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The AIA and Public-Private Collaborations in Response to the 1950 Cusco Earthquake

March 27, 2023

This report provides an overview of my research at the Rockefeller Archive Center on the role of the American International Association for Economic and Social Development (AIA) in the aftermath of the 1950 earthquake in Cusco, Peru. More specifically, the United Nations contracted AIA director Robert "Pete" Hudgens to lead a mission to evaluate Cusco and make recommendations about its reconstruction and long-term development. The report was extensive and included detailed recommendations about the broader rural area, in addition to the city of Cusco. I hoped to learn more about that collaboration and how it fit into the AIA's mission. Archival materials from Nelson A. Rockefeller's personal papers and the Rockefeller Family Public Relations Department papers revealed a complex web of public-private negotiations over who would fund and administer Cusco's development plan. And yet, many of the plans never came to fruition, raising questions about the extent to which these collaborations benefited most Peruvians.

Rebuilding systems: National stories of social and emotional learning reform

April 25, 2022

Especially in a world where technology moves at the speed of light, climate change threatens drastic shifts, and a pandemic has upended how we live and work – for worse and better.Policymakers from around the world agree. We spoke to education leaders in Australia, Colombia, Finland, Peru, South Africa, and South Korea about how they've built back systems to foster these essential skills. We're sharing their ideas far and wide through our report, so we can help keep up momentum and drive the conversation forward.

Plataformas Que Activan La Innovación: Un Nuevo Enfoque Para La Cooperación Internacional Al Desarrollo

December 1, 2018

Since 1997, the "La Caixa" Foundation has been promoting international cooperation programs in order to provide opportunities and improve the living conditions of vulnerable populations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Over this period of 20 years, working in partnership with different cooperation actors has brought us to a process of continuous learning and formulation of new tools and methods that enable us to improve our interventions.For this reason, in 2016 we decided to launch the Work4Progress program. It responds to the need to rethink the way in which our organization promotes international cooperation projects, to experiment with new tools to strengthen their impact and to incorporate a new focus on social innovation.The Work4Progress program thus supports the creation of "Open Innovation Platforms for the creation of employment in Peru, India and Mozambique" by means of collaborative partnerships between local civil society organizations, the private sector, administration, universities and Spanish NGOs.The main innovation of this program is the incorporation of new tools and methodologies in: (1) listening and identification of community needs, (2) co-creation and prototyping of new solutions, (3) exploration of instruments for scaling, (4) governance, (5) evolving evaluation systems and (6) financing strategies. The goal of all of this is to try to incorporate innovation strategies in all its components in an integral manner.Work4Progress has been designed with a Think and Do Tank mentality. The member organizations of the platforms are experimenting in the field, while a group of international experts helps us to obtain this knowledge and share it with centers of thought and action at an international level. In fact, this is the objective of this publication: to share the theoretical framework of the program, to connect these ideas with concrete examples and to continue to strengthen the meeting point between social innovation and development cooperation.Work4Progress is offered as a "living lab" to test new methodologies that may be useful for other philanthropic institutions, government or entities specializing in international development.In this publication, the manner in which its action is structured is defined as a "second operating system". The aim is not to modify the systems, procedures or devices that the international cooperation entities currently have in place, but rather to launch a complementary space that allows for the testing of new tools and procedures, which sometimes cannot be developed due to a lack of time, knowledge or financing.W4P enables us, as an entity, to depart from the traditional framework of project financers in order to act as a facilitator or driver of innovation platforms together with other public and private partners. The Sustainable Development Goals require us to work on platforms in this manner. We need to take advantage of this opportunity.

The State of Handwashing in 2016

March 28, 2017

2016 was a big year in hand hygiene! This summary outlines key themes and findings from 59 peer-reviewed handwashing-related research papers published in 2016, relevant to low and middle-income countries, around 1) the benefits of handwashing with soap, 2) handwashing compliance, 3) approaches to handwashing behavior, 4) determinants of handwashing with soap, and 5) handwashing hardware efficacy.

Preserving the Essence, Adapting for Reach: Early Lessons from Large-Scale Implementations of the Graduation Approach, Four Case Studies and Synthesis Analysis

November 1, 2016

Among the development approaches aimed at reaching the extreme poor, one of the most promising has been the "Graduation Approach," originally developed by BRAC in Bangladesh. BRAC's theory of change was that with the right mix of interventions, offered in the right sequence, households could "graduate" from extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods within a defined time period.This synthesis analysis provides an overview of these four programs' initial efforts in scaling up the Graduation Approach. It focuses primarily on lessons learned that may be valuable for other institutions and agencies implementing, or considering implementing, a large-scale Graduation program.

The Weak Link: The role of local institutions in accountable natural resource management in Peru, Senegal, Ghana, and Tanzania

April 27, 2016

Extractive industries present potentially large opportunities for developing countries. However, advocates for responsible natural resource management are often frustrated by the fact that best-practice policy prescriptions are frequently ignored by governments in developing counties. As a result, there has been a growing effort to understand how policy decisions are made, and how political and economic incentives shape development outcomes.With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Oxfam has produced a detailed study of the political economy of decision making, with research conducted in Peru, Ghana, Senegal and Tanzania. Reports for each of the countries are below (Tanzania report forthcoming), along with a synthesis of the findings.

Humid Tropical Forest Disturbance Alerts Using Landsat Data

March 2, 2016

Landsat represents the world's longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-resolution land remote sensing data. Four decades of imagery provides a unique resource for those who work in agriculture, geology, forestry, regional planning, education, mapping, and global change research. Landsat images are also invaluable for emergency response and disaster relief. A Landsat-based humid tropical forest disturbance alert was implemented for Peru, the Republic of Congo and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Alerts were mapped on a weekly basis as new terrain-corrected Landsat 7 and 8 images weremade available; results are presented for all of 2014 and through September 2015. The three study areas represent different stages of the forest land use transition, with all featuring a variety of disturbance dynamics including logging, smallholder agriculture, and agroindustrial development. Results for Peru were formally validated and alerts found to have very high user's accuracies and moderately high producer's accuracies, indicating an appropriately conservative product suitable for supporting land management and enforcement activities. Complete pan-tropical coverage will be implemented during 2016 in support of the Global Forest Watch initiative. To date, Global Forest Watch produces annual global forest loss area estimates using a comparatively richer set of Landsat inputs. The alert product is presented as an interim update of forest disturbance events between comprehensive annual updates.

From Prosperity to Purpose: Perspectives on Philanthropy and Social Investment among Wealthy Individuals in Latin America

June 24, 2015

Centuries of religious traditions, cultural norms, political histories, and economic conditions have shaped today's environment for private giving and social investment in Latin America. While the region's wealthy individuals have a long history of charitable giving, the relatively recent emergence of stable democracies, steady economic growth, and accumulation of personal wealth have provided a foundation for accelerated philanthropic activity. At the same time, cutbacks in government services, acute inequalities, and persistent poverty in some countries have underscored the need for private social investment to help address social and economic development.This study describes the philanthropic environment and illuminates the important and inspirational social investments of wealthy individuals in six Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. It provides new insight into both the soul and practice of philanthropy in the region, and, optimistically, will help to encourage others to invest private philanthropic capital for the common public good.

De la prosperidad al propósito: Perspectivas sobre la filantropía y la inversión social entre las personas de alto nivel patrimonial en América Latina

June 14, 2015

Siglos de tradiciones religiosas, normas culturales, historias políticas y condiciones económicas han moldeado el entorno actual de la filantropía privada y la inversión social en América Latina. Si bien las personas de alto nivel patrimonial de la región tienen una larga trayectoria de donaciones benéficas, el surgimiento relativamente reciente de democracias estables, crecimiento económico y acumulación de riqueza personal han sentado las bases para la aceleración de las actividades filantrópicas. Al mismo tiempo, en algunos países, las reducciones en los servicios gubernamentales, la desigualdad severa y la pobreza persistente han recalcado la necesidad de inversión social privada para la promoción del desarrollo social y económico.Este estudio describe el entorno filantrópico y las importantes e inspiradoras inversiones sociales de las personas de alto nivel patrimonial en seis países latinoamericanos: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, México y Perú. También ofrece una mirada nueva al alma y al ejercicio de la filantropía en la región, con la esperanza de que sirva para alentar a otros a invertir capital filantrópico privado en el bien común.

Da Prosperidade ao Propósito: Perspectivas sobre a Filantropia e Investimento Social Privado na América Latina

June 12, 2015

Séculos de tradições religiosas, normas culturais, histórias políticas e condições econômicas moldaram o ambiente atual para doações e investimentos sociais privados na América Latina. Embora as pessoas com patrimônio elevado da região tenham uma longa história de fazer doações à caridade, o surgimento relativamente recente de democracias estáveis, o crescimento econômico firme e a acumulação de patrimônio pessoal criaram as bases para uma maior atividade filantrópica. Ao mesmo tempo, cortes nos serviços públicos, as desigualdades e a pobreza persistente em alguns países ressaltaram a necessidade de investimentos sociais privados, para alavancar o desenvolvimento social e econômico.Este estudo descreve o ambiente filantrópico e ilustra os importantes e inspiradores investimentos sociais de pessoas com patrimônio elevado em seis países da América Latina; Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México e Peru. Ele dá novas percepções sobre a alma e a prática de filantropia na região e, em termos otimistas, ajudará a encorajar outras pessoas a investirem capital filantrópico privado para o bem público.

Learning Evaluation of the Disability Rights Fund

March 1, 2015

The Disability Rights Fund (DRF) is a partnership between funders and the disability community that provides grants and other support for work at country-level towards the realisation of rights affirmed in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. DRF believes that enhancing the participation of persons with disabilities in the realisation of their rights will have an impact on poverty among persons with disabilities.In 2012, DRF conducted its first external evaluation. The evaluation, which was conducted by Universalia, concluded with an overall positive assessment of the Fund's performance, highlighting the Fund's relevance and progress towards its stated results. In 2013, DRF concluded another partnership agreement with DFID of the duration of 3 years. Both as part of the conditions set in this partnership agreement and as DRF being a learning-oriented organization, DRF launched a call for proposals to conduct a learning evaluation, consisting of two interrelated components: the development or adjustment of DRF's tools for data collection, recording, and management; and the mid-term evaluation of DRF grantmaking operations.The Learning Evaluation had the following objectives: i) provide an update on progress made towards the achievement of the output-, outcome- and impact-level results in DRF's logical framework; ii) identify DRF's contributions to results achieved and factors affecting performance; iii) make an overall assessment of DRF's value for money; and iv) provide DRF staff with a clear set of lessons learned to improve current interventions and guide future ones.

Da Prosperidade ao Propósito: Perspectivas sobre a Filantropia e Investimento Social Privado na América Latina - Peru

January 1, 2015

Relatório específico para o Peru da publicação "Da Prosperidade ao Propósito: Perspectivas sobre a Filantropia e Investimento Social Privado na América Latina". Trata-se de um estudo exploratório sobre doações filantrópicas e investimentos sociais entre pessoas e famílias high net worth em seis países da América Latina (Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colômbia, México e Peru). Reconhecendo a importância crescente do investimento social privado nesses países, o estudo explora as motivações, aspirações, prioridades e práticas filantrópicas das pessoas; o ambiente político e cultural para a atividade filantrópica; e os desafios e oportunidades para o aumento da prática filantrópica e seu impacto.