Latin American and Caribbean Women: Better Educated, Lower Paid

October 15, 2012
Even with more education than men, women are still concentrated in lower-paid occupations such as teaching, health care or the service sector. When comparing men and women of the same age and educational level, men earn 17 percent more than women in Latin America.

A water turnaround in Haiti

November 03, 2011
Before the project started in 2008, Saint Marc had running water for nine hours a week, at best. At present service is up to 10 hours a day—the highest average in any urban area in Haiti.

Mesoamerica renews push towards integration

October 25, 2010
The presidents of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic will meet tomorrow, Oct. 26, in Cartagena, Colombia at the XII Summit of the Tuxtla Mechanism for Dialogue and Coordination. The heads of state will be informed of the progress made by the Mesoamerica Project in terms of regional integration and will decide further courses of action.

The Caribbean and the IDB at a Glance

September 27, 2010
The IDB member countries of the English-speaking Caribbean – The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago – along with Dutch-speaking Suriname, are brought together by commerce, geography, history and traditions. Their economic situation and development challenges, however, may vary widely.

Central America's integration is in full swing

July 21, 2010
In late July, the first substation of the Central American Electrical Interconnection System (SIEPAC) is opening in Costa Rica. A week later, the substation in Panama will be ready to operate. Towers, lines and cables are already in place, so the southern section of the nascent Central American electricity market will soon be a reality. PAC53 - Road from La Chorrera to Arraijan, in Panama.

Sustainable energy for Haiti, Bahamas and Barbados

May 21, 2010
Tens of thousands of Haitians who lost their homes in Port-au-Prince have left the city and migrated to rural villages or temporary encampments. International aid organizations are currently helping to construct clinics, schools, administrative centers and warehouses in some of these villages, which are located in remote areas without access to basic services.

Mesoamerica Advances

July 29, 2009
The regional integration initiative known as Proyecto Mesoamérica is gaining momentum. It was a central item on the agenda of the XI Cumbre de Tuxla (an annual summit of regional heads of state), which concluded in Costa Rica today. Last week news reports focused on a proposed multimodal transportation strategy to improve the region’s competitiveness. And last June, the IDB announced the second phase of a project known as Tránsito Internacional de Mercancía, which will introduce a unified customs system for use on the borders of all Mesoamerican countries.

The IDB, a partner of Colombia in development

March 17, 2009
Since the mid-1990s the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been the leading source of multilateral financing for Colombia. Over the last 50 years, the IDB has approved more than US$14.8 billion in loans and non-refundable technical cooperation projects for Colombia. Throughout its history, the IDB has supported the Colombian government and private sector in key development areas such as infrastructure, state modernization and reform, small and medium enterprise, agriculture, energy, climate change and environmental protection.

Fueling the tank with grease

March 30, 2007
From the corridors of prestigious universities, government bureaus and her hard-working desk at the Worldwatch Institute, bioenergy researcher Suzanne Hunt is having a break from the hectic institutional setting to hit the road and drive 4,500 miles on grease power from the USA to Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Eating disorders as a public health emergency

August 28, 2006
People tend to think of eating disorders as problems of the middle and upper classes, but it is a pervasive issue among low-income women as well, said professor of sociology at the London School of Economics, Dr. Susie Orbach, during a seminar on eating problems and mental health held at IDB headquarters. “Only two percent of women worldwide feel able to call themselves beautiful,” said Dr. Orbach, declaring the eating disorders problems as a world-wide public health emergency.