Promoting development in African descendant communities is a key component to closing economic and social gaps in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ongoing exclusion of African descendants from the economic and cultural lives of their nations has an impact on democratic governance, citizen security, and the ability of several subregions to meet strategic development targets such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). African descendants number between 100 million and 150 million people, and represent approximately half the poor population of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Why Focus on African Descendants?

African descendants have not seen the sharp reductions in poverty experienced by the overall population of Latin America and the Caribbean. They are still more likely to live in poverty. Closing the gaps between African descendants and the population as a whole is one of the strategic priorities of the IDB’s Ninth General Capital Increase.

The IDB aims to promote the development of African descendant communities through mainstreaming, direct investments and the application of safeguards.

• Race mainstreaming: The IDB seeks to integrate African descendant communities across development sectors by improving the quality of data and indicators to upgrade the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of IDB operations. For instance, the IDB is putting in place a project to improve the quality of race and ethnicity data produced by national institutes of statistics with the goal of better measuring socioeconomic conditions. The aim is to improve the Bank’s ability to perform economic analyses that incorporate African descendants.
• Direct investment: The IDB also invests directly in strategic areas to promote the empowerment of diverse communities through projects such as Culture as Livelihood: Options for Afro-Colombian Women, a skills-based training program for displaced African descendant women from Colombia’s Pacific Coast.
• Application of existing safeguards: The Bank seeks to conduct its financial operations so as to identify and address adverse impacts and the risk of race-based exclusion, by including diverse communities in consultation processes, and complying with applicable legislation relating to racial equality.

In 2009 the IDB launched a Gender and Diversity Fund committing $10 million in grant resources and $6 million in contributions from other donors, to support mainstreaming of indigenous peoples, African descendants and women in Latin America and the Caribbean.