Foundation Prize

The Grupo Vidanta Foundation, founded by Daniel Chavez Moran to share knowledge as a tool to empower others, awards annual prizes for “Contributions to the Reduction of Inequality and Poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

This Year’s Prize
This year’s Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize was awarded at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City on October 14, 2010. Winners of this year’s prize represented Colombia, Chile and Guatemala, and were selected by a distinguished panel of experts from among 261 nominations from all countries of Latin America, as well as the United States, Spain and much of the Caribbean. Institutions from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico and Costa Rica also were honored at the event attended by current and former dignitaries and distinguished members from across the Americas.

In addition to the Grupo Vidanta Foundation, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) were also jointly involved in awarding the prize.

This Year’s Winners
First place this year was awarded to Fundación Mundo Mujer (Women’s World Foundation), Colombia, a provider of credit for low-income women and men, micro-entrepreneurs for the informal sector of the economy and independent workers since 1985. It has 293,000 clients, 60 percent of whom are women. Achievements include: profit increase by 45 percent; product quality raised by 80 percent; quality of life, nutrition and clothing improvement by 50 percent; and a 35 percent increase in housing quality. They have established alliances with important financial entities in Colombia and beyond, including the IADB, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

Second place went to Un Techo para Mi Pais (A Roof for My Country), Chile, a social real estate management entity created in 1997 in Chile. Created to address the deplorable housing situation for the underserved population, Un Techo para Mi Pais has now extended beyond Chilean borders to 14 countries in the region, benefiting 43,000 families, developing strategic alliances with young college students (currently around 200,000), public institutions, as well as corporate entities that promote corporate social responsibility.

Third place honored Comunidades de la Tierra (Communities of the Earth), Guatemala. Since 2004, Comunidades de la Tierra has been devoted to entrepreneurial development, incubation of rural businesses, promotion and creation of community groups, especially women, in low income communities to transform them into flourishing entrepreneurs with market access. Comunidades de la Tierra has supported 1,500 people and counts the government of The Netherlands as its supporter.

Runners-up include the following institutions:

CE-MUJER, Dominican Republic
Corporacion Vallenpaz, Colombia
Desarrollo Autogestionario, AC, Mexico
Programa de Voluntariado Internacional Juvenil, Costa Rica

The Selection Committee was composed of past and present distinguished members of state, as well as notable academics. These included:

Mr. Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico
Mr. Cesar Gaviria, former Colombian president
Mr. Luis Maira, Chile’s ambassador to Argentina and Mexico
Mr. Carmelo Angulo, Spanish ambassador to Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and former representative of the UNPD in Argentina
Mrs. Billie Miller, a current member of the Barbados Labour Party and former foreign minister

About the Prize
The Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize spreads awareness of often little-known efforts so that their contributions may be shared. The purposes include: developing greater knowledge and capability in the field; influencing decision-making on public policies; creating greater consciousness and motivating public opinion with regards to key poverty, inequality and discrimination related matters in Latin America and the Caribbean; fostering humanitarian values and solidarity among the population in general; and promoting corporate philanthropy and social responsibility. The Grupo Vidanta Foundation Prize consists of a first prize of $100,000 US, a second prize of $75,000 US and a third prize of $50,000 US. All prize monies are contributed entirely by the Grupo Vidanta Foundation.