The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has selected 14 young people who have distinguished themselves as agents of change in their communities in Latin America and the Caribbean to participate in the annual meeting of the Boards of Governors IDB/IIC, which will be held March 15–19 in Montevideo.
The Bank chose the young leaders from over 600 18-28-year-olds who applied to represent the region during Youth Day on Thursday, March 15, which will mark the start of the IDB meeting’s official activities.
Experts from the IDB and the Awareness Association of Argentina made the selection. They considered the candidate’s experience as community innovators and how well their activities relate to the themes of the Youth Day seminar: culture, sports, and innovation for development. Also considered were their achievements, reasons for participating, references, and ideas to share with other young people to take back to their communities.
The 14 leaders are comprised of a diverse group that is representative of the youth of the region. Their careers, occupations and interests are varied, but they share a strong commitment to the development of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Additionally, with support from the IDB’s Civil Society Council in Uruguay, 14 young Uruguayan community leaders will host the 14 visitors. They all will participate in youth activities and the annual meeting to increase their personal understanding of development and youth issues and to establish networks that can help them expand the scope of their work.
The youth events are being sponsored by the government of Uruguay, the Intendencia de Montevideo, the Municipio D, the IDB Youth Program, the Inter-American Investment Corporation, the Multilateral Investment Fund, PepsiCo, Gatorade, Microsoft, MTV Latinoamérica, the Telecentre.org Foundation, A Ganar Foundation and Partners of the Americas.
The 14 young leaders are:
Anaí Vera Britos, Paraguay
Jermaine Case, Jamaica
Jaime José Castrillo, Nicaragua
Javier Mauricio Díaz Calderón, Colombia
Matías Fernández, Argentina
Marlon Alexander Manzano Alfaro, El Salvador
Citlalli Martínez García, Mexico
Natalee Noreyda Forbes, Honduras
Ailton Pinheiro Junior, Brazil
Josué Francisco Puluc Velázquez, Guatemala
Ninoska Cabrera Duk, Bolivia
Jorge Augusto Silva Tapia, Peru
Rasham Smith, Bahamas
Sisa Pacari Toaquiza Toaquiza, Ecuador