Latin American mayors submit ideas to win US$9 million

Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced that 290 cities across Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have submitted ideas for the 2016 Mayors Challenge to go in the running to win prizes totalling US$9 million.

A spokesperson told Cities Today that this year’s competition received the highest application rate (31 percent) in the history of the challenge which aims to support innovative solutions that address a wide range of urban challenges. This is the first time a LAC version of the challenge is being held following two previous editions in Europe and the US.

“Cities in Latin America and the Caribbean have a history of innovation within the public sector, and the tremendous interest in this year’s Mayors Challenge reinforces the region’s continued appetite for civic improvement,” said Jim Anderson, Head of Government Innovation at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Seven in ten ideas aim to address a social or economic challenge, while the remaining 30 percent focus on improving government effectiveness and efficiency.

Similar to proposals submitted in Europe and the US, the ideas submitted by LAC cities placed a strong emphasis on engaging citizens and initiatives to improve government efficiency. A significant number of cities developed ideas to promote the inclusion of vulnerable populations, to create sustainability initiatives and address issues like waste management and climate change, and to facilitate economic growth.

Common themes in the applications included:

• Leveraging technology and citizen engagement to improve government performance
• An emphasis on public education initiatives, citizen participation and digital solutions to prepare for and address natural disasters
• An interest in entrepreneurship and digital learning to improve education
• Promoting the inclusion of new or vulnerable populations through job creation, better use of 
public spaces and technology
• Improving public health through wide-ranging citizen engagement strategies

“We are excited to work with these cities to refine their ideas and help shape bold solutions for the most pressing issues they’ve identified, from addressing social or economic challenges to improving government effectiveness and efficiency,” added Anderson.

The 20 finalist cities will be announced in June, and representatives from every finalist city will convene in July for a two-day ‘Ideas Camp’ to refine their ideas and prepare them for final submission. The five winning cities will be announced in December, whereby one city will receive a grand prize of US$5 million and four cities will receive US$1 million each.