Special Initiatives

Agents of Change

The Inter-American Development Bank and MTV Latin America established a partnership between the IDB YOUTH Program and the pro-social campaign MTV Grita to launch the initiative Youth as Agents of Change.

In October 2006, during MTV Latin America Awards, a call to youth was launched to invite them to share their development projects by submitting a story to www.mtvagentesdecambio.com. The response was overwhelming, more than 7,000 stories were received in a wide range of topics: from environmental protection, training, microenterprise, health, housings, art and culture among others.

From all those stories, more than 600 were uploaded to the Website to be disseminated and evaluated. From those, twenty five were selected from 7 different countries to be filmed and produced into 3 minute segments in which youth and their projects were the protagonists. The stories were transmitted in MTV Latin America and local TV stations.

MTV Awards 2007

In 2007, MTV Latin America Awards were produced under the banner: We All Are Agents of Change. A special segment was dedicated to recognize youth community leaders and their contributions to development. Additionally, the MTV Agent of Change Award was created and given to Colombian super star Juanes for his contributions to peace and social change, as well as for representing the values of youth that are Agents of Change.

Results

Youth as Agents of Change increased awareness on the important role that youth play in development. It showcased to all social sectors that young people are partners in development and not only beneficiaries of development. It also informed millions of youth of opportunities to contribute in their communities and to influence the future of their own surroundings.

Many of the 25 Agents of Change selected by IDB/MTV Latin America have been recognized locally, their projects have been highlighted, and some have received financing, mentoring or additional resources. The selected Agents of Change have also become part of the Youth Venture Latin America Network, an Ashoka initiative that provides technical assistance and seed capital to young social entrepreneurs.

IDB YOUTH has received many emails from youth in the region, requesting information on how to become an Agent of Change, wondering where to begin. That’s how the idea of producing a how to manual on How to be an Agent of Change came about.

For more information on Agents of Change, please visit: www.mtvagentesdecambio.com.

Youth Fund

Through an innovative partnership between the Inter-American Development Bank and Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills, the Youth Development Program for Innovation and Social Action or “Youth Fund” was established as an instrument to effectively respond to the needs of young people in the Latin American and Caribbean region and to promote their participation in the development process.

The goal of the Youth Fund is to support innovative initiatives that strengthen the capacity of low-income youth in both rural and urban areas to increase their potential for employment.

Microsoft, through its Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills, is expanding its efforts to reach underserved communities by partnering with institutions like the IDB that are committed to empowering young people and enabling economic opportunity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Youth Fund is the first collaborative project to be executed under the agreement signed between the IDB and Microsoft to facilitate access to information technology in the region.

The SES Foundation (Sustainability – Education – Solidarity) is dedicated to the promotion and development of strategies aimed at facilitating the inclusion of disadvantaged adolescents and youth. Headquartered in Buenos Aires,Argentina and with a network of partners throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the SES Foundation is responsible for executing the Youth Fund.

For more information, please visit the Fund’s site.

Sports for Development

The IDB believes in the power of sports to mobilize the private, public and non-profit sectors to have a positive impact on youth. In the past two years, the Bank has invested over five million dollars in non-reimbursable financing for this type of initiatives. The IDB believes that the skills learned on the soccer field can be transformed into skills for life and skills for employment.

Access to education, quality jobs, job training that is relevant to the needs of the market, as well as opportunities for participation and growth throughout a person’s life cycle are all key ingredients to assure that children and youth build rich human capital.

The Bank commissioned an inventory of sports-for-development initiatives and the identification of successful models and lessons learned. The results showed that sports play a key role in promoting a range of development objectives from self-esteem and teamwork at the personal level to conflict resolution, violence prevention, and social inclusion at the community level.

In 2007 the IDB teamed up with FIFA, CONMBEBOL and CONCACAF to build opportunities for children and youth. Within the framework of the Football for Hope movement, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Federación Internacional de Fútbol Asociado (FIFA), the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) established a partnership to create development opportunities for children and young people living in poverty in the region through the promotion of football.

In 2008 the Bank approved a regional project on Sports for Development with the dual objective of assessing the potential of sports as a means to promote life skills and prevent violence among youth, and to develop a strategy for the integration of sports-related initiatives and actors across different Bank supported sectors. The IDB’s Korean Poverty Reduction Fund has pledged $1 million dollars for the project that will receive matching resources from FIFA, and be executed by Street Football World.

A Ganar/A Vencer

In the area of youth development, the Bank continues to expand its commitment to employment training for youth through grant programs like A Ganar/Vencer, a 3.6 million dollar program that uses soccer in three different ways:

as an incentive: At-risk youth, especially those who have not achieved academic success, are motivated to participate in this program, even without financial incentives;
as a teaching tool. A Ganar/Vencer mixes field and classroom activities to teach six soccer-based and market-driven employability skills: teamwork, communication, discipline, respect, a focus on results, and self-improvement; and
as a draw for private-sector support. By demonstrating the economic power of soccer, A Ganar organizes events and sponsorship packages for private enterprises to secure needed investments and program sustainability. The Nike Foundation has already pledged $1.8 million & Microsoft has pledged $125,000.

By the end of 2008, A Ganar/Vencer will have trained over 3,200 youth in Rio de Janeiro, Quito, and Montevideo.

In Paraguay the Bank has invested $300,000 in a project developed with the Paraguayan Soccer Association (Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol APF) and CONMEBOL for socially excluded children between the ages of 10 and 17. The project consists of a competition to finance sport projects for vulnerable boys and girls presented by local soccer clubs with private sector sponsorship working with their schools.

MTV Latin America, Nike and the Inter-American Development Bank’s Youth program (IDB Youth) created a partnership, aimed at giving Latin American youth the chance to raise awareness around their projects of social inclusion through sport, by being featured on the next edition of Agents of Change.

Our Work in the Region