The Conference on Humanitarian Assistance and the Private Sector, organized by ProCórdoba's Cooperation and International Relations Department and held on Sept. 11-12, ended on a high note.
Among the participants were important national and international referents whose main goal was to position Córdoba as a hub, in South America, of companies that offer products, services and solutions procured by states or international organizations for the humanitarian sector.
This fourth edition of the Conference focused on innovation. ProCórdoba's Cooperation and International Relations Department Manager Viviana Arias explained that
Innovation encompasses more than technological advances and has to do with generating new solutions for the new problems faced by the world. We need integrated responses born from collaborative work between the public and private sectors, NGOs and the academia, to find the best solutions."
In line with this, the Conference had a panel called "Innovation and Sustainable Development," which included a presentation by Andrés Abecasis, Fundación Avina's Innovation Director and Coordinator of the Platform for Innovation with Purpose. For his part, Stefano Guagliardo, Project Manager at the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi (Italy), participated in the panel "Humanitarian Response and Innovation".
He shared his thoughts about the event and said,
In our small development center in Brindisi, we research how to improve these products and the logistical support, use green tech and recycle packaging material, for example. I can see that innovation is really growing in this region, with a lot of new startups. This is very important because we can take ideas from these small enterprises that are a perfect match for our goals.
Among presenters at the panel "From Humanitarian Assistance to Development - The Haiti Experience" were Fundación TECHO's Pablo Bocco, who talked about their experience in the country, and HomePlan (Dutch NGO)'s Marike Van Seeters. From Aid to Trade author and Bridge Capital's CEO Daniel Jean-Louis, from Haiti, also joined the event.
Other activities in the program included meetings and tours to show the programs undertaken by the Government of Córdoba and the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Daniel Jean-Louis referred to these activities and said,
Pre-incubation is very new to me - where a partnership of government, civil society and the business community take the ideas from universities and help them develop business models. And the Government would fund that... and ProCórdoba is right there, pushing this innovation into the market. I think this is the right attitude that will define the next generation of the economy."
Viviana Arias further elaborated and said,
We are constantly striving for more and more partnerships with the business community in the Province of Córdoba, where there are many young entrepreneurs incubating their projects, which truly have the potential to be scaled globally in the export market."
Furthermore, meetings were held with Pablo Peralta from Agencia Córdoba Innovar y Emprender (Córdoba Innovate and Undertake Agency); a visit was made to IncubaCor (of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Mining) and to FIDE (Foundation for Business Incubation), where visitors learned about the projects of Córdoba's Box Synergy.
Of particular significance is the fact that UNHRD's met with Jessica Braver, UN Argentina's Coordination Officer, who was in the province participating in the Government' Sustainable Development Goals event. As pointed out by Viviana Arias,
We want for all the actors in the humanitarian assistance network to know one another."
Moving on, National Under-Secretary for Disaster Risk Reduction Marcelo Rozas Garay presented the National System for Integral Risk Management (SINAGIR). In the "Migration and Humanitarian Assistance" panel, presentations were given by the Head of the Córdoba Office of the National Immigration Directorate, Diego Puente Rosa, and Ana Clara Jalul, Regional Focal Point for Response to Humanitarian Migration of the Argentine Red Cross.
Finally, companies and businesses from Córdoba had the opportunity to exhibit products and services that provide humanitarian assistance solutions. Among them was Space Sur, which is currently working for UNICEF in Africa.
