In Haiti, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will present five innovative programmes with community participation and low costs developed in Latin American and Caribbean countries to overcome poverty and inequality.

These initiatives include the work of Haitian farmers to increase income with their cows and micro-dairies; the struggle of women in the Altiplano of Peru who stand up to family violence; protecting the environment through football in Belize; reducing school violence in Colombia through a peer mediation model; and access by inhabitants from across Ecuador to community-run financial systems.

They have all been recognized by the Experiences in social innovation competition organized by ECLAC with the support of the Kellogg Foundation.  The success stories will be presented in Haiti from 26 to 30 November.

The tour includes the cities of Port-au-Prince, Mirebalais, Limonade and Les Cayes, and is supported by the Kellogg Foundation, United Nations Stabilisation Mission In Haiti (UNSTAMIH), non-governmental organizations Partners in Health (PIH), Foundation for the Technological and Economic Advancement of Mirebalais (FATEM) and VETERIMED, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ministry of Agriculture of Haiti.

The protagonists of the five selected programmes will share the challenges, achievements and methodologies of their successful experiences with local and national government officials, NGO representatives, community leaders and the general public.

All of these initiatives have effectively contributed to the fight against poverty, inequality and social exclusion in their communities. What they have in common is social innovation, active citizen participation, reasonable costs and they can be easily replicated in a creative way.

These projects were selected from among 4,800 submitted over the five years of the competition, and are divided into four areas: income generation, at-risk youth, volunteering and community participation.

A preliminary programme for the tour of Haiti and information on the innovative projects being presented are available by clicking on the following link.

The bank of innovative projects from the ECLAC Experiences in social innovation competition is also available here.

Press contact:

ECLAC Public Information and Web Services Section.
ECLAC headquarters: Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago.
E-mail: prensacepal.org; telephone: (56 2) 210 2040.

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