Latin American leaders to discuss innovation and public ecosystems at the H360 Annual Global Advisory Board Meeting

Reducing violence, innovation in the prison system, active citizenship, transparency and governance will be issues for discussion at the upcoming Humanitas360 Global Advisory Board meeting, amongst other pressing issues for Latin America.

On 15 March, under the chairmanship of former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, eminent members of Humanitas360 International Advisory Board and Humanitas360 Brazil Advisory Board will gather together in São Paulo. The day-long meeting will be providing the two organizations strategic and coordinated views on actions and priorities for the year to come.

Humanitas360 has strived to develop a comprehensive and holistic vision compared to 2017: prison reform, transparency and drug policy are now part of broader programs, namely reducing violence, citizenship and governance. We will discuss and get a better sense on how public ecosystems work. Private, public partnerships, active civil society and public administrations should build active dialogue and learn more about each other. Talking to various Advisory Board Members, we report they are looking forward to discussing innovative approaches to reducing violence, in particular the project “Entrepreneurship Behind and Beyond Bars”.

Many of our Board Members are enthusiastic about “exporting” this model throughout Latin America. We will pick-up their minds on how to do it. Innovation is also a focus for discussion around governance and transparency. We will discuss more closely how algorithms could help to map criminal networks, and how they could impact the understanding of complex issues by the general public and justice practitioners. We couldn’t avoid discussing active citizenship and how to foster it.

Humanitas360’s Americas Civic Empowerment Index reminds us of a growing citizen’s activism as well as a growing perception that such activism is bringing barely any changes. How could we move this agenda forward? The role of technology and innovation applied in coping with socio-economic challenges will be wrapping around all discussions. We will introduce our annual report that will be soon available on our website. We are approaching a key day for our organization guiding us through 2019.

By Piero Bonadeo, Humanitas360 Institute Vice-President