The Multilateral Investment Fund today announced the approval of two grants totaling over $2 million for projects in Brazil and Panama to promote the use of information technology.
With the approval of these two projects, MIF aims at fulfilling two goals: to help reduce the so-called "digital divide" by assisting populations with less resources to participate in advances in the technology field, and to help support the creation and growth of new businesses in this sector.
Opportunities for low-income youth in Brazil
A MIF grant of $860,000 to support technology information centers in Brazil will help improve business models and increase access to services at information technology centers for residents and microentrepreneurs in the "favelas," or poor neighborhoods, of Rio de Janeiro.
The centers offer training and technical assistance to local business people and microentrepreneurs, as well as to the local population with few resources, especially young adults. The program, which is expected to become a model for other areas of Brazil and Latin America and the Caribbean, will help to improve the participants' prospects for employment and salary, as well as to create business opportunities and promote economic development in the poor neighborhoods.
The project will be carried out by Viva Rio, a nongovernment organization founded in 1993, in association with the Comité para Democratização da Informática.
Information Technology in Panama
A MIF grant of $1.2 million will support a project in Panama to encourage the development and growth of new business ventures in the field of information technology and communications. The project will support the development of an "accelerator model," which is defined as an early stage venture capital company investing in Internet infrastructure, software, telecommunications and other technology-related ventures.
The City of Knowledge Foundation in Panama will be the executing agency for this project.