Page 43 - Demo

T h e R o l e o f C i v i l S o c i e t yDue to the corruption, inefficiency and mismanagement of resources of all the government levels (local, regional and national)inEcuador and other Latin American and other developing countries, the role of civil society is extremely important. After theearthquake in 2016, the response from the public institutions -with remarkable exceptions as emergency response actors suchas firefighters, police, and militaries- the rest of it was very ineffective and slow. Even today, four years after that this naturaldisaster affected Ecuador's economy, infrastructure, social cohesion and where many lives vanished, the situation in manysmall towns, rural areas and deprived zones of big cities is still looking bad. The infrastructure that had to be re-built has stillnot been done (hospitals, roads, residential neighborhoods, commercial infrastructure, schools, and other public equipment).Therefore, the role of individuals must be encouraged and supported by the public sector, in coordination with other actorsfrom civil society, which are co-responsible for improving the livelihoods of the most needed ones, because the governmentactors cannot handle so many tasks.CAEMBA has been acting now for four years in Esmeraldas and Manab%u00ed. The focus is not anymore on a response to theemergency of the earthquake but to find sustainable and holistic solutions to problems such as precarious housing, unhealthyenvironments to live in, unemployment and the lack of capacities to solve extreme poverty, and so on. This is why not only theproject CAEMBA from Fundaci%u00f3n Ra%u00edz, but other foundations and associations that have projects that tackle environmental,health, economical and social problems have to strengthen their capacities and structures in order to widen their targets andimpact positively to more people in developing countries.When social inequality reduces, the inhabitants and private and public investments of those areas receive the benefits insafety, economicgrowth, employment rate, and social cohesion. That is why we are keen to replicate this initiative in other deprived areas of theworld, wherevulnerable populations need our help.We invite the international community to donate to Fundaci%u00f3n Ra%u00edz, in order to expand our work and impact even morevulnerable communities.I A M . M A G A Z I N E - C A E M B AI AM. MAGAZINE - 43Volunteers and community childrenFor more information visit:Ra%u00edz Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.For donations click here:https://www.raiz-usa.org/donate/www.fundacionraizec.org www.caemba.com