Vision

There is a great interest in Latin America and elsewhere in the world to merge ethical dimensions into discussions on development and decisions about policies and programs. Much of a civil society is actively demanding that ethical chalenges and dilemmas be examined and taken into account, and that social players assume their responsabilities. The following topics are proposed:

• ¿What values should be kept in mind when designing development strategies and public policies?
• ¿How should we react to issues that involve serious ethical problems as poverty, social exclusion, sharp inqualities, discrimination against minorities and others?
• ¿What codes of ethical conduct should key group in society, such as political leaders of civil society organization adopt?
• ¿How can the ethics of solidarity be promoted today?

The region is also beginning to awaken to the vast latent potential of the social capital. International experience suggests that countries that have it in greater amount have had better results in terms of economic performance and democratic maturity.
The last one has implied the necessity to create propitious conditions for developing the basic components of social capital, such as associative and cooperative capacity, interpersonal trust and civic conscience.

Direction of the Initiative

The Inter-American Initiative of Social Capital, Ethics and Development, promoted by the Inter-American Development Bank with support from the Norwegian Government, is intended to strengthen ethical values and social capital in the countries of the region.

Goals

1. Promote the analysis and discussion of ethical challenges and dilemmas and ensure that the chief decision-makers take them into account.
2. Cooperate in areas such as the volunteerism, greater social accountability by private enterprise, and the adoption of ethical codes for the development of the social capital in the region by the keys social players.
3. Promote the inclusion of ethical goals and criteria and the mobilization of social capital in the development projects prepared and implemented by international organizations and government agencies.
4. Promote the integration of educative curriculums and people who work for the growth of the social capital.
5. Establish a network of academic and research centers to carry out systematic long-term actions in areas such as training research, publications, and contributions to public debate.
6. Promote, through the mass media, the ethical understanding in subjects as development and social capital.

Mission

The initiative aspires to be a catalyst in awakening interest in ethics, development and social capital in governments, businesses, labor union, universities, religious communities, nongovernamental organizations and organizations of all kinds that work for the collective well-being of societies in this hemisphere.
Mobilization of joint efforts in these crucial fields will raise the quality of the debate on development, enrich policy frameworks, increase the likelihood of broad consensus on actions, and contribute to development leaders` adoption of codes and conduct based on desirable ethical criteria.

It will be collectively contributing to the strengthening and entrenchment of democracy and economic and social development, and to forging a vigorous, participative and just Latin America that all the communitity from Latin America strong wish

INTER-AMERICAN INITIATIVE ON SOCIAL CAPITAL, ETHICS AND DEVELOPMENT

Initiative's Team:

The Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development is an initiative of Dr. Enrique V. Iglesias, President of the Inter-American Development Bank and is under the Bank's Secretary, Dr. Carlos Ferdinand.

	Bernardo Kliksberg General Coordinator
		Alejandro Schtulmann Special Projects Coordinator
	Liliana Basile Deputy General Coordinator
Francisco José Gallo Ethics and Development Online Coordinator	Gabriel Mops International Events Coordinator	Maria Loreto Torres Special Support Coordinator	Alan Wagenberg Latin-American Universities Network Coordinator

Technical Team