Friday, October 28, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Latin American Decade

Founded by Mexican philanthropist Daniel Chavez Moran, the nonprofit Vidanta Foundation and its affiliated institutions of higher learning focus on the promotion of Latin American studies, and the analysis of Latin American international relations and strategies for a positive integration of the region in the global economy. Daniel Chavez Moran came across these insights on the Latin American decade ahead from Alberto Ramos of Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm:

  • This definitely could be the Latin American decade—if policy-makers seize the opportunity to adopt longstanding structural reforms geared to increase productivity, diversify the economic base, and boost real GDP growth. 

  • Second-generation reforms that could help unlock the growth potential in Latin American economies include reforms in education, labor markets, and trade, but also institutional reforms aimed at increasing the efficiency of the public sector and at attracting domestic and foreign investment. 

  • Brazil has emerged as an important power in the region and has in recent years attracted significant portfolio and direct investment flows. But the large capital inflows added pressure on the exchange rate, which has reduced the overall competitiveness of Brazil's non-commodity exporters. 

  • China's emergence as a global economic and financial powerhouse and major consumer of commodities has admittedly levered the economic performance of Latin America. At the same time, China is now a formidable competitor in the export of manufacturing goods, particularly for Mexico. 

  • Since Latin America is commodity rich (given its large endowment of natural resources), it experiences a significant positive "wealth shock" when commodity prices rise. The macro resilience accumulated in recent years has better prepared the region to withstand negative price shocks, and so a downward correction of commodity prices should not in itself trigger disruptive macroeconomic dynamics. 

Related posts: Daniel Chavez Moran on partnering for progress and Daniel Chavez Moran on Mexico’s global economy.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran on Uniting for Education

”Daniel
Mexican philanthropist Daniel Chavez Moran understands education is one of the keys to freeing people from the bondage of poverty throughout the Americas. His founding of the nonprofit Vidanta Foundation, and his founding of the Fundación Delia Moran A.C., in honor of his mother, a gifted school teacher, are testaments to that belief. Chavez Moran applauds efforts in the United States to improve education for the more than 11 million Hispanic students in America’s public elementary and secondary schools as noted in this Washington Post article:


“President Obama has appointed Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll — the Colombian singer better known around the world as Shakira — to a presidential commission on education for Hispanics... 
“Shakira was recently named the 2011 Latin Recording Academy person of the year. Here’s the biography of her on the White House release: 
She founded the Barefoot Foundation in 1995, which operates schools and educational projects in Colombia, South Africa, and Haiti, feeding and educating approximately 6,000 children. In 2010, she collaborated with the World Bank and the Barefoot Foundation to establish an initiative that distributes educational and developmental programs for children across Latin America. In 2008, Ms. Mebarak Ripoll served as the Honorary Chair of the Global Campaign for Education’s Global Action Week. In 2005, she became a founding member of Latin America in Solidarity Action, a coalition of artists and business leaders seeking to promote integrated early childhood public policies. Ms. Mebarak Ripoll became a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in 2003, where she promotes the expansion and improvement of comprehensive early childhood care and education across the world.
“...The other two members to be appointed to the advisory team are Adrian Pendoza, who leads a grass-roots immigration and education reform organization, and Kent Scribner, who serves as a school superintendent in Phoenix.”

Related posts: Daniel Chavez Moran on opening doors to the future and Daniel Chavez Moran: For the children.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Welcomes Pan-American Games

Vidanta Foundation, welcomes the thousands of international competitors and visitors to the Pan-American games, hosted Oct. 14-30, 2011, in Jalisco, Mexico.
”Daniel

About some of the venue cities from the Mexican Tourism Board:

  • Guadalajara: Renowned as a state-of-the-art city and a business center, will be the main venue of the encounter which will gather 42 countries and over 5 thousand athletes. The second most populated city of the country also provides the visitors the typical mariachi, tequila and charrería (Mexican rodeo style), symbols which are representative of the city and the state in general. 

  • Tapalpa: Named as a Magic Town and located at 118 kilometers from Guadalajara, this town offers ideal natural landscapes for extreme sports. Besides, its gastronomy includes delights as the sheep “al pastor,” rompope (kind of eggnog), fruits punch and pulque. 

  • Ciudad Guzmán: Favorite place for the practice of ecotourism, will also be present in the sportive competition which will start on October 14th. The Volcano Nevado 'El Colima', which summit covers in white from December to February, as well as the Ecological Park Las Peñas and the Lagoon of Zapotlán are some of the places which allow the visitor to practice activities to the open sky. 

  • Puerto Vallarta: Forms part of the beautiful Bahía de Banderas, and is one of the beach destinations more frequently visited in Mexico thanks to its tradition, beauty and hospitality. This site will be another sub-venue of the international games.

  • Lagos de Moreno: Another municipality which will form part of the Games is Lagos de Moreno, that was honored by UNESCO in 2010 thanks to its Historical Downtown, acknowledged as a Cultural Heritage of Mankind. This municipality provides a direct encounter to the roots of the Mexican identity. 

Related posts: Daniel Chavez Moran on travel news and Daniel Chavez Moran on environmental stewardship.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Bridge to a New Energy Future

”Daniel
Daniel Chavez Moran, following a successful career as developer of five-star hotels and resorts, golf courses, vacation ownership resorts and tourism infrastructure throughout Latin America, founded the non-profit Vidanta Foundation to support public policies that strengthen democracy and promote economic and social development in Latin America.

Integration of the region in the global economy being key to that vision, Chavez Moran notes this Wall Street Journal article about a new energy future for Latin America:

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dow Jones)--Brazil's emergence as a hot frontier for oil and natural gas was boosted Wednesday by two fresh discoveries, with exploration and development of the country's newfound oil wealth likely to attract billions in investments over the next decade.

Latin America's largest country is squarely in the cross hairs of the global oil industry, with Brazil's stable democracy and robust economic growth making it especially attractive...

Brazil is betting heavily on development of its offshore fields, with former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva--the predecessor and mentor to current head of state Dilma Rousseff--saying oil could transform the country by easing the crushing poverty afflicting many of its citizens. The area known as the pre-salt, where oil was found more than 4 miles below the ocean surface, could hold between 50 billion and 100 billion barrels of oil and make Brazil the world's fourth-largest crude producer and a top-10 exporter...

The latest discovery builds on a string of high-profile finds that started in 2007, when Brazil announced the first pre-salt oil field. The Tupi field, now in pilot production after being renamed Lula, was the largest discovery in the Western Hemisphere since Mexico's Cantarell in 1976. Lula alone is estimated to hold 6.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil...

Despite the technical challenges that make pumping oil from the ocean depths expensive and complicated, the Ernst & Young Terco-Getulio Vargas study said that oil exports could reach 600,000 barrels a day by 2020 and generate $27.9 billion in revenue. That's nearly double the $16.1 billion in oil-export revenue Brazil earned in 2010.

Related posts: Daniel Chavez Moran on economic news and Daniel Chavez Moran on globalization and Latin America.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Equality in Education

”Daniel
Daniel Chavez Moran is the son of a gifted and caring school teacher. He is also the founder of Fundación Delia Moran A.C., which seeks to improve the lives of those less fortunate by providing support for poverty-stricken children ages 6 to 12 who struggle to survive each day.

Chavez Moran understands the vital role education plays in lifting people from poverty. That is why he read with interest this recent news from the United Nations on tackling the disparities in education faced by girls around the world:

3 October 2011 – With evidence showing that disparities in education widen as girls grow, the United Nations today kicked off a two-day meeting in Paris devoted to gender inequality in classroom achievement and on women’s leadership role in education. 
The forum on gender equality in education brings together experts, government officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to examine the root causes of inequality between girls’ and boys’ school performances. 
While gender equality in education remains a crucial issue for many countries, women still account for two thirds of the world’s illiterate population and the majority of out-of-school children are girls, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which organized the forum. 
“Equality is not a numbers game,” UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in her address to the meeting. 
“Equality implies the same chances of learning, of benefiting from equitable treatment within the school, and the same opportunities in terms of employment, wages and civic participation,” she added. 
...Participants at the forum will also consider the progress achieved in reducing the gender gap, and the obstacles that stand in the way of women’s ability to achieve senior leadership positions in the public sector and more specifically in education.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran on Brighter Trade Horizons

Daniel Chavez Moran on brighter trade relations.
Daniel Chavez Moran, now retired from the development of hotels and resorts, founded Grupo Vidanta in 1974 after graduating from The University of Guadalajara with a degree in Civil Engineering. He retired in 2005 to found the Vidanta Foundation, which actively promotes public policies that support economic growth, strengthening democracy, and the reduction of poverty, inequality and discrimination in Latin America.

Chavez Moran follows news of global economic development with special interest, including this recent article, “Latin America Buffered Against Global Shock, World Bank Says,” from Bloomberg news

“Latin American countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Chile have created a buffer against a global recession after raising interest rates in the past 15 months, the World Bank said in a report today...Latin America and the Caribbean is forecast to grow between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent this year, thanks to capital inflows and high commodity prices...the World Bank foresees emerging markets, including China, continuing to outgrow the developed world, with commodity prices remaining high...the emergence of China as a major trading partner for Latin America has been a driver of the region’s robust growth in the past decade, contrary to initial concerns that China ‘would outcompete and displace’ Latin America and the Caribbean... “

Friday, October 14, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran on Economic Growth in Brazil

Daniel Chavez Moran on economic growth.
Retired resort developer and philanthropist Daniel Chavez Moran encourages scholarly and civic projects supporting economic development and the growth of democracy throughout Latin America through the Vidanta Foundation, a nonprofit organization he founded in 2005.

Chavez Moran notes this recent positive economic news published by Reuters news service about growing economic opportunities in Brazil that will help increase tourism. An excerpt from that story:
(Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) will take advantage of strong economic performance in Latin America at a time when its businesses elsewhere are under pressure, a senior executive said on Wednesday...the carrier is expanding in Latin America, opening what it sees as key routes in recent months, including to Bogota and Rio de Janeiro. It has also launched an alliance with Colombian and Salvadoran tie-up AviancaTaca AVTp.CN for other routes.
"We want to develop our business in Latin America because we see that the area has been quite stable during the crisis," Lufthansa's vice president for the Americas, Jurgen Siebenrock, told Reuters during a visit to Venezuela. 
"There's a lot of growth, especially in Brazil ... we want to be part of that," he said, citing the potential offered by Brazil hosting the 2014 soccer World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran Announces 2011 Prize Winners

Philanthropist Daniel Chavez Moran proudly announces the winners of the 2011 Vidanta Foundation Prize for "Contributions to the Reduction of Poverty and Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean."

  • First place and $100,000 is awarded to Desarrollo Autogestionario, A. C. (AUGE), Mexico.
  • Second place and $75,000 is awarded to CE-Mujer, Dominican Republic.
  • Third place and $50,000 is awarded to Associação Para Valorização de Pessoas com Deficiência, (AVAPE), Brazil. 
The annual Vidanta Foundation Prize is a joint initiative by the Organization of American States (OAS), the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) and the nonprofit Vidanta Foundation, founded by Daniel Chavez Moran.

More than 200 civic organizations throughout the Americas applied for the Vidanta Foundation Prize this year. The winning submissions were selected on August 26, 2011, at Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, by an esteemed international jury including Mrs. Billie Miller (Barbados), Mr. Carmelo Angulo (Spain), Luis Maira (Chile), Esteban Moctezuma (Mexico) and Julio María Sanguinetti (Uruguay).

Also nominated as finalists were:
  •  Fundación Allegro, Argentina.
  • Fundación Instituto de la Mujer, Chile.
  • Sin Fronteras, I. A. P., Mexico.
Related posts: Daniel Chavez Moran on opening doors to the future and Daniel Chavez Moran on creating opportunities

Monday, October 3, 2011

Daniel Chavez Moran: Education in the Battle Against Poverty


As the son of a school teacher in Mexico, Daniel Chavez Moran remembers the lessons taught to him by his mother who dedicated her life to helping children combat the destructive combination of ignorance and poverty. That is why Chavez Moran created Fundación Delia Moran A.C. in 2002 in his mother’s honor to provide assistance to children ages 6 to 12 whose day-to-day life is a constant struggle.

But more needs to be done to battle poverty through education according to WorldFund.org , founded by Luanne Zurlo after a nine-year career as a securities analyst on Wall Street:
Daniel Chavez Moran on education.
 Without a high-level education, Latin American children will continue to lack the skills necessary for entering the workforce and participating in the increasingly competitive global economy.

  • 50 million people in Latin America cannot read or write.
  •  Latin Americans receive an average of six years of schooling, compared to nine-and-a-half years in the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) countries.
  • Nearly one-third of children in primary school in Latin America repeat a grade. The additional cost to the region's education systems has been estimated at $4 billion per year.
  • Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru rank behind Uganda, Zambia, Botswana and Burundi in the quality of their math and science education.
  • In Mexico, only 13 percent of adults receive a high school diploma versus 87 percent of American adults.
  • Over 50 percent of Mexican and Brazilian 15-year old youth are functionally illiterate and thus unable to compete in today's economy.

Daniel Chavez Moran salutes the work of WorldFund.org and the dedication of all of those involved in this important effort “to minimize the education gap in Latin America by investing in high-quality and outcome-driven schools and education programs that serve impoverished children.”