Webinar with the winning projects of the IV Good Practice Award.

On May 7, within the framework of the V Local Economic Development Forum that was to take place in Córdoba, the award ceremony was scheduled to be presented to the winners of the IV Award for Good Regional Practices, which we jointly convened by UNDP and ORU Fogar. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony, scheduled at the Legislative Palace of the Argentine province, declined as the Forum had to be suspended. Thus, last Friday, June 12, a webinar was organized to present and publicize the winning projects: “SuperA Peru. Promotion of the Certified Export of Super Foods Quinoa and Chestnut "from the Mancomunidad de los Andes (Peru); "Basque social protection model" of the Basque Government and "Child and adolescent friendly markets" of the Department of Santa Cruz (Bolivia).

Beyond presenting the project to promote the cultivation and commercialization of quinoa and chestnuts, Maciste Diaz, Governor of Huancavelica and President of the Mancomunidad de los Andes, expressed his desire to become the first organic region in Latin America. Therefore, it manifested the will to promote pure and exclusively natural food production methods, that is, restricting the use of chemical additives or any other substance that contains synthetic materials, such as pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizers. 

Beatriz Artolazabal, regional minister of the Department of Employment and Social Policies of the Basque Government, was the one who presented "The Basque Social Protection Model", a project that has the merit of having implemented the universal basic income that has recently been deployed throughout Spain. The Basque counselor said she felt "on the virtual red carpet, very happy to receive this award." She stressed that the Basque social protection model has passed the COVID19 stress test with a note, a fact that she said “encourages us to continue moving towards a more inclusive and just society.

Lidia Mayser Hurtado, head of the work area in the department of Santa Cruz (Bolivia), explained the characteristics of a project which, with the collaboration of the International Labor Organization, aims not only to combat child labor , but also aspires to the education of all the children of the department, of the work carried out in the markets. She noted that the webinar was precisely the international day against child labor. "To sum up what the project" Friendly markets for children and adolescents "is - said the representative of the government of Santa Cruz - it can be said that it works so that the rights of girls and boys are not raped. "

The ORU Fogar and UNDP Prize for good regional practices aims to promote and encourage the exchange of good practices implemented by regional governments to improve the quality of services offered to citizens. It is aimed at regions, provinces and federal states that wish to make a decisive contribution, both locally and internationally, to improving the delivery of services to all citizens and to achieving the objectives of sustainable development. (ODD). The projects rewarded in all the calls constitute the Bank of regional good practices, hosted on the ORU Fogar website.

The webinar was opened by Johannes Krasnitzer, coordinator of UNDP Art, and was closed by ORU Fogar President Abdessamad Sekkal.