Innovation with Purpose promotes transformations that improve the lives of millions of people in Latin America

CAF - Development Bank of Latin America, Fundación Avina, the Alfredo Zolezzi Foundation (AZF), the Social Progress Imperative, and World-Transforming Technologies (WTT) held an event to present the Platform for Innovation with Purpose, an alliance to accelerate high-impact solutions and large-scale transformations in favor of sustainable development in Latin America. The event was followed by the signing of a Cooperation Agreement between CAF -Development Bank of Latin America- and Fundación Avina, and preceded by the first meeting of the Platform's Board of Directors to define the 2017 strategy.

All five organizations, widely recognized for their work in support of innovation and sustainable development, have joined forces to advance this new Platform to integrate global, regional, national, and local organizations in the search for solutions to the most pressing problems that affect the vast majority of Latin Americans.

The signing of the agreement between CAF -Development Bank of Latin America-, represented by Executive President Enrique García, and Fundación Avina, represented by Board Chair Sean McKaughan, made the organizations' institutional alliance official. Alfredo Zolezzi, President of AZF; Luke Greeves, COO of the Social Progress Imperative; and Valdemar de Oliveira Neto, CEO of WTT, served as witnesses.

According to Executive President García, "with this Platform, which is open and collaborative in nature and which brings together social innovation with innovation in technology and business, we are formalizing a strategic alliance between CAF and Fundación Avina to benefit the vast majority [of Latin Americans]. Through this alliance, we will be able to help create partnerships among leaders from diverse sectors and disciplines, cultivate synergies between different initiatives in the region, and promote processes focused on a shared agenda and collective impact."

"Transformation in Latin America requires scaled, cross-cutting innovation, and rapid acceleration, all of which are impossible to achieve when one organization is working unilaterally. The impact that Latin America needs requires the development of a new social architecture like that of the Platform for Innovation with Purpose, the first of its kind," stated Gabriel Baracatt, CEO of Fundación Avina.

Currently, more than 7,000 organizations and leaders working in the private, public, nonprofit, and academic sectors in 21 Latin American countries are involved in the Platform's nine main program areas: inclusive recycling, access to water, sustainable cities, migration, political innovation, technology for social change, climate action, conservation of the South American Chaco, and the implementation of the Social Progress Index.

According to Alfredo Zolezzi, "the increasing global social unrest reflects the fact that the current models are not working. It is time to innovate, and to do so we need a new way of looking at things. On this premise, we developed the Integrated Objectives Model (IOM), one which makes Innovation with Purpose sustainable and scalable. It articulates diverse group of players with new business and execution models so that each achieves its own objectives and because of the joint effort, the collective impact generated will be directed to and remain with those most vulnerable. The Platform for Innovation with Purpose is the space we chose to scale the impact of our model."

"The Social Progress Imperative is excited to be part of this new approach to reaching the Sustainable Development Goals across Latin America," said Michael Green, CEO of the Social Progress Imperative. "We look forward to scaling disruptive solutions across traditional sectors to overcome challenges like water scarcity and climate change while improving the lives of everyday people."

Representing WTT, Valdemar de Oliveira Neto affirmed that his organization's work "only makes sense as part of a collaborative innovation ecosystem that is able to produce state-of-the-art technologies and profitable impact businesses that can change the world. The Platform for Innovation with Purpose is the institutional space that makes our mission possible."

The Platform has already achieved notable results; combining social, technological, and business innovations has brought improved access to drinking water and sanitation for 3.3 million Latin Americans, led to laws concerning the democratic governance of water in 4 countries, and provided 37 concrete solutions for access to water that were financed by private enterprises exercising corporate water responsibility.

The Platform is expected to benefit 4 million more Latin Americans by the end of 2017, through changes in public policies and improvements in the access, range, and quality of public goods and services. Any institution that would like to increase collective impact in this space is welcome to participate in the Platform.