IDB announces first round of beneficiaries for US$1 million Youth Fund

Miami, FLORIDA – President Luis Alberto Moreno today announced the first round of grantees from the US$1 million Youth Development Program for Innovation and Social Action (Youth Fund), to strengthen initiatives taken by or for young people in the region.

Moreno made the announcement during a meeting in the context of the 49th Annual Meeting of the Inter-American Development (IDB) Board of Governors, which takes place in Miami, April 4–8. The IDB has placed young people at the heart of the development agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean during its annual meeting.

The Youth Fund is part of the innovative partnership between the IDB and Microsoft. Launched in May 2007, the initiative is designed to effectively respond to the needs of disadvantaged young people, with particular emphasis on technology skills and human capacity building to provide skills for employability. The IDB announced that seven organizations will receive funding from the first round of grants, benefitting nearly 1,400 young people in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela.

“Young people are the region’s greatest natural resource”, outlined President Moreno. “With more than 40 percent of the population under the age of 30, we have to empower young people with the right knowledge and skills to contribute to the development of Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Recipients from this grant round include nongovernmental organizations, community-based organizations and not-for-profit foundations that work with young people. Following the first round, there will be further requests for funding proposals in April and August 2008. Microsoft supports the Youth Fund through its Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program.

The following projects will receive in the first wave of grants:

• Brazil – Quilombolos Emprender Project, Instituto Internacional para o Desenvolvimento da Cidadania (IIDAC): providing entrepreneurship and business skills training for 350 young people in Cavalcante, Monte Alegre de Goiás e Teresina de Goiás, and the State of Goiás.
• Argentina – Doncel Social and Work Integration Program, Asociación Civil por la Responsabilidad Social (AMARTYA): providing counseling, character building and workplace practices training for 105 young people in Buenos Aires.
• Venezuela – ECOCLUBES Venezuela, Fundación Tierra Viva: providing leadership and technology skills training for 200 young people in Carabobo, Aragua, Sucre, Anzoátegui, Táchira and Caracas.
• Uruguay/Argentina – Youth Initiative for Inclusion (INCLUS.O.S), Latin American Initiative: providing social and education inclusion projects for 300 youth and people with disabilities in Montevideo, Paysandú, Salto, Rivera, Bella Unión, Vergara (Rural), Lascano (Rural), Minas and Nuevo Berlín (Rural) and Concepción del Uruguay, Province of Entre Ríos.
• Mexico – Youth Contributing the New Technologies to Community Development, Servicios a la Juventud AC: providing skills for employability for 200 young people in Puebla, Tlaxcala, Veracruz and Federal District
• Argentina – Cultural Neighborhood Initiative, Fundación Gente Nueva: providing arts and communication training for 120 young people in Bariloche and Río Negro.
• Bolivia – Digital Tuja, Fundación Audiovisual: providing audiovisual technology and social development training for 120 young people in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

The Youth Fund grants follow the announcement yesterday, by the IDB, the Organization of American States (OAS) and Microsoft of a new US$4 million joint fund to extend the Partnership in Opportunities for Employment through Technology in the Americas (POETA) program, run by the Trust for the Americas, a not-for-profit affiliate of the OAS. 

POETA is an IT skills and job training program designed to help people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, initiated by the OAS and Microsoft in 2004. It currently supports 50,000 people in 50 centers in 18 countries, offering access to technology and skills training, as well as job placement and microenterprise assistance. The new fund will help expand the program in Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru. 

There are more than 50 million people in the region with disabilities, broadly 10 percent of the population. Through the expansion announced yesterday, it is expected that POETA will facilitate job placements for 40 percent of the participants, with an additional 10,000 persons with disabilities trained and ready to enter the workforce, and will provide links to more than 700 companies.

Fostering Innovation through the Virtual Institute

Progress under the public-private partnership between the IDB and Microsoft is also being made in the area of fostering innovation in Latin America. In a separate announcement, Microsoft declared the first award cycle of US$250,000 in grants from the Latin American and Caribbean Collaborative Information and Communication Technology Research Federation (“Virtual Institute”). The institute was established in partnership with the IDB in May 2007 to advance the research agenda in information and communication technology (ICT) applied to the social and economic development of the region, increase research opportunities for faculty and graduate students in this field and increase the visibility and skills of the regional research community..

The first round of grants is a major milestone for the Virtual Institute, bringing together around 100 researchers from 29 universities in 11 countries, covering 23 proposals.  The projects seek to offer tools and solutions to both economic and social challenges in areas such as education, health, e-government, agribusiness, wireless connectivity and productivity chains.

“The Virtual Institute is one of the largest cross-country collaborative efforts of this kind, bringing together talent and expertise to address societal issues and stimulate local economies, said Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation. “By connecting the best minds to tackle some of the biggest challenges, we hope to spark local solutions to local needs”.

Grantees were chosen for their innovative visions dealing with relevant and contemporary problems, such as how to improve productivity and competitiveness in the small and medium food industry, which is present throughout the region; how to optimize patient treatment in hospitals by means of applying an information and communication system that will help lower medical errors; not to mention the task of aiding learning and task management by students using digital tools. 

The Latin American and Caribbean Collaborative ICT Research (LACCIR) Federation (Virtual Institute), based at the Catholic University of Chile and University of Chile in Santiago, is one of the largest cross-country collaborative efforts of this kind, bringing together talent and expertise to address societal issues and stimulate local economies. Microsoft Research provided an initial 3-year budget of approximately US$11 million for the program, which currently brings together 215 researchers from 29 universities in 11 countries in Latin America.