CAF announces winners of Research Program on Development Issues

(Caracas, May 30, 2006).- The Andean Development Corporation (CAF) announced the winners of its Research Program on Development Issues CAF 2006, which received 63 entries from the Andean Community countries, Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Paraguay in its fifth annual event.

The program, organized by the multilateral financial organizations since 2002, invites researchers to submit proposed research work on topics of interest to CAF. During the process, the Corporation provides economic support for the selected proposals, and the final works are presented in a local seminar and distributed later.

The Research Program is intended for researchers associated with universities, research institutes and other public and private institutions in Latin America, as well as assistant professors, researchers or postgraduate students from the CAF shareholder countries who are working in institutions in the United States or Europe on issues related to Latin America.

In its fifth event, the program focused on the theme: "The challenge of social inclusion," which suggested issues such as microfinance; social investment and infrastructure funds for the poor; corporate social responsibility; strengthening social capital; improvement of social expenditure programs; tax equity and progressivity; education; health and the labor market, among others.

This year’s winners The members of the jury were Omar Bello (CEPAL/ECLAC), Samuel Freije (ULA), Michael Walton (Harvard), and Roger Betancourt (University of Maryland), together with officers from the CAF Office of Public Policy and Competitiveness and the Vice Presidency of Social and Environmental Development. The jury selected the following proposals as winners:

“Teaching Entrepreneurship: Impact of Business Training on Microfinance Clients and Institutions” from Martín Valdivia (Peruvian, member of the Group of Analysis for Development GRADE).

“The institutional success of Fe y Alegría: an econometric evaluation” from Daniel Ortega (Venezuelan, IESA profesor) and Hunt Alcott (United States, candidate for PhD in Public Policy, Harvard University).

"Eliminating barriers to access to education in Peru and Bolivia: estimate of the effects of conditional transfer programs on school attendance" from Rafael Novella (Peruvian, member of Group of Analysis for Development GRADE).

"Opportunities of the poor, residential segregation and housing policy" from Claudia Sanhuenza and Osvaldo Larrañaga (Chileans, University of Chile).

The researchers have until the end of the year to develop their research and supply a working document based on the terms of the proposal.

Some of the works selected will be presented at the round table at the next annual meeting of LACEA to be held from November 2 to 4, 2006 sponsored by CAF.