No. 58 (2019): Issue 58 | Latin America 2019

Dear Reader,

“Every once in a while, a new technology, an old problem, and a big idea turn into an innovation.”
- Dean Kamen

Today we are launching the latest edition of the Social Innovations Journal, “Latin America 2019: Edition 58.” This edition brings us full circle since we began 2019 with an introspective look at innovation in Latin America, and now in the final months of the year we are again returning to Latin America to provide you with a fresh look at innovation and its best practices. While there continues to be a thread of continuity across these editions, specifically breakthrough innovations focused on social mobility and empowerment of underserved communities. We also see in this edition a new perspective on these issues -- the reframing of challenges into opportunities that bring a community together in identifying and executing solutions.

We are excited to bring you organizations fighting to make health care more equitable like Blooders, a project that revamped the blood donation process through technology to increase dwindling blood supplies. The Uniminuto model which continues to improve social mobility through access to higher education for those at the bottom rung of the economic ladder in Colombia, that has now been successfully adopted in West Africa. And, Co-Meta in Jalisco, Mexico, making significant strides in promoting opportunities for women with train the trainer programs to advance empowerment efforts from educational opportunities to the workforce. 

There is new light being shed on old challenges with the collaborative work of Socialab as they embrace a social concern and collectively revision this concern as a challenge that requires the contributions of the entire community. The Escalera Foundation is looking beyond school dropout rates to find the root cause and utilizing incentives in innovative ways to support youth continuing their secondary school educations. Efforts to protect nationally, and globally, significant biodiversity in Mexico is taking place by mainstreaming biodiversity friendly management practices in productive landscapes in priority biological corridors. And, finally, this edition shares the top findings of the Corona Foundation’s decade-long work on inclusive employment practices to deliver the best practices and models on how to create a more inclusive employment market.

Our latest edition was curated by Maria-Alejandra Navas, our Journal’s international director, who brings authors from across Latin America together to provide myriad approaches to social concerns that are being tackled by social entrepreneurs from small startups to world-renowned foundations. We are excited to share the stories of the innovators of this edition who are cultivating a culture of hope and shifting the paradigm of their communities through impact from environmental sustainability to health care to education to women empowerment. Their collective energy and vision are reshaping the lives of those most in need and creating a path forward for a modern Latin America, and the world, as exemplified in the inspiring stories and work of these Changemakers.

We hope you not only learn new approaches but are inspired with a new perspective in addressing the concerns that too often threaten to stall human progress, but in reality, are only part of our journey to a better, brighter future for all.

Yours in innovation,

Alejandra Navas, International Director
Alescia M. Dingle, Managing Editor
Mike Clark, President
Nicholas Torres and Tine Hansen-Turton, Co-founders