Vidanta Foundation Awards: Ten Consecutive Years Promoting Latin America’s Economic and Social Development

Mexico City, July 18th: The Vidanta Foundation–a non-profit organization that promotes economic and social development throughout Latin America–has delivered 2.1 million dollars to 29 different Latin American associations over the last 10 years through its namesake awards, which support the development of the region. The five winners of most recent edition of the wards, its tenth, were chosen based on the theme of the reduction of poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean and will be announced in September of this year.

The Vidanta Foundation Award was created in 2009 as a joint initiative between the Organization of American States (OAS), the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB), and the Vidanta Foundation, to recognize and support outstanding or original works that are conducted in Latin America to reduce poverty, inequality, and combat discrimination, ensuring that these efforts are disseminated and their contributions are shared.

During its almost 10 years of continual operation, the Vidanta Foundation Award has annually awarded grants to different institutions in Latin America, recognizing 29 associations in locales all over Latin America: eight from Mexico, four from Colombia, four more from Argentina, three from Chile, two from Bolivia, and the remaining eight from Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.

The organizations that have been recognized by the Vidanta Foundation Awards over the years have addressed various issues, highlighting five main ones:

1. Those that provide advice on various topics, from the legal framework, housing construction, or the improvement of health conditions, to the use of new technologies, such as: the Italocolombian Foundation of Mount Tabor, Tierra Grata, A Roof for My Country, Earth Communities, United for the Mountain, Hogar de Cristo Charitable Foundation, Wingu, and the Pro-Social Housing Foundation.
2. Those that offer support to women, such as: the Women in Law Collective Association, Women's Institute Foundation, Pro Mujer, Una Brisa de Esperanza Foundation, Simone de Beauvoir Leadership Institute, Mundo Mujer Foundation, and CE-Mujer.
3. Those focused on vulnerable groups, such as migrants, former convicts, or people with disabilities, including: The Colifata Mental Health and Communication, Civil Association Tiflonexos, Association for the Valuation of Persons with Deficiencies (AVAPE), Rahab Foundation, Civil Association Alcatraz, Dignity and Justice Project on the Camino AC (FM 4 Paso Libre), Transgender Project, Cinco Panes, and Dos Peces A.C.
4. Those whose main objective is education for different sectors of the population, such as: IDEAS Information and Educational Designs for Healthy Actions, A.C., Civil Association, I Learn With You, and Self-managed Development A.C. (AUGE).
5. And finally, those that seek to conserve and preserve natural resources, or that promote the preservation of the environment, such as: IXIM B.C., Joven es Yucatán, and Fundación Madera Verde.

The Vidanta Foundation invites you to submit applications online before July 31st, for the tenth edition of the Vidanta Foundation Award on the theme of reduction of poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean to all those non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private assistance institutions, foundations, Afro-descendant and indigenous groups, civil associations, and non-profit organizations incorporated in Latin America and the Caribbean, or that carry out their work in the region.

To commemorate the tenth edition of its awards, to be held in November this year, the Vidanta Foundation will present five awards–three of which will be assigned to Mexican civil associations–as follows:

• First place: $100,000 USD (one hundred thousand dollars)
• Second place: $75,000 USD (seventy-five thousand dollars)
• Third place: $50,000 USD (fifty thousand dollars)
• Fourth place: $35,000 USD (thirty-five thousand dollars)
• Fifth place: $25,000 USD (twenty-five thousand dollars)

For more information about the Vidanta Foundation, please visit: www.fundacionvidanta.org