Press releases

Washington DC, May 14, 2020.- During the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) session, OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro called on Member States to work together in favor of democracy in the region.  Almagro emphasized that “each of the countries and member states may today have the Trust as a reference for the development of projects that deal with different institutional capacities and transparency at the level of the political systems and the hemisphere, innovation in government management, construction of public policies, focus on open government programs, these are all citizen participation and accountability initiatives. ”   In order to face the pandemic from a perspective of human rights and democracy, we must foster alliances of the public and private sectors and involve governments to work together with citizens and strengthen levels of public trust.   “Transparent management and responses by governments are elements of democracy that we must promote; transparency and citizen participation are elements of democracy that we must ought to. Transparency and citizen participation make essential elements of democratic legitimacy and reducing corruption is definitely one of the key points in the context of government purchases in the context of the pandemic, ”said Secretary General Luis Almagro.  The Trust for the Americas supports Open Government and the regional governance and transparency agenda through:  The Permanent Council brings together 35 member states of the hemisphere. During the May 14th edition, a completely virtual meeting, it was determined that public-private alliances are fundamental to democratic resilience; especially when the entire region faces a state of emergency.   Permanent Council Video: https://youtu.be/2noikhJjYLo?t=4951 

The Trust for the Americas, through its local partner, the Institute of Law and Economics (ILE), will kickstart the Caribbean School of Data online training module for the first cohort of 25 students on May 18th 2020.   The Caribbean School of Data (CSOD) is an initiative of the Caribbean Open Institute (COI)1, that seeks to develop a comprehensive and sustainable digital/data literacy program aimed at underserved populations within the Caribbean. Some of the CSOD’s goals include building a stronger data culture across the region and creating essential employment skills for the emerging digital economy.  The long-term goal of the CSOD is to develop a comprehensive and sustainable “data literacy” program that will facilitate greater awareness, attitudes, competencies and capacity to build a stronger data culture across the Caribbean. Through this specific initiative, the CSOD will create employability and economic opportunities for at-risk youth across the Caribbean through digital literacy and data skills training.  Rodrigo Iriani, Project Manager of the DIA Lab mentioned ¨The ultimate goal of the DIA Program is to bring innovation to people. This means having youth engaged and contributing to their own development and that of their communities. The DIA Urban Lab and the CSOD partnership is another proof of the potential of using data to foster progress in the Caribbean¨.  The deployment of the CSOD program over a two-year period aims to train at least 1,500 marginalized young people in seven countries across the Caribbean. These training fields include Digital/Data Literacy and basic to advanced Data Management skills- geared towards creating a range of employment opportunities.  ILE has trained three facilitators to guide the first cohort of 25 students that will complete the training in 10-12 weeks. By the end of 2020, ILE will train 100 young people in the CSOD module.  Launched in 2016 with support from Founding Donors, Citi Foundation and USAID through A New Path Project, DIA Jamaica is an initiative created by The Trust for the Americas, an affiliate of the Organization of American States, to empower a new generation of young entrepreneurs and innovators- who will act as agents of change in their communities. DIA Jamaica is part of Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress global initiative to prepare young people with the career readiness tools and opportunities needed to thrive in today’s economy. Pathway to Progress is comprised of programs, research, and partnerships such as the one with Trust of the Americas, which help young people build an entrepreneurial mindset and acquire leadership.  The DIA Urban Lab has awarded more than 100 seed funding opportunities and benefited over 1,500 young people through innovation training and access to state-of-the-art technology. The DIA initiative is a regional program also present in Belize, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama.  Stay tuned for our calendar of special events.  Hashtag Jamaica  #CSODJA  #DIALAB  #ILEJA  About The Trust for the Americas:  The Trust for the Americas is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS). Established in 1997 to promote public and private partnerships, The Trust has implemented projects in 24 countries and worked with over 1,000 organizations in the region. Our initiatives seek to promote educational and economic opportunities as well as government accountability and transparency. Our unique alliance with the OAS allows us to have access to decision makers within the region. This foundational partnership is the basis through which we create strong networks across member states and the private sector. Through the evolution of our region, The Trust continues to endure by facing challenges through strategic partnerships that promote cooperation for sustainable results. The Trust of the Americas is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. More information: www.trustfortheamericas.org Facebook: The Trust for the Americas Twitter: @Trust4Americas Jamaica

Washington DC, May 11, 2020.- TThe Trust for the Americas, an entity affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Office of the First Lady of Paraguay, Silvana Abdo, agreed today – in a virtual meeting – to launch a technological training program for vulnerable populations in Paraguay with special emphasis on women entrepreneurs and artisans. The Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, stressed that the initiative will provide digital education in times when the use of technology is crucial to improve economic growth. “We celebrate the signing of this agreement whose objective is to train and empower women entrepreneurs in Paraguay. The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting our economies hard and this initiative is an opportunity to generate sources of employment,” said Secretary General Almagro. For her part, First Lady Abdo indicated that the alliance between the Trust and her government will provide better possibilities and rights for the Paraguayan people. “The objective will be especially placed on the possibilities of improving the lives of women in our country so that they can use technology to improve their businesses and jobs, as well as disseminating and publicizing their companies and products,” she said. For his part, the Chairman of the Board of the Trust for the Americas, Enrique García, said that the alliance with the Paraguayan government will allow the development of a social inclusion program that will improve the economy of many low-income households. “Today more than ever, the times demand that we act quickly and efficiently to facilitate, together with local partners in each country, the skills that the most vulnerable populations need to cope, during and after overcoming the coronavirus pandemic in the region. We will work together on that,” added García. The initiative, which is in the design phase, will include public-private participation and will focus on digital and business training, as well as job skills, leadership, assertive communication, and the prevention of gender violence. The projects developed by the Trust for the Americas have a rate of access to economic opportunities of 55 percent of its graduates.

The Trust for the Americas and the Department for Effective Public Management of the OAS, with the Support of the Embassy of the United State of America in Belize, presents the complete webinar resources carried out during the project “Transformation to an Open Public Administration in Belize (2019-2021)”. The first webinar series was designed for the Open Gov Steering Committee (Open Gov SC). The second series caters to all participants interested in learning about the open government ecosystem.  All webinars were facilitated by Mike Mora, Specialist of the Department for Effective Public Management of the Organization of American States Audience: Open Gov Steering Committee.  Webinar 1: Open Government: An overview of the path to 2020. This session is intended to serve as an overview of how open government has progressed since inception. The overview will allow us to interpreter how countries had responded to its implementation, what methodologies had been pursued, and what kinds of commitments have been established; all from the perspective of a participatory multi-stakeholder approach; lead by a core group of key public actors acting as a cohesive national open government body. Recorded on Wednesday, February 12, 2020 3:30PM-5PM (BZE-CST) – at BCCI Boardroom, Belize City. Webinar 2: National Steering Committees in Open Government; principles and world cases. This session is intended to provide an in-depth overview of the in-country mechanisms established to guide the implementation of open government. The session will touch on their role, configurations, practices, and also roles taken by their participants. Recorded on February 19, 2020 3:30PM-5PM (BZE-CST) – at CITO Training Room, Belmopan Webinar 3: Steering Committees & the development of National Open Government Action Plans. This session is intended to dive deeper into the role of the national open government committees in relation to the processes of developing the national open government action plans. What to do, what to expect, how to navigate and encourage a participatory process and decision making. Recorded on Wednesday, February 26, 2020 – 3:30PM-5PM (BZE-CST) at CITO, Belmopan Audience: Open Government Ecosystem Webinar 1: Open Government: an overview of the path to 2020. This session is intended to serve as an overview of how open government has progressed since inception. The overview will allow us to interpreter how countries had responded to its implementation, what methodologies had been pursued, and what kinds of commitments have been established; all from the perspective of a civil society centered participatory multi-stakeholder approach. Recorded on Thursday February 13, 2020 – 10:30AM-12:00PM (BZE-CST) – at BTEC, Belize City.  Webinar 2: Development of National Open Government Action Plans. This session is intended to provide an in-depth overview of the standards and practices when developing open government national action plans. What are action plans, what’s in them, and how to get there, will be some of the topics to be covered. The Speakers will dive into the processes to enable co-creation of an action plan, also looking at the specific case of Uruguay, where government and civil society have incrementally progressed in the embracing of open government. Recorded on February 20, 2020 – at BTEC, Belize City. Webinar 3: More of co-creation and setting ambitious commitments. This session is intended to explore deeper into the processes of setting the commitments for the open government action plans and how these have worked well in other countries. The exchange will encourage participants to think about what commitments may be of interest to pursue in Belize for the development of its first open government action plan. Recorded on Thursday, February 27, 2020 – 10:30AM-12:00PM (BZE-CST) at University of Belize Auditorium, Belmopan. Thank you to all our collaborators and interested participants. For more information on the project click here or contact the project manager: Rodrigo Iriani at ririani@oas.org.  Download documents here  Belize Open Government Belize Webinar Program

2020/04/28 As part of the second phase of an Open Government project: Transformation to an Open Public Administration in Belize, The Trust for the Americas in coordination with the Organization of American States (OAS), announces the official formation of an Ad-hoc Multi-stakeholder Steering Committee: The Belize Open Gov SC. This Open Government project, through funding support from the US Embassy Belmopan, is working to strengthen the creation of networks and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration, supporting a long-term process to spur innovation, improving local government services, and activating international support mechanisms for enabling Belize to join the Open Government global movement. The Belize Open Gov SC is comprised of eleven member representatives with the objective to serve as the dialogue and decision-making mechanism to advance open government processes of the project and by extension the country of Belize. The installation of national open government committees is a well-established good practice around the world for those countries pursuing the strengthening of their open government efforts. The Belize Open Gov SC includes six government agencies with representatives from: Office of the Prime Minister (Michael Singh, Advisor for eGovernance and Digital Transformation), Central Information Technology Office (Ian Smith, Executive Director), Economic Development Council (Ishmael Quiroz, Executive Director), Attorney General’s Ministry (Imani Burgess, Crown Counsel), Department of Local Government (Clifford King, Director of Local Government) and the Integrity Commission (Deshawn Arzu Torres, Chairperson). Five civil Society organizations with representatives from: Belize PEACE Movement (Paco Smith, Good Governance & Anti-Corruption/External Relations Liaison), Association of Tertiary Level Institutions of BelizeATLIB (Dr. Sharmayne Saunders, Chairperson), Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry-BCCI (Dyon Elliott, Chief Policy Analyst), The Belize Mayors Association (Mayor Khalid Belisle, President) and the National Trade Union of Belize-NTUCB (Marvin Mora, President).  Rodrigo Iriani, Project Manager of the initiative, states ¨Essentially, the Open Government Steering Committee will play a pivotal role in supporting the coordination of participatory multi-stakeholder dialogues. Their ultimate contribution will reflect in the first draft of the National Open Government Action Plan for Belize.¨ For more information, please contact the Trust/OAS Local Project Coordinating Team, Ms. Audrey Robin (arobin@20.9.190.97), and Ms. Malenie Barnes (mbarnes@20.9.190.97). Keep connected to the project at https://www.facebook.com/OpenGovBelize. #OpenGovBelize About The Trust for the Americas: The Trust for the Americas is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with the Organization of American States (OAS). It was established in 1997 to promote public and private sector participation in social and economic development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Our initiatives, implemented through local partner organizations, seek to improve access to economic opportunities as well as to foster innovation in vulnerable communities in the hemisphere. To this end, The Trust also promotes social inclusion and good governance. The Trust has offices in Washington, D.C., Colombia, and Canada. More information: www.trustfortheamericas.org Facebook: The Trust for the Americas Twitter: @Trust4Americas Belize

2020/04/22 Panama, April 13, 2020 – The National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (ANTAI) in alliance with The Trust for the Americas, kickstarted a 10-week online course to train public officials on Open Government and Open Data principles.  This online course will provide training in complementary areas of public administration that will improve with open government and open data methodologies.  Currently, 60 information officers, who hold the responsibility in the different sectors of government to make the information available and met with the nation’s transparency requirements, are registered and receiving the training.     This series of webinars are activities carried out within the framework of the “Public Innovation through Open Data” project funded by the US Mission in Panama, which includes promoting collaboration between civil society and the government.    Juan Pablo Rodríguez, Director of Access to Information at ANTAI, emphasized that the role of citizens in these seminars “is a way to empower the use of their right to social audit and to ensure continuous collaboration between civil society, private sector, and governments under the concept of Open Government.”   By training public officials, the goal is to meet international open data standards and encourage local governments and civil society in Panama to create spaces for discussion, collaboration and accountability mechanism for citizens   A total of 90 public information officers are expected to complete the course in the coming months.   Panamá

2020/04/22 Washington DC, April 22, 2020 – The POETA Social Franchise organized a webinar during the COVID-19 contingency to support the entrepreneurs of our network and the general public. This session hosted by The Trust for the Americas with a special guest, Mauricio Leal Goldstein General Director and Co-founder of Fluxs by Nóvament, who presented his keynote, “Reinvent your Business Model: Challenges of Entrepreneurship in Times of Crisis”.   The event was an opportunity to acknowledge the global change that all professionals in different industries are experiencing, specifically in the business sector. That is why adapting to innovative methods of working, collaborating, and learning while working from home are the challenges that many entrepreneurs face.  Now is the moment to push them to look for more efficient and modern alternatives. “Sharing knowledge and experiences is the most effective way to reinvent ourselves and conquer new spaces!” The POETA Social Franchise team shares with us when introducing the event.   Mauricio Leal shared his expertise with more than three hundred people from Latin America who connected through Microsoft’s TEAMS platform.   An enthusiastic audience that included people from different organizations and entrepreneurs from across Latin America with Interactive activities made the event a success for the organizers.  The event concluded with messages of satisfaction, request for information on future seminars to the team, and the guest speaker.  The POETA Social Franchise’s mission is to provide tools and knowledge to organizations that promote economic and social inclusion. Stay tuned for our upcoming events.  Argentina – Brasil – Chile – Estados Unidos – Colombia – Costa Rica – Ecuador – El Salvador – Guatemala – Honduras – Mexico – Nicaragua – Panamá – Perú – Puerto Rico – República Dominicana – Venezuela

2020/04/08 Originalmente publicado en el blog de The Trust for the Americas por Elizabeth Laredo y Maria Fernanda Sierra. Agradecemos a Walmart Foundation por contar con su apoyo para estos esfuerzos. A finales del mes de marzo lanzamos una exitosa estrategia digital para ofrecer capacitación y contenidos de calidad para mujeres egresadas del Proyecto VIVE y nuevas participantes: Las sesiones responden a las recomendaciones de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) sobre el distanciamiento social y de la crisis actual por el COVID-19, con medidas virtuales e innovadoras para continuar implementando nuestra oferta de capacitación. Diseñamos contenido exclusivo para mujeres que son egresadas del Proyecto VIVE, estos insumos son compartidos a través de Facebook, específicamente en el grupo privado de Facebook “Comunidad de Egresadas de Proyecto VIVE”. Estos contenidos son: 3. Promover el registro y uso del Directorio de Emprendedoras VIVE: A finales del año 2019 creamos un directorio de emprendedoras, en el cual las egresadas del Proyecto VIVE pueden registrar la información básica de sus emprendimientos y darles difusión. Nos encargamos de divulgar el directorio mediante nuestra comunidad en línea y con nuestros aliados estratégicos. Para más información, aquí las ligas para consultar el blog y el directorio. Mexico

2020/04/08 Jamaica, 2 de Abril 2020.- The Trust for the Americas lanza agenda de capacitación virtual para dar inicio al Proyecto N.C.B. ICON Lab en Jamaica de la mano de nuestros aliados The Mico University en Kingston.  Esta serie de capacitaciones se adapta a un formato interactivo virtual, en la que los principales participantes son la facultad de The MICO University incluyendo profesores de varias disciplinas, y la mezcla de metodologías entre capacitaciones y webinars via Facebook. El objetivo de estas capacitaciones dirigidas a nuestros aliados locales en Jamaica, es involucrar a los futuros facilitadores del proyecto con las prácticas exitosas de los laboratorios de innovación y el Sistema de Información de The Trust for the Americas. El objetivo de estas capacitaciones dirigidas a nuestros aliados locales en Jamaica, es involucrar a los futuros facilitadores del proyecto con las prácticas exitosas de los laboratorios de innovación y el Sistema de Información de The Trust for the Americas. De la misma manera, nuestro aliado local Institute of Law and Economics (ILE), quienes llevan las operaciones del Laboratorio de Innovación Urbana para Jóvenes en Jamaica y el equipo de Proyecto VIVE México colaborarán compartiendo experiencias y metodologías con The MICO University y contribuir en el éxito del proyecto N.C.B. ICON Lab.  Parte de las capacitaciones que se llevarán a cabo incluyen:   El proyecto N.C.B. ICON Lab busca promover una mentalidad emprendedora, acceso al empleo y emprendimientos tecnológicos para jóvenes en riesgo en Jamaica, a través del acceso a un espacio colaborativo con capacitación de calidad y enlaces a un ecosistema de emprendimiento.   Jamaica

2020/04/07 Costa Rica, April 7, 2020.- Today, a series of online training for local governments began under the project “Improving municipal government services through innovation and local networks.” The month of open virtuality offers the possibility of developing dialogues to search for solutions to overcome the challenges that municipalities face, as well as proposing means to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus. The objective of the virtual training series is to promote open government actions in times of COVID-19 and virtuality. This series of webinars aims to present experiences and challenges of governments, discuss effective methodologies, offer digital tools to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus in localities and facilitate spaces for dialogue to better understand the role of local government in times of pandemic and recession. The implementation of Open Data policies in the municipalities helps to improve the services to citizens, and at the same time, allows identifying tools that are vital for municipal empowerment. The webinar series includes the following topics and objectives: Tuesday, April 7: “Empowerment of local governments to mitigate the coronavirus.” Objective: To publicize the City Listener and Blockchain Certificates tools as means of municipal empowerment to mitigate the coronavirus and its rapid spread. Thursday, April 16: “The experience of the Municipality of Esparza in its live process of opening public data. Learnings and good practices. ” Objective: To share the challenges, progress, and achievements of the Municipality of Esparza in terms of Opening Public Data with a collaborative approach, in order to be a point of reference for other municipalities. Thursday, April 23: “A more efficient and agile municipal government: CoLABora Methodology to simplify procedures focused on users.” Objective: To share the experience of the coLABora methodology in the pilot project simplifying the patent process in various local governments of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica. Thursday, April 30. “The role of local government in times of pandemic: effective communication and listening to the private and entrepreneurial sector.” Objective: To recognize the role of municipalities in supporting the private, commercial and entrepreneurial sector in times of pandemic and recession. Among the participants were officials from Argentina, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and Paraguay. Costa Rica