Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean November / December 2014

ENGLISH VERSIONNews / Calls and Awards / Recent and Upcoming Events / Project Publications and Articles

Canada’s Governor General learns about potato production project in Colombia

On December 4th, during his state visit to Colombia, His Excellency the Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, had the opportunity to participate in an exposition of Canada-funded rural development projects. One of these initiatives was supported by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), a joint program between IDRC and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development of Canada (DFATD).

Together with agricultural producers and Colombian institutions, researchers from the Univerisad Nacional de Colombia, McGill University and the University of New Brunswick have developed three new varieties of native potatoes which are more productive, more resistant to late blight disease, and which contain two times more protein than traditional varieties.

Read more / Watch video (summary of Governor General visit) / Watch project video

Canada and Chile commit to promoting the global knowledge economy On December 1st, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), was signed in Santiago, Chile between Canada´s Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC), Chile’s National Innovation Council for Competitiveness (CNIC) and IDRC. The MOU seeks to strengthen the ability of national innovation councils to develop best practices in providing science, technology, and innovation advice to governments, with impacts on society as a whole.

The MOU was signed by the President of IDRC, Jean Lebel, the President of CNIC, Gonzalo Rivas, and the Chair of STIC, Howard Alper in the presence of her Excellency Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile and his Excellency the Honourable David Johnston, Governor

General of Canada.

Read more

Citizens Vigilance of Public Policies and Health Services in Guatemala

On December 9th and 10th the Centro de Estudios por la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS), organized the “First National Meeting of Community Defenders” in Guatemala.

This activity is part of the IDRC-funded “Enhancing Participation of Indigenous People to Address Discrimination and Promote Equity in Health Systems ” project. This project aims to implement a participative rights-based health intervention to monitor public health policies and services in twenty Guatemalan municipalities.

Read more

Electronic government in Latin America: 10 years of work

In honour of the 10th anniversary of the Network of e-Government Leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean (Red Gealc), a series of publications has been launched which narrate the network’s history. These publications were presented on December 3rd and 4th during the “3rd Ministerial Meeting on E-Government/ 8th Meeting of the Red

Gealc”, which took place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.

Since its creation, IDRC - together with other international cooperation agencies - has collaborated in the development of the RedGealc. We congratulate the new RedGealc authorities on this decade of work and wish them success with future activities.

Read more

Open government in the region: encouraging figures

Compared with other regions, Latin America, is home to the greatest proportion of countries participating in the Open Government Partnership. Additionally, of a total of 15 members from the region, 14 have presented

National Open Government Plans, and have committed themselves to a total of 328 initiatives aimed at complying with open government principles.

Read the analysis prepared by Jesse Franzblau “OGP in Latin America: Opportunities for Advancement in Open Government”

Read more

Canada to host the 3rd International Open Data Conference in 2015

The Canadian Government, IDRC and the World Bank announced that the “3rd International Open Data Conference” will take place in Ottawa, Canada. From 27-29 of May 2015, open data experts from both the public and private sector and industry and civil society leaders from

around the world will share ideas and work together to promote the open data revolution.

Read more

How are small-island states in the Caribbean coping with climate change?

In this short video, Adrian Cashman of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies at the University of the West Indies explains some of the challenges and opportunities that small-island states are facing in terms of water availability.

Watch video / Read more about the project

New book analyzes knowledge production in Latin America

The new book “More Knowledge Latin American: strengthening the links between think tanks and universities”, edited by José Joaquín Brunner, Orazio Bellettini and Adriana Arellano, is a compilation of the results of an IDRC funded research project carried out through the Think Tank Initiative. The objective of this work was to explore the links between both actors and to understand the factors which affect collaboration. The study incorporated qualitative research from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, as well as regional studies.

Read more (Spanish)

Youth violence and access to justice in Latin America

The Colegio de Mexico published the book “Youth Violence and Access to justice in Latin America”, edited by Arturo Alvarado Mendoza. It presents the results of a comparative IDRC-funded research project on 10 cities from 5 Latin American countries. The studies were carried out on Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Cali and Medellin in Colombia; Guatemala City in Guatemala; and the cities of Cancún, Xalapa, León, Cuidad Juaréz, and Mexico City.

Read more (Spanish)

Recommendations for water governance in La AraucaníaThe final results of the “Water Governance, Desertification and Climate Change in the Araucania Region of Chile” project were presented in Temuco, Chile at the “Water governance in intercultural contexts” seminar. At the seminar, Dr. René Montalba, Director of

the Environmental Institute at the Universidad de la Frontera, presented the key findings of the project.

According to Mr. Motalba in an interview with Radio Allen, the main causes of the problem include “the abrupt change of land use which generated more water use in the watersheds, especially pine and eucalyptus plantations; the current legal framework which restricts water use, and concentrates water rights among few people; economic activity incentives issues for the use of large amounts of water, social disintegration which means there are no networks collaborating around water and also the existence of inefficient production models”.

Read more (Spanish)

Two new health projects in Argentina

The “Towards More Equitable Primary Health Care in Argentina and Latin America through Intersectoral Approaches” project has recently created a community of practice dedicated to intersectoral health interventions. With support from IDRC, the project is being led by researchers from CONICET, the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, the Juan Lazarte Research Institute and the Investiga Más group in Argentina.

Read more (Spanish)

¿How can promoting healthy diets and built environments at a municipal and national level help reduce cardiovascular disease? A project underway at the Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria in Argentina with funding from IDRC, is studying this link through an impact evaluation of PAHO´s “Healthy Municipalities and Communities Strategy”.

Read more

Researchers awarded prizes

We are pleased to announce the most recent awards received by distinguished researchers, who are currently or who have been engaged with IDRC funded projects in the past. We offer them our more sincere congratulations.

Kuwait Prize 2013

Researcher Nagib Nassar was awarded the 2013 Kuwait Prize in Applied Science in the environment category. Dr. Nassar, aged 76, is professor emeritus at the University of Brasilia. His early research carried out in the 1970s into improving the cassava, received funding from IDRC.

Read more (prize, portuguese) Read more (Lasting Impacts, IDRC)

National Environmental Prize - Peru

With his research entitled “Effects of the water regime on the geochemistry of the mangrove sediments in Tumbes”, 28-year-old M.Sc. Alexander Pérez Segovia won second prize in the “Environmental Research – Junior Researcher category” of the National Environmental Prize, COP20-IDB Distinction. Alexander is a thesis student with the “I mpacts of Climate Variability and Climate Change on the Mangrove Ecosystem in Tumbes, Peru ” IDRC-funded project.

Video of the month – Dengue control in Fortaleza, Brazil

Researchers at the Universidad Estadual de Ceará in Fortaleza are researching new community and environmental approaches to reducing the number of mosquitos in the city. Results to date suggest that covering water containers outside of and eliminating other possible breeding grounds for mosquitos, could be more effective than simply using insecticides to kill mosquito larvae. Additionally, the city of Fortaleza is using the data produced in this project to feed its sophisticated electronic mapping system so that municipal health authorities can monitor dengue rates by zone

and predict possible outbreaks in order to take the necessary precautions

Watch the video

Did you know? IDRC in Brazil

Since 1972, IDRC has financed more than 241 activities in Brazil worth CA$60 million. Our support helps: fishers diversify their income; coastal inhabitants adapt to climate change; creative industries embrace digital technologies; employees enjoy greater wage equality; city dwellers understand the roots of violence, and much more.

Read more

Scholarship call for undergraduate and graduate students – Impact Evaluation of Public Policies

With the support of IDRC, the Centre for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS) has organized the second edition of the Theoretical-Practical Course on the Impact Evaluation of Public Policies in the framework of the project "Promoting economic empowerment of women through better policies ".

Read more

IV Essay Competition for undergraduate and graduate students

As part of the project mentioned above, CEDLAS has organized the 5th essay competition on labour and social themes in Latin America and the Caribben. This competition is aimed at both undergraduate and graduate economics students at universities from around the world. This year the competition is focused on works which incorporate a gender perspective. In particular, the competition is interested in proposals aimed at women’s labour and social difficulties, and which evaluate policies aimed at increasing and improving feminine participation in economic activity. The competition will award proposals for applied empirical studies in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Deadline: March 30, 2015Read more

03-04 Nov. 2014 “Coloquio: Herramientas efectivas para el ahorro Inclusivo” , Programa ProAhorros, Guayaquil, Ecuador04-05 Nov. 2014 “Seminario: Recientes transformaciones agrarias en Bolivia”, Fundación Tierra, La Paz, Bolivia04-07 Nov. 2014 “XXV Seminario Anual del CIES. Construyendo conocimiento para mejores políticas”, CIES - Lima, Perú05 Nov. 2014 “Cambio climático, una mirada hacia la COP 20”, CIES, Lima, Perú9-10 Nov. 2014 “II dialogo sobre seguridad ciudadana”, INSYDE, Ciudad de México, México12-13 Nov. 2014 “Los desafíos del desarrollo sustentable con inclusión social en América Latina”, Red LATN, Lima, Perú17 Nov. 2014 “Seminario internacional sistema fronterizo global en América Latina: mercados ilegales y violencia ” ,

FLACSO, Quito, Ecuador19 Nov. 2014 “Seminario internacional gobernanza del agua en contextos interculturales”, Universidad de la Frontera,

Temuco, Chile19 Nov. 2014 “Taller sobre las oportunidades y desafíos para mejorar la incidencia de las evaluaciones de impacto”, San

Pablo, Brasil 25 Nov. 2014 Foro Público: “Financiamiento regulado para partidos fuertes”, ASIES, Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala4 Dec, 2014 “Foro de debate. Mediación y acceso a la justicia: reflexiones a partir de una observación empírica”, CEJA;

Buenos Aires, Argentina21 Ene. 2015 “Promoción de dietas saludables: una estrategia clave para la prevención de las enfermedades no-

comunicables”, IEP, Lima, Perú11-13 Mar. 2015 “Conferencia: El futuro de la evaluación en América Latina y el Caribe”. Desarrollo, Equidad y Cultura,

ReLAC, Lima, Perú

Social and Economic Policy “Hacia ciudades más verdes con equidad social y de género en América Latina”, Ventura-Dias, V.; Red LATN, Serie

Crecimiento Verde e Inclusivo; Brief Nº 95; 2014 “Towards greener cities with social and gender equity in Latin America”, Ventura-Dias, V.; Red LATN, Serie Crecimiento

Verde e Inclusivo; Brief Nº 95; 2014 “Cambios en el comportamiento financiero a partir de un Programa Piloto de Educación Financiera en Perú. Evidencia de

la evaluación del Programa Piloto “Promoción del Ahorro en Familias JUNTOS”, Boyd, C.; Proyecto Capital, En breve N° 48; 2014

“C hanges in financial behavior through a financial education pilot program in Peru. Evidence from the evaluation of the Pilot Program “Promotion of Savings in JUNTOS Families”, Boyd, C.; Proyecto Capital; In Short, N° 48, 2014

“E ducación Financiera, Cumplimiento de Corresponsabilidades Evidencia de la evaluación del Programa Piloto ‘Promoción del Ahorro en Familias JUNTOS’, Boyd, C. En Breve, N°50, Proyecto Capital, 2014

“Financial Education, Fulfillment of Conditionalities. Evidence from the evaluation of the Pilot Program “Promotion of Savings in JUNTOS Families in Peru”, Boyd, C. In Brief, N°50, Proyecto Capital, 2014

“Ahorro, contabilidad mental, ahorro por default y transferencias monetarias condicionadas”; Chiapa, C.; Prina, S. , Proyecto Capital; En Breve N°53; 2014

“¿Subiendo la escalera? Oportunidades, obstáculos y lecciones en torno al escalamiento de las cadenas de recursos naturales de América del Sur”, Red Sudamericana de Economía Aplicada (RedSur);

“Fortalecimiento institucional de las microfinanzas en Guatemala, González A., Carlos H; Prado, P.; Asociación de Investigación y Estudios Sociales-ASIES”; Series: MOMENTO año 29, no.1, 2014;

“La educación en su entorno. Sistema educativo y políticas públicas en Paraguay” Ortiz, L. et al.; CADEP/ILAIPP; 2014 “América Latina: hacia la inclusión social avances, aprendizajes y desafíos” varios autores; Iniciativa Latinoamérica de

Investigación para las Políticas Públicas (ILAIPP); 2014 “La modernización campesina bajo la lupa: explorando el impacto del programa Sierra Productiva a nivel de distritos”,

Espinoza, M. ;GRADE; Serie Avances de Investigación N° 18, 2014 “Evolución de los homicidios en El Salvador, 2009-2013”, FundaUngo, Aportes al debate para la seguridad ciudadana N°1,

Agosto 2014 “Knowledge creation through international collaboration. Highlights from Phase 6 (2011-2014) of the Canada-Latin

America and the Caribbean Research Exchange Grants program”, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, 2014

Global Health Policies

What are the television viewing and eating habits of children in Peru ?, Busse, P. ; IEP; Global Health Promotion. doi 10.1177/1757975914547923

International Development Research Centre (IDRC)Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean Avda. Brasil 2655, 11300 Montevideo, UruguayTel: +598 2 7090042Email: lacro@idrc.cawww.idrc.ca /lacro

Comments or suggestions write to lacro@idrc.ca