing emigration from Valente, and lowering poverty levels.
Click here for more information on the Experiences in Social Innovation Project, or contact Anita Callejas at: anita.callejascepal.org ; Telephone: (562) 210-2387.