I-Lab Blog

Bolivia and Chile: textiles with local identity

Training process for textiles that have local identity, in Chile and Bolivia:

Taller de artesanías con identidad local – La Paz, Bolivia

Taller de artesanías con identidad local – Arica, Chile

Taller de Generación de Modelos de Negocio en Arica

The first results of the inclusion business project (BID-Ingenia-T)

The second intervention phase of the project “Development of an e-commerce platform trade fair for handicrafts made by indigenous women with disabilities in northern Chile and the city of La Paz, Bolivia” already has the first results. This is the installation of technical skills in more than 15 disabled women living in the city of La Paz, which have been trained to perform balanced fiber woven fabrics Llama Premium quality folding looms.

This process took 40 hours of practical training was conducted among 13 to May 17, 2013, for outstanding Aymara weaver Gladys Huanca White, responsible for encouraging and developing skills for the production of textiles with international standards based on the development prototypes of scarves, shawls and pieceras.

Also, it is reported that during the days 22 to 27 May this year be held with project beneficiaries Arica-Chile, the same training workshop, which will enhance the production of textiles with local identity, allowing to work together in the city of La Paz, the production system implementation, quality control and business analysis of the first tissues developed by the project beneficiaries.

This training process will be supplemented in the months of June and July 2013 with training in female entrepreneurship, business model development, marketing and business management association, in order to install capacities to promote micro-entrepreneurship in the high Andean .

Moreover, at the end of May there will be the brand image of the project, the development of the first set photo of tissues and pre-design of the website of the initiative. In this sense, it is expected in late June, consolidating these activities with the total development of the website, which includes an e-commerce system for online sales of craft products.

Finally, the implementation process to date has made it possible to refine the business model, structure and direct the production system model of sustainability, which moves in the international arena with the formalization of two cooperation agreements between Ingenia-T, SEDEGES-Bolivia and the World CBR program inclusive of the city of La Paz. Nationally, Ingenia-T submitted a draft to capital complementarity SERCOTEC seed company, in order to enhance the business model and the creation of an innovative packaging system for fabrics made under the inclusion business (BID-Ingenia-T).

CANALES launches a second National Short Story in ASL Competition!

CANALES, the civil association that developed the I-LAB project “Virtual Videobooks in Argentinian Sign Language (ASL)” to improve the education of deaf children, has launched its second National Short Story Competition in Argentinian Sign Language. Participants can send videos is from April 1st, to May 31st, 2013.

For more information check out this video in ASL about the contest.

Beginning the project of developing an e-commerce platform of fair trade handicrafts made ​​by indigenous women in disability in northern Chile and the city of La Paz – Bolivia.

From April 1, 2013 is performing an innovative project based business including the development of a collaborative marketing platform for selling crafts cultural identity led to the fair trade market.

The initiative implemented by the center ingenia-T of Chile and financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is to innovate in the product development chain and crafts trading mechanism with local identity, in northern Chile and the city of La Paz, Bolivia. As technological tool, e-commerce platform aims to bring greater market accessibility to indigenous women in disability, promote the production of textiles with international standards and promote micro-entrepreneurship in the area.

Additionally, the initiative promotes empowerment and inclusion of indigenous women in disability, looking for it, a series of training activities in crafts with local identity, training workshops women entrepreneurship, innovation textile business administration with a focus on disability and associative marketing of handicrafts made from South American camelid fibers.

Transversely, the project includes commercial structuring a fund for the development of prototyping, design, packaging, marketing and commercialization of products, which will be offered through a web page that incorporates a system of e-commerce for the distribution of crafts.

The business inclusion initiative supported by the IDB, has let the date to launch a joint venture between ingenia-T and Andean Fibers Chile company, in order to develop support mechanisms for the distribution of local identity crafts in the U.S. market. At the same time, have held meetings to plan the first training in the city of Arica and La Paz, Bolivia, among which stand out, meetings with Telethon Foundation, National Disability Service (Region of Arica and Parinacota), Municipal Office disability support from the city of Arica, Bolivia FUNDES and drive attention to the disabled person to the Government of La Paz, Bolivia.

Also, the initiative has worked interventions displayed in small craft shops initiatives driven care unit disabled person of the Governor of La Paz through SEDEGES, which enhances a linkage system, articulated aiming project strategic intervention areas.

Under this scope, the training process will be conducted by certified professionals and manages specialized of ingenia-T, and Chilean and foreign technical assistants hired by the project, will take place between the months of May, June and July 2013, benefiting approximately 40 indigenous women in disability, strengthening social inclusion and participation of the beneficiaries in the marketing process-driven collaborative project.

In the month of April, ingenia-T manages advances in the development of the project business model, the hiring company specializing in the development of e-commerce platform and planning training activities, which will be released soon in Blog of the I-Lab

IDB press release is out!

IDB awards prizes to social innovation projects for inclusion of persons with disabilities

Proposals from Chile, Colombia and Ecuador selected through crowdsourcing and expert evaluations

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) today announced the winners of three competitions organized by its Innovation Lab (I-LAB) for social innovation projects designed to promote the economic inclusion of persons with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The selected projects’ sponsors took part in a competition open to public and private organizations and individuals from the IDB’s borrowing member countries. After a round of public online voting, the most popular proposals were evaluated by a panel of experts. In total, 160 projects were submitted.

Centro INGENIA-T of Chile won the competition for business inclusion projects with a proposal to develop a fair trade e-commerce platform to market artisanal products made by indigenous women with disabilities in northern Chile and La Paz, Bolivia.

INGENIA-T, which will receive financial aid to carry out the project, will also establish a business fund to support the design, packaging and marketing of the artisanal products.

The competition for inclusive finance projects, supported by the IDB’s beyondBanking program and the Multilateral Investment Fund, was financed by the Italian Cooperation. This competition was won by an Ecuadorian microfinance institution, Banco D-Miro, with a proposal to develop microcredit and microsavings products tailored to the needs of people with disabilities.

The competition for disruptive ideas, which sought foster debate on how to overcome barriers to the inclusion of people with disabilities, was won by Jorge Enrique Leal Rodriguez, a Colombian systems engineer who created an online program to translate from Spanish into Colombian sign language.

Leal Rodriguez aims to expand his online translator’s body of words with translation into sign language to 7,000 concepts from 1,300 concepts at present. He also wants to turn it into a two-way tool, capable of translating from Spanish into Colombian sign language and viceversa.

Leal Rodriguez, who heads HETAH, a foundation dedicated to the development of humanitarian technological tools, hopes to replicate this project for sign languages used in other countries.

About the I-LAB

In the IDB’s view, innovation is crucial for increasing productivity and fostering inclusive growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Bank established its Innovation Lab as a platform to share ideas, identify problems and find creative solutions to development problems. Through the I-LAB’s networks, problems can become high-impact innovations.

About the IDB

The Inter-American Development Bank is a leading source of multilateral financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB’s Competitiveness and Innovation Division promotes the creation and growth of dynamic enterprises, strengthening their capabilities and tools to innovate and compete in world markets.

“Inclusive Finance”: Winning proposal

In September 2012 the I-LAB opened a call titled, “Competition I-LAB: Inclusive Finance“, in order to support public and private financial institutions in the development and implementation of innovative solutions for the inclusion of people with disabilities, not only as employees but also as customers.

The call, “Inclusive Finance”, was financed by the Italian Cooperation Fund and prepared by the Competitiveness and Innovation Division, with the support of the Financial Markets Division’s program beyondBanking and the Multilateral Investment Fund. In this initiative, each participant had the opportunity to present their innovation, describe their project and receive public votes in the I-LAB interactive platform. The twenty most voted proposals passed on to the next stage, in which a panel of experts evaluated them based on their degree of innovation, potential of impact, and possible scaling and replicability.

The winning proposal of this competition is “Development of a microcredit and a programmed multipurpose microsavings product called BELIEVE ” of D-Miro Bank of Ecuador. This proposal aims to develop the product “BELIEVE”, which is a credit for people with disabilities. Moreover, people with disabilities will be able to explore their entrepreneurial capacities through microfinance tools and training that will facilitate their access to financial services.

Banco D-Miro S.A. is an institution that provides microfinance services in order to promote the development of vulnerable sectors of the Ecuatorian coast. More about Banco D-Miro here: http://www.d-miro.com/portal/

“Inclusion in Firms”: Winning proposal

The I-LAB Team would like to announce that the winning proposal is  “Desarrollo de una Plataforma e-commerce de comercio justo para productos artesanales elaborados por mujeres indígenas discapacitadas del Norte de Chile y la ciudad de la La Paz – Bolivia.”

The project consists in the development of an e-commerce platform for the merchandizing and distribution of artisan crafts, manufactured by indigenous women with disabilities from the North of Chile and from La Paz, Bolivia. This initiative includes a series of activities that allow both the economic and the social inclusion of indigenous women with disabilities.

The entity that presented the proposal and that will co-finance the project, Ingenia-T, is a private center that supports and coordinates projects of territorial innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurship in the Region of Arica and Parinacota.

More about Ingenia-T here: Ingenia-T Sociedad Centro de Gestión Competitiva e Innovación Territorial de Chile Ltda