(Guatemala City, 11 November 2009) A Mayan ceremony gave start to the V Social Innovation Fair at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala (USAC), which exhibits successful projects that have proven to be creative and efficient in reducing poverty, inequity and social exclusion in communities of the region.
"The Fair is a unique opportunity to learn in detail and take creative ideas from Mexico to the Patagonia", said Martin Hopenhayn, Director of the Social Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), who inaugurated the event with Oscar Cobar Pinto, Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the USAC.
The V Social Innovation Fair will be open until November 13 at the Plaza de los Mártires in the University, and will exhibit the 18 most innovative initiatives selected among 1,800 applicants over the past two years of the Experiences in Social Innovation contest, organized by ECLAC with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
The event presents the 13 projects from eight countries in Latin America and the Caribbean selected as finalists in the 2008-2009 cycle of the contest, as well as the five winners of the 2007-2008 round. Each project will present its work to the Committee of Notables.
This year's finalists are from Argentina (4), Brazil (3), Chile (1), Costa Rica (1), Mexico (1), Peru (2) and Uruguay (1). All of them feature social innovation, active community participation and reasonable costs.
The Ceiba Group Association, a project from Guatemala which rescues youths from street gangs (known as maras) and won third place in 2005, is also present.
The five winners of this year's contest will be announced on November 13.
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