Author: Jose Menacho, P.Eng. A geopark is a physical space where landscapes with outstanding geological heritage are used to support sustainable development through conservation, education, and study. There are currently 213 UNESCO geoparks in the world within 48 countries of which 13 are in Latin America. The geopark in Roboré, would be the first in …
Author: Uros Popadic, M.A.
Youth entrepreneurship is a vehicle for enhancing the employability and social mobility of young people, also allowing for social transformation. Latin America (LA) youth encounter many challenges that hinder their development and access to grow start-ups to mature firms. Reasons include a lack of quality education in practical entrepreneurship, mentorship and a mismatch between formal education and the skills demanded by supply chain managers and banks. Most markets for young entrepreneurs are informal, characterized by low wages, precarious conditions, and a lack of social protection. The absence of decent opportunities and limited prospects for economic growth perpetuate the cycle of poverty, exclusion and thus many must work in the ‘gray market’.
Youth entrepreneurs who start new enterprises are trying to create jobs for themselves and their families. However, lack of experience, mentorship and resources mean that a high percentage of these efforts fail during the first few months of operation. To reduce the failure rate of youth enterprises, the public, and private sectors are increasing their efforts to support young people by providing training, technical assistance, and small financial credits. To support these efforts, the InterAmerican Development Bank has carried out various studies to gain a better understanding of youth entrepreneurship, but more is needed by other private NGO’s.
Successful youth entrepreneurs do not only contribute to a more prosperous society, but to a more peaceful one. Economic opportunities are an important component of a successful ecosystem in society which can prevent the outbreak of violent civic conflict and proactively foster greater justice within the communities, greater overall economic progress, and better stewardship of the natural environment. In short successful young entrepreneurs are key to sustainable development.
The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, states that Entrepreneurship, especially by youth, is critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goals related to decent work and economic growth and can also catalyze progress toward the twin goals of prosperity and peace. A generation of young people without the hope of a stable life is a burden for all Latin American countries both in the short and long term.
Attempts to solve the problem
To help alleviate this difficult problem several private organizations, like PAX’s Amazon Basin Academy and Nouveau Economia, are supporting youth entrepreneurship. The openness of a mixed market economy is also vital for youth entrepreneurship as it offers young people an open path into starting a business in a fair environment. In Latin America today, the public’s loss of confidence in authoritarian populists gives free-market democrats a chance to prove that economic and political freedom represent the only path to prosperity. However, government policymakers also must address the barriers to equitable growth, including less corruption and bureaucracy.
Innovation and education are fundamental building blocks of economic empowerment, wealth creation, and social mobility. Latin America has fallen far behind on these two important and interconnected fronts. To address these, educators and policymakers must encourage students to remain in school, increase the quality of practical entrepreneurial education, and foster private-sector economic growth opportunities.
Youth entrepreneurship programs for LA have focused on aspects linked to capacity building, entrepreneurial culture, and financing for young entrepreneurs, including training and apprenticeship schemes as well as mentorship and advisory services. Most of the interventions targeted socio-economically disadvantaged individuals to make the greatest impact and give opportunities to those who need them the most. Empirical assessment showed that most of these programs had a positive impact on the labor market. Further steps that can be taken are to allow easier access to financing and to increase the allowance for risk, to support business mentoring programs and connection to business networks, and to reduce bureaucratic barriers for the creation of new businesses.
Another positive trend is the practice of “nearshoring”, a different take on offshoring, and Latin America has seen a surge in youth entrepreneurship opportunities in the sector of Information and Communication Technology. Major companies from North America have become very interested in using the human resources of young and talented people from L.A. while being cost effective and keeping their business within the same time zones, as the region boasts a pool of experienced youth entrepreneurs who are more than eager for this opportunity.
The best suggested solution is to encourage technical and professional schools to join with private sector organizations, NGOs, the business sector, and government to develop programs to support young entrepreneurs with insights into opportunities, mentorship, and start-up capital to accomplish their goals of building their local economies and lives. And at the same time increase social inclusion and greater stewardship of the natural environment.
Author: Rafael J. Williamson, MBA, Panama
Humanity’s appetite for energy dates to prehistoric times, from the sun, the burning of solid fuels (wood, crop waste, or charcoal) then with the Industrial Revolution came the staggering rise of coal, oil, natural gas, then nuclear, and now renewable energies like solar, geothermal and wind. Whether sustainable or not, every source of energy meets a real human need. However, not everyone on the planet, inhabited by more than 8 billion people, enjoys the same level of energy supply to meet their basic needs. Many people suffer from ENERGY POVERTY, the experience of households and communities that struggle with meeting their basic energy needs and are negatively affected by very low supply and of affordable, reliable, safe, and sustainable energy.
Energy moves the universe and extends to all activities of modern society. Energy is never a product for final consumption but rather an intermediate product to satisfy other needs in the production of goods and services and our everyday domestic lives. Therefore, energy is essential for social and economic development. The greater these developments the greater the demand for clean efficient energy. Hence, the degree of development achieved by a society is directly and proportionally related to the availability and use of efficient energy. However, access to economically viable sources varies from country to country.
With a growing world population, we can expect greater demand on energy supply as these people will be eager to satisfy their needs and to improve their quality of life. The lack of sustainable energy services will impact their health, and standard of life and may continue as a source of conflict. The wrong supply of fossil fuels will also affect the planet as there is a strong link between sustainable economic and social development, climate change and social vulnerability.
To realize their great potential, emerging and developing economies (EMDEs) must undertake effective investment in education, infrastructure, and technology. That is perhaps the great dilemma of modern society: ensuring access to affordable, safe, sustainable, and modern energy for all, which the UN preached in their Sustainable Development Goal number seven. Regarding affordability, the World Bank (5,2023) suggests a six-step cycle. The cycle starts with government leadership, which is translated to a supportive regulatory and policy environment, increasingly capable institutions, and instruments to minimize risks, followed by transparent and competitive project allocation, which can deliver clean energy that serves immediate imperatives, including energy security, energy affordability, and jobs. But affordability is useless without a reliable supply of energy, emphasizing that currently, around 20% of the world’s population remains without electricity and an even larger proportion suffer persistent power outages.
Thus, there is much to do to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and clean energy. This begins with open and honest communications and collaborations among all stakeholders.
Author: Dr. Laurence Hewick
The sovereign states of the Americas comprise of 36 countries. For this profile they have been divided into 4 groups comprising of 3 in North America, 13 in the Caribbean, 7 in Central America and 12 in South America. These then have been profiled by population, literacy level with world ranking, the GDP per capita (an indirect measure of average income), the unemployment level and inflation percent based on 2022 data. Most economists agree the last three economic indicators give a good look at where the economies are today and perhaps a look at where they are headed soon.
In looking ahead at global economic growth, the following growth projections, by the International Monetary Fund, for global regions may also help us compare the future direction for the Americas. For 2023-24 things do not look great for the USA and slightly better for Latin America and the Caribbean which will outperform perform the Euro Area but nowhere like the Middle East, Emerging Asian countries nor the Sub-Saharan African countries.
Some highlights in 2022 data (below) from the Americas show us that the largest population is in the USA with about 340 million people and Antiqua the smallest with about 100,000. The highest literacy rate goes to Cuba at 99.7% and the lowest to Haiti at 60.6%. The USA have the highest average income at about $62,800 per year while Haiti has the lowest at $1,200. The highest unemployment was in the Bahamas at 18% and the lowest was in Cuba with 1.4%.
When it comes to inflation rate the highest was in Venezuela at 200.9%, followed closely by Cuba at 200.1% and the lowest was in Bolivia at 1.7%. Relatively speaking the Americas held up well during 2022 given global unrest and as employment recovered from the pandemic.
