IDB Awards Public Innovations in Five Latin American Countries

The Gobernarte 2022 contest recognized subnational government initiatives from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, and Mexico.

Judges selected six innovative initiatives from five Latin America countries as the winners of the 8th Gobernarte –Pablo Valenti Award contest sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The Gobernarte contest fosters cooperation and strengthens the institutional capacities of governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. It identifies, rewards, and documents the most innovative practices in different areas of subnational public management. This year, the themes of the contest were innovations in managing migratory flows and preventing and responding to human trafficking.

The winning initiatives were selected from a total of 68 entries from 13 Latin American and Caribbean countries. A panel of nine experts evaluated the entries and selected the winners based on the impact, sustainability, innovativeness, and replicability of the initiative.

The three winners in the category of managing new migratory flows were:

• Caring for Minors on the Move: New tools to restore the right to live in a family, State of Sonora, Mexico. This initiative aims to support minors who are in transit to be reunited with their families. It combines temporary homestays and reunification in another country.
• Participatory and Cross-Sector Governance Model for Migration Policies, Prefecture of São Paulo, Brazil. The aim of this initiative is to achieve governance of policies and public services for migrants that ensures that their interests are represented in a consolidated policy that is immune to administration changes.
• San Miguel Stands for New Opportunities: Productive reintegration program for returning migrants, Municipal Government of San Miguel, El Salvador. Since 2018, the city government has partnered with Swisscontact to apply a model for reintegrating returning migrants. It has served 130 people, 60% of whom are now employed. The program has also resulted in 24 new migrant-led businesses.

A special mention in this category was given to:

• District-Wide Strategy for Including and Integrating New Residents of Bogota, Municipal Government of Bogotá, Colombia. In this initiative, the local government teams up with the private sector, international cooperation, and civil society organizations to strategically protect the human rights of people in situations of human mobility, reduce poverty, and drive development for the city and country. Approximately 650,000 Venezuelan migrants, refugees, and/or returning migrants have benefited from these services for development.

The three winning initiatives in the category of preventing and responding to human trafficking were:

• Smart Security Program for Preventing Human Trafficking with Civil Society Organizations, Province of Tucuman, Argentina. This initiative, which was launched in 2016, focuses on preventing crimes through a socio-community approach. It emphasizes community security authorities and their ties to civil society, as well as the educational community in order to create participatory dynamics and craft preventive messages and communications materials.
• Prevention and Care Protocols for Human Trafficking, Municipal Government of Medellin, Colombia. This initiative provides comprehensive care to victims of human trafficking. It uses innovative prevention strategies based on knowledge management, immediate protective measures (urgent services), and medium-term measures (comprehensive care: physical, mental, social, and legal).
• Preventing Trafficking in Pereira’s schools: Impact of the Youth Organization of the Municipal Government of Pereira, Colombia. This initiative actively involves young people in order to prevent human trafficking through an understanding and awareness of the issue. It has reached approximately 400 students ages 10 to 20, of whom 2% are part of the LGBTIQ+ community, 2.5% are immigrants, and 5% are people of African descent. This initiative was presented in partnership with the Universidad Libre Seccional Pereira.

You can find more information about the initiatives on the contest’s website (www.iadb.org/en/gobernarte).