Friday, August 1, 2014

LatAm Minute: Juan Carlos Zapata on Guatemala's Private Sector Potential

By Luisa Leme

The executive director of Fundesa makes the case for why Guatemala's private sector should have a role in social inclusion efforts.

As Guatemala faces a range of challenges on development and security, the country's private sector is getting involved to tackle long-standing barriers to growth. Fundesa's Executive Director Juan Carlos Zapata spoke with AS/COA Online's Luisa Leme about the role the private sector can play to enhance social inclusion and strengthen institutions. In 2009, <a href="http://www.fundesa.org.gt/" target="_blank">Fundesa</a>—a non-profit focused on development—created <a href="http://www.mejoremosguate.org/cms/" target="_blank">Mejoremos Guate</a>, a project which aims to reduce the poverty rate from 50 percent to 35 percent. The end goal is for 2021, when the country celebrates 200 years of independence. Partnering with Harvard University to analyze the main constraints on economic growth, the organization found that social inclusion is crucial to improve the economy. For Zapata, tackling social issues allows the private sector to "focus on increasing investment and generating more opportunities in Guatemala.” He added: “We have to increase education, reduce insecurity, and strengthen institutions towards transparency.” <table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="7" style="width: 275px;"> <tbody> <tr> <td> On August 14, Zapata will speak at AS/COA’s Guatemala conference. <a href="http://www.as-coa.org/events/2014-latin-american-cities-conferences-guatemala-city">See the agenda and speaker list.</a> <a href="http://www.as-coa.org/events/2014-latin-american-cities-conferences-guatemala-city"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/GuatemalaLAC_0.jpg" style="width: 247px; height: 201px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid; margin: 5px 7px; float: left;" /></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> Mejoremos Guate focuses on creating more employment, boosting investment in education and health, and strengthening security and rule of law.  For example, the <a href="http://www.fundesa.org.gt/cms/content/files/MG_-_Monitoreo_AxN_210514_final.pdf" target="_blank">1,000 Days Window program</a> seeks to guarantee health and nutrition services for children in their first 1,000 days of life, or up to two years old. The project also has a security program, which partnered with international consultants to train local police and install a <a href="http://www.mejoremosguate.org/cms/en/what-are-we-doing/alertos" target="_blank">video surveillance system</a> in urban areas to prevent crime. On <a href="http://www.mejoremosguate.org/cms/en/what-are-we-doing/juntos-por-la-educacion" target="_blank">education</a>, the group has established three goals: ensure students are in the classroom at least 180 days a year, improve teacher training, and increase student performance. Another initiative, <a href="http://www.mejoremosguate.org/cms/en/what-are-we-doing/guatemala-visible" target="_blank">Guatemala Visible</a>, seeks public sector transparency by publishing information about elections and government appointments online and calling for a strengthened judicial system. When it comes to the economy, Zapata notes recent improvements. In 2013, Guatemala’s GDP grew 3.7 percent and saw a record amount of foreign direct investment. Plus, the country improved 14 positions on the <a href="http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/guatemala" target="_blank">World Bank's Doing Business Index</a>. According to Zapata, these achievements—as well as a reduction in the homicide rate—come as results of this partnership between the public and private sectors. But challenges remain. "One of the areas that we have been working on is how to reduce conflict activity towards large investments in rural areas," says Zapata. "We are working on our issues in the long term, but in the short term we have to generate the opportunities and infrastructure, competitiveness, [and] productivity that can focus on reducing poverty," he explained.

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LatAm Minute: Juan Carlos Zapata on Guatemala's Private Sector Potential

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