First Juscelino Kubitschek Award

The First Juscelino Kubitschek Award of Merit for Regional Development in Latin America and the Caribbean was awarded in 2009 to mark the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Inter-American Development Bank and to recognize the work of organizations and institutions in the award categories: “Economics and Finance” and “Social, Cultural, and Scientific”.

This award pays homage to Juscelino Kubitschek, the visionary politician who envisaged the creation of a multilateral institution to forge North-South ties in the Hemisphere, in order to further development in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1959 his vision became reality with the creation of the Inter-American Development Bank, which today is the largest source of lending development in the region.

In the first award edition, 144 nominations were received from 22 countries in the Americas and Europe.

The Selection Committee was chaired by Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the IDB, with Enrique V. Iglesias, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat, serving as Secretary.

The Selection Committee was made up of

Angeles Mastretta, Mexican author and journalist

Francisco Flores, former President of El Salvador

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, former Prime Minister of Peru

Osvaldo Hurtado, former President of Ecuador

José Goldemberg, distinguished Brazilian physicist and environmentalist

Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile

Billie Antoinette Miller, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Barbados

Percival Noel James Patterson, former Prime Minister of Jamaica

Michel Camdessus, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund

Hiroshi Watanabe, President and CEO of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation

José Octavio Bordón, former Ambassador of Argentina to the United States

Rosa Conde, Director of Carolina's Foundation in Spain

The winners of the first award were announced in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The Award Ceremony was held on November 30, 2009 in Estoril, Portugal, during the Ibero-American Summit. Luis Alberto Moreno, President of the IDB, accompanied by Luis Filipe Marques, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, and Enrique V. Iglesias, Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Secretariat, presented this award in recognition of the work of regional institutions for economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The winning organizations in the first award edition were: for “Economics and Finance”: ACCION Internacional, an organization specialized in microfinance; for the “Social, Cultural, and Scientific” category, the award was shared by Vaga Lume, which promotes culture and education in the Amazon region, and Fe y Alegría, which specializes in formal, alternative, and informal education.