28 May 2003

Santiago: More than 5,000 participants from Chile and the rest of Latin America registered for a two-day conference "Mobilizing social capital and volunteerism in Latin America" organized by the Inter-American Development Bank's Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development, with the support of the governments of Chile, Norway, France and Spain.

At the end of the meeting, 900 organizations signed the Declaration of Santiago, which calls for measures to break the prevailing indifference towards poverty and discrimination in Latin America and to create a broad alliance between governments and civil society to achieve these objectives. The document also emphasizes the need to foster ethics and volunteerism to create a "renewed hope".

In many developed countries, volunteerism generates more than 5 percent of the national gross product in goods and social services. There is a huge potential in Latin America that could be tapped by fostering volunteerism activities, said Bernardo Kliksberg, conference director the IDB YOUTH and coordinator of the Inter-American Initiative. Almost half of the population in Latin America lives below the poverty line, added Kliksberg, and this poverty is not only statistics, but also represents an "ethically inadmissible suffering" that demands a greater participation of civil society to be eliminated.

At the inaugural session, the General Secretary of Government of Chile, Minister Francisco Vidal, welcomed the delegations from 34 countries and emphasized the interest of Chilean President Ricardo Lagos' administration in fostering volunteer activities. Chile has given priority in promoting volunteerism and the government already launched an innovative project with the IDB by creating four regional volunteerism centers.

The renowned French philosopher Edgar Morin made a presentation on the ethical challenges of globalization. He highlighted what he called "an ethical gap in development" and called for urgent measures to "rescue solidarity".

In a special message, IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias welcomed the efforts being made to tackle "the pending ethical agenda of this continent, which is so full of potential". IDB Secretary Carlos Ferdinand outlined the significance of volunteerism and solidarity in efforts to promote development in the region.

The conference included a special youth meeting organized by the Inter-American Initiative and the IDB Youth Program, which attracted hundreds of leaders of youth volunteer organizations in the region. During the meeting, volunteerism experiences were shared and debated in different panels and several organizations displayed the results of their work and made new contacts in an exhibition fair.

Several projects were identified by the participants in the meetings for governments and the IDB to help strengthen volunteerism activities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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