Social Innovation in
Latin-America and the Caribbean
Achiving Impact – Socio-Economic Sciences & Humanities
in Horizon 2020
Athens
26 & 27 February, 2014
María Elisa Bernal
Social Development Division
ECLAC, UN
The presentation is based on the Project
“Experiences in social innovation in LatinAmerica
and
the
Caribbean”
(ECLAC- Kellogg Foundation)
Clear conclusions:
 Latin America and the Caribbean is a “boom" of social
innovations.
 At least in part, because we never have had a true Welfare
State such as the Europeans
Even though .....
Social expenditure:
Countercyclical
Social programs such as conditional cash transfer.
Issues:
Quality or coverage of education or health, income generation, youth
programs, with enormous gaps and where the population faces serious
problems.
Rural areas in general and in even more remote places have lower
access to social services and higher levels of poverty
Overview of LAC:
Progress in reducing poverty and
extreme poverty and reached almost all
MDGs
Evolution of
poverty and
extreme poverty
These are averages: Haiti (80%), Honduras (70), Uruguay
(10%)
There are still very difficult "pockets" to attend, and there are
some goals that the region might not be able to achieve ( Ex
Maternal Mortality).
The region is the most unequal of
the Word
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
Mean
10
Max
0
Min
Share of total income
(In percentages)
60
50
40
30
Uruguay
Venezuela
El Salvador
Bolivia
Ecuador
Argentina
Perú
Nicaragua
México
Chile
Paraguay
Honduras
Guatemala
0
Panamá
Q5
Costa Rica
10
Colombia
Q1
República…
20
Brasil
Inequality
(Gini%)
Poverty is not only income.
HDI= Income + life expectancy at
birth + education
Latin America has an average HDI which puts us not far from Europe and Central Asia
Human Development Index 2012
Again, these are averages….
There are huge differences.
Chile is the highest (Rank 40, 0.81), the lowest Haiti (Rank 161, 0.45, 62.4,
4.7), followed by Guatemala (Rank 131, 0.58, 71.4, 4.1)
How will they get out of poverty in these countries where schooling is less
than 5 years? Not even finishing primary.
These differences between countries are replicated within them.
For example, in Brazil, life expectancy at birth is 14 years higher for the
highest quintal than the lowest. In education, in Sao Paulo 100% of children
aged 5 and 6 years attend school but in Melgaco in the State of Para, only
59% attend school.
There is no doubt that under these conditions society must be
creative to find new solutions to traditional problems.
Our definition of Social Innovation
New ways of doing tasks, new tasks, new ways of execution or
management
And it has to be:
•Cost – efficiency relation better than the one in traditional models,
•Has the potential to be replicated in the country originated as well as in other
countries of the region,
•Has proved its financial and political sustainability
•Has the possibility of becoming public policy,
•Has impacts on the poverty determinants,
•Has the potential to reduce discrimination and exclusion, and
•Very important to ECLAC, promoting and strengthening the participation of the
community, as a contribution to the citizenship and therefore the strengthening of
democracy.
Characteristics of social innovation
in Latin America and the Caribbean
Social innovations have primarily arisen from the civil society, the communities or
a virtuous combination of these two, but always with a major participation of the people.
The community has the capacity to identify the most pressing problems and with the
support of the external agents, analyze the feasibility of alternative solutions.
Social innovation generally arises as a response to a crisis or extreme poverty in any
of its determinants.
Developing and facilitating synergies between technical and modern knowledge with
traditional and sometimes ancestral knowledge.
In the productive projects in all cases, developing associative models.
Promoting partnerships with government at different levels, with civil society, unions and
even with the private sector.
More characteristics …..
The innovative projects generally received external financial support;
key for the developing of the innovation if the financing agent
understood the cycle that requires for the development of innovation
and do not expect results in a very short time.
Despite the huge number of innovations generated in the region, the
scale-up of the innovative model and therefore its ability to affect
large proportions of the population is very low.
The scale-up could only be achieved when this new model becomes
public policy, from the local to the national level.
Unfortunately, very few governments, at any level, do that.
Characteristics of social innovation
in income generation
Emerged at a time when some adverse conditions have worsened. For example, the
Argentina crisis in the earlier 2000, the security situation in the Peruvian highlands, or
the forced eradication of illicit crops in Colombia.
The idea of seeking new alternatives arises from the members of the community on an
individual or collective leadership, and always starts with associative models.
The output is related to both new products and the improvement in the conditions of
production in particular levels of quality, productivity and competitiveness what they
accomplish with associability.
In most cases the key is the support of an external agent, in a joint effort based on
the synergy between modern scientific and technical knowledge with the local, even in
some cases ancient knowledge.
A vertical integration process is part of the success of these models.
The presence of government is generally very low, the maximum participation is to
request documents. (It’s not good)
Results and example
They have been able to increase their income
Example: Let Agogo, Haiti
From extreme poverty their income is now equal to the average of the country.
Characteristics of social innovation in
education
Work to reduce school dropout rates; increase accessibility, especially in rural areas and increase
the quality of education especially in the context of intercultural education.
There is always a strong presence of an external agent (NGO) that mobilized the educational
community around the idea that the situation could be changed and improved.
With the community, the external agent carries on the diagnosis that allows the design of
alternatives to be discussed with this community.
In all cases the active participation of the educational community, in the entire process including
implementation, is crucial for the success of innovation.
The external agent works to build and strengthen local leadership that will be able to continue the
process once the agent retires.
The local government allows testing the "idea" and when the model has been proved and validated,
actively participates and even finances some components or the all activities, with the public
budget, allowing the model to grow.
In countries where participatory budgeting is used the community, committed to the model,
support it’s financing with the local budget and make it possible to remain independent of
management changes.
Results and example
They have been able to reduce dropouts but the quality of education has been a more
complex achievement because while it is true that the quality of education has been
improved, reaching the levels of urban schools for the upper class has been
impossible.
For example, improvement in reading comprehension and then improving the learning
process, but of course their teachers continue to have lower levels.
Example: Family Housing for Students , Bolivia
Characteristics of social innovation
in Health
Work in reducing infant and maternal mortality, attention to dispersed and difficult to access
population, improvement in the quality and relevance of care.
It is the sector where government presence is higher. It is the concern of the local health
authorities against certain indexes that move the search for new solutions.
Also the success of innovation and one of the innovative features is the active participation of
community members in the diagnostic process and searches for alternative solutions. This way of
working, where health comes from the uniqueness of the medical world, has identified
socioeconomic factors underlying health problems.
It is not as obvious to identify, for example that poverty affects health by drinking no-potable
water. Structural factors have been addressed and resolved, positively affecting health indicators.
Non-governmental organizations are taking great challenges especially with regard dispersed
populated and difficult to access population. Gradually they design and test models, cost efficient,
but at the same time, able to ensure the access to the right of health.
Usually, at the beginning, the project is financed with external resources and when they could
prove that it works, the government, first the local and then the intermediate, support the model
even funding partially actions to finally make it public program in which development NGOs
becomes the coordinator of the activities.
Results and example
They have been able to:
Reduce infant and maternal mortality as well as other health indicators
Increase the accessibility to health services
“Four-Leaf Clover”
Strategy to Reduce Maternal
and Infant Mortality, Brazil
Community Health Actions
in the Tapajós National Forest, Brazil
Summary
Latin America and the Caribbean is extremely creative but more active
action is required by government authorities to achieve significant increase
in the scale of work.
Universities and research centers such as those gathered here can play a
central role in several areas: In the development of social innovations, acting
as an external agent that supports and accompanies the communities in
diagnosing the problems and find the alternative solutions. In the evaluation
of the social innovations and, in the promotion of government programs and
policies using those innovative models.
Latin America has a lot of social innovation experiences that could share
with Europe, specially to work with the migrants.
Thank you !!!
The information of the social innovative
experiences in Latin America and the
Caribbean could be find in:
www.cepal.org/dds/innovacionsocial