Global civil society network CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is pleased to announce the winners of its latest round of Nelson Mandela – Graça Machel Innovation Awards.
The awards offer seed funding of US$5,000 to innovative civil society projects that follow up on the ideas of the CIVICUS World Assembly, our annual global gathering of civil society. In 2011, organisations from the Caribbean and Latin America were invited to submit proposals. The winning projects from Argentina, Haiti and Uruguay each receive a US$5,000 grant courtsey of the Inter American Foundation.
An international panel of civil society experts selected three winning projects:
- Monitoring and mapping the implementation of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’s recommendations in Argentina - Juan Martín Camusso, FUNDEPS (Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables), Argentina
- Reinforcing local authorities’ accountability to improve local democracy in Haiti - Lucien Dossous, Action Communautaire de Solidarité et d’Intervention Sociale (ACSIS), Haiti
- Strengthening grassroots organisations and women’s groups in Latin America, Analia Bettoni, Instituto de Comunicación y Desarrollo (ICD) and the Iniciativa Regional Rendir Cuentas, Uruguay.
The proposals were selected for their novelty and originality, sustainability, potential for positive impact on citizen rights and justice, and partnership opportunities.
The three supported projects will now use the award money to enhance their work. For example, in Uruguay, the winners will start mapping the needs of more than 60 grassroots and women’s groups for the development and incorporation of transparency, accountability and self-regulation standards in their work, and for the development of tools to help build capacities for monitoring, advocacy and dialogue between women's groups and other public and private stakeholders.
“We’re extremely grateful and excited about this award which will enable us to strengthen grassroots groups, women's groups and environmental organisations in Latin America, with the incorporation of mechanisms of transparency and accountability and implementation of advocacy processes,” says Uruguayan winner Analia Bettoni. “This award will give us the opportunity to introduce innovations to strengthen the legitimacy of these groups and generate a greater positive impact in their communities and on public policy.”
For more information on the CIVICUS World Assembly, which tales place from 3 to 7 September in Montreal, Canada, please visit www.civicusassembly.org or email .