The Summit, inaugurated by the Prince of Asturias, has brought together over 200 public, private, and non-profit organizations leaders from the world over in order to explore innovations in the community service system as a solution to meet the challenges presented by unemployment and economic development.

During the event, issues debated included citizen participation, the proportion of social responsibility between organizations, community service success models, and the commitment of future generations, among other topics. The various speakers presented innovative solutions for community service to take on issues such as unemployment among the young or in various sectors of the economy.

Antoni Ballabriga, BBVA Responsibility and Corporate Reputation director, participated in the debate ‘Corporate Community Service Cases’, together with representatives from Iberdrola, Coca Cola, Alcoa, Abertis, Ferrovial, and Repsol.

BBVA Corporate Community Service

In 2011, 4,328 BBVA Group employees undertook community service activities and contributed in addition some €1.3 millon to social works.

In Spain, the main community service projects in 2011 were the financial education program «Valores de Futuro» (Values for the Future), the Fourth BBVA Solidarity Race, computer courses and environmental reforestation initiatives such as the Proyecto Ardilla (Squirrel Project).

Other notable activities linked to BBVA corporate community service are «Niños Adelante» (Children Forward) in South America and Mexico; and the financial education programs «Get smart about credit» and «Teach children to save» in the United States.

Team. Works. In Schools is a marvelous initiative for BBVA Compass. It reiterates our commitment to education and affords our employees the opportunity to participate in projects whose results are immediately measurable: the reaction of the students when they see their ‘new school’ is the best indicator”, explains Reymundo Ocañas, BBVA Compass Responsibility and Corporate Reputation director.

This year, this program will include projects in Houston, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Birmingham, and Denver. In addition ‘Team. Works. On Tour’ is back, a roadshow directed to all fans of the best basketball, in which they will be able to participate in and enjoy, in a family environment, a set of sports activities related to this game. This edition will feature larger basketball courts, including one for adults as well as one for smaller ones.

Fans and employees

Sheiludis Moyett, Brand and Publicity director for BBVA Compass, explained that ‘Team. Works. On Tour’ aims to attract all NBA followers so that they participate in a fun program for the family. “In addition,” she adds, “being able to bring this experience to the various markets, increasingly contributes to the recognition of our brand.”

The collaboration of BBVA Compass with the NBA started with the ‘Stars Weekend’ celebrated in Orlando (Florida). The game ‘BBVA Rising Stars Challenge’, which pits first and second year players in the NBA against each other, reached record audience numbers, with 2.8 millones spectators.

The new basketball season again is again set to be fascinating for BBVA Compass, which is working to improve life in the communities where it is present and offering to both employees and NBA fans a chance to take part in an exciting experience. This action plan will culminate in 2013, with the “Stars Weekend” will be held in Houston next year.

During 2011, Avila held the title of “European Access City”, which was awarded by the European Commission. Being the first city bestowed with this title has not only entailed renewed local commitment to this area, but we also wanted it to be used as a window to show society in general that guaranteeing equal opportunities is a task for all.

This task, which became a challenge, was easier to deal with due to the collaboration of various players that believed in it and were committed to it in order to carry it out.

We firstly had to find a target to aim at, and thinking about the multiplier effect that involves any activity aimed at younger children, we thought that pupils in primary 3, 4, 5 and 6 in all schools in the city would be our object of action.

However, in order to carry out an awareness campaign on accessibility and equal opportunity, it was necessary to involve those who experience this lack of equality first hand. With the participation of the associative movement organized by the City Council on Disability, the values ​​of equality and self-improvement were to be conveyed through personal experiences.

Ambition, in such a significant year for the city of Avila, went further, and after awareness talks, we wanted to feel the sensations that the children had captured. To this end, a drawing contest for primary 3 and 4 pupils was shown and stories, for primary 5 and 6 pupils. Contests that would not have been possible without the invaluable commitment that BBVA and BBVA Seguros made to this project.

Many drawings and stories were entered into the contest. A difficult task for a jury that had to choose the 20 best pieces of work, and after much deliberation they chose those that were to be finally included in a book. A book that may be the beginning of a great vocation, but especially, as reflected in the stories and drawings, that difference is enriching and to which we can all contribute so that everyone is guaranteed equal opportunities.

I am sure this experience will endure in the memory of these children, both the awareness talks and the Gala in which prizes were awarded by people with different disabilities, as well as their drawings and stories will endure, with their morals, in this beautiful publication.  But what I am most sure of is that they will never look at anyone differently in spite of their disabilities and they will enforce and respect the rights of all people.

So I would like to use this occasion to provide the opportunity for all readers to enjoy and be enriched by the drawings and stories included in the publication.

And thank those who have made it possible for this awareness campaign to have been carried out with a multiplier effect, BBVA and BBVA Seguros for collaborating in this activity, the schools and teachers for hosting it, the City Council for Persons with Disabilities for giving the talks, the council and BBVA and BBVA Seguros specialists for their coordinated work, members of the jury for their hard work and the children for their interest, attention, curiosity and showing us that equality is possible through their eyes.

THANKS to all.

Noelia Cuenca Galán, Council member for Accesibility from the city of Avila

The institution has just presented its Corporate Responsibility report for 2011, a document in which its executive president, Pedro Rodríguez Serrano, reiterates that management in this area has been governed by a vision to promote “social progress, education as a key to the future, and corporate responsibility as a commitment to development, by integrating it into the business strategy and with an ethical orientation based on transparency and equity”.

The president of the entity has highlighted that investment in people and technology has been constant on the part of BBVA Provincial, as an investment for the future with a view to transforming the country’s financial industry and progress opportunities, with improvements in terms of human resources and services, in digital channels, and in the use of social networks. This has resulted in an improvement of management capabilities and the business model of the Bank, characterized by prudent management, foresight, and a long-term vision.

Reviewed by the Deloitte firm and offering conclusions on actions of the institution that have benefitted Venezuelan society and its various interest groups, the document highlights that, at the close of 2011, BBVA Provincial had made the aforementioned investment, including social programs for the community as well as voluntary benefits in addition to those that are contractual and legal for its nearly 5,400 employees with a view to improving their quality of life.

This document is available for consultation in digital format here.

The Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) (Organization of Iberoamerican States)  has unveiled Luces para aprender (Lights to Learn), a project aimed at improving education in Latin America supported by BBVA, which intends to supply more than 60,000 schools with power and the opportunity to connect to the Internet. The event, held at the OEI headquarters in Madrid, was attended by Álvaro Marchesi, the OEI Secretary General, and Conchita Martínez, as ambassador of the project.

The initiative was conceived to help achieve the organization’s Education Goals for 2021: education that the bicentennial generation deserves. The aim is to tackle outstanding challenges such as how to provide high-quality public education that generates to better opportunities for children, giving them the chance to overcome poverty and inequality.

Furthermore, Luces para aprender aims to help bridge the digital divide and put an end to the isolation of rural communities, which tend to be left behind by technological advances, by providing them with access to communications technologies.

The initiative is based on the understanding that electricity is essential to providing the basic conditions required for teaching and for the use of IT and communications technology. In today’s information society, disconnection can lead to marginalization and inequality.

Powering up rural schools by using renewable energy

Considered one of the world’s most inequitable regions, more than 60,000 schools in Latin America lack an electricity supply. The majority of these schools are located in rural, underprivileged and inaccessible areas. Plans to extend electricity supplies to such areas face enormous difficulties in terms of high installation, supply and distribution costs.

In this context, using renewable energies, particularly photovoltaic power, to supply electricity to schools is an option that has restricted costs, generates power directly on-site and is environmentally friendly.

The project aims is to convert schools into hubs for community involvement and assembly. The schools’ facilities might be used for cultural activities, literacy campaigns, internet based training and leisure activities.

Under this initiative, the OEI will set up and support contact between schools in Latin America, encouraging the twinning of schools with rural counterparts that have no power supply, thus raising awareness of the educational predicament faced by the region and helping to provide a means of cooperation and solidarity between schools.

The OEI will make also a collective film to document the situation faced by schools with no power supplies and the mobilization triggered by the initiative. The film is to be directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes and will be made using footage recorded by children and young people, as well as the wider Latin American society.

In 2012 the OEI will install pilot solar panels at 100 schools at least in each country involved in the Luces para aprender initiative, with the first being installed at the indigenous Itajeguaca School in Paraguay. The aim is to provide solar panels to the more than 60,000 schools that lack a power supply by 2014.

The system will cost close to 4,200 euro per school, meaning a total cost of 260 million euro. The EOI hopes to fund the initiative via deals with education authorities in each country and with the support of international bodies, private business, educational institutions and private donations.

Further information click here. / Luces para aprender on Twitter: @LucesparaAprend

The commitment was to identify the most inspiring projects and reward them with a contribution of €800 in the form of ‘seed capital’. In addition, monitoring of and advice on the Ashoka and BBVA social entrepreneurs network was offered. This support is intended to help implement selected projects, and in cases where projects are already up and running, the financial contribution will be used to support their stability.

The deadline for entering projects into the competition was March 1 and 360 entries were received. The proposals were reviewed by a team of more than 15 people who chose 50 finalists. These were evaluated in turn by a panel of experts, which highlighted 20 of them according to criteria relating to impact, sustainability, consistency, specificity of action and budget plans.

The main themes that the projects address are environmental protection and awareness, community services, disability, education, and cultural expression and identity. Mexico was the country with the largest number of entries in the competition and with the most projects that managed to get through to the final phase.

The selected projects are the following:

• Argentina ‘Educación en Acción‘ (Education in Action). Providing access to education with it being understood as a life project
• Argentina ‘Cremas de hierbas Patagónicas‘ (Patagonian herbal creams). Growing, developing and producing handmade creams with herbs from the area
• Chile ‘RECIKLA2‘. Providing work to mothers who are the heads of the household in collecting industrial waste materials (cardboard, cans, glass)
• Chile ‘Programa Recreos‘ (Recreation program). Promoting environmental awareness through environmental education during recreational activities, through theater and ecological puppets
• Colombia ‘Porque el sueño es posible‘ (Because the dream is possible). Not everyone has the resources, but we all have dreams; a pre-university student to the people to make dreams come true
• Colombia ‘Voz ciudadana‘ (Voice of the citizens). Young people talking about and showing our sector
• Colombia ‘Eco-emprendiendo Oportunidades‘ (Eco-entrepreneurship opportunities). Through entrepreneurship trash is converted into works of art
• Spain ‘Participando que es gerundio‘ (Participating is the gerund). Workshop/studio to promote youth participation in the city of Barcelona in order to comply with Children’s Rights
• Spain ‘ConCiencia Crítica‘ (Critical Awareness). To make society aware, participate actively and demand changes to improve the problems that occur at the university and harm society and the environment
• Mexico ‘HICA‘: Vegetable patches, Comprehensive, Community, Self-sustaining. Urban vegetable patches seeking food self-sufficiency of vulnerable communities within the city of Oaxaca, such as homeless shelters and nursing homes
• Mexico ‘Fomento de la Cultura‘ (Promotion of Culture). The project seeks to promote Tzeltal Maya culture through bilingual music, that is, in Spanish and Tzeltal language, in addition to craft making, with the aim of providing young people with a learning space and developing their skills so they do not have to leave town in search of something to do outside where they sometimes suffer from abuse
• Mexico ‘Cero límites‘ (Zero limits). Generating greater economic and social opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities and their families through creating and handling confectionary
• Mexico ‘Producción de gas metano con desechos de sanitarios escolares‘ (Methane gas production from school sanitary waste products). Reusing organic waste and stopping gas from being emitted into the atmosphere
• Panama ‘Cultura Prity‘ (Prity Culture). Awareness and action plan for garbage collection that will develop the community
• Paraguay ‘Eres importante‘ (You are important). Contributing to social change by integrating people with disabilities as well as breaking down barriers for them
• Peru ‘Proyecto W‘ (Project W). Youths training youths to become complete citizens, with an assertive and confident personality
• Peru ‘Nosotros por AIDENICA‘ (Us all for AIDENICA). Providing opportunities for youths in the AIDENICA Home who are finishing school so they can support themselves
• Portugal ‘Lois la Bombar‘. Fostering generational interaction through the creation of a percussion group during the weekends
• Venezuela ‘Red de prevención del consumo de drogas y de la delincuencia a través de la planificación de un “proyecto de vida” dirigido por jóvenes para jóvenes‘ (Network of drug consumption and crime prevention through planning a “life project” run by youths for youths)
• Venezuela ‘Sembremos El Agua‘ (Planting Water). Purifying water through nurseries with plants with the capability to do so

The members of the panel of experts who reviewed the projects were:

-Andrés Álvarez, director of Human Capital and Entrepreneurship at Vertical (Chile)

-Antonella Broglia, ambassador of Ashoka Spain

-Armando Laborde, director of Ashoka Mexico and Central America and co-coordinator of Ashoka Latin America

-Daniel Buriticá, President of the Colombian Youth Network RECOJO

-Merche García, Social Entrepreneur of Ashoka Spain and director of Esplai de la Florida

-Lidia del Pozo, director of Community Involvement, Events and Institutional Sponsorships at BBVA Group

-María Erquiaga, supervisor for Community Involvement at BBVA Group

-Rodrigo Villar, president of New Ventures Mexico

-Simón Menéndez, Leading Changemaker Spain, founder and CEO of Hechos

-Tania Esparza Oteo Sánchez Belmont, director of ‘Iniciativa México’ (Mexico Initiative)

More Information click here.

About Jóvenes Changemakers (Young Changemakers)

Jóvenes Changemakers is a global program run by Ashoka that promotes social entrepreneurship in youths, inspiring and empowering young people between 14 and 22 who want to start their own initiatives to improve their community. The outlook of Ashoka and Young Changemakers is that “We can all change the world”, i.e. all members of a society can encourage changes in our community that result in social improvements.

Jóvenes Changemakers offers young people the tools, support and advice necessary to develop plans, implement ideas and ultimately contribute to changing society.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Francisco González, Chairman and COO of BBVA, and Javier Solana, Chairman of the Fundación Aspen Institute España. The first seminar, ‘From Facebook to Body Scanners: The Future of Privacy and Technology in the Age of Google’, was moderated by Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law at George Washington University and column writer at The New Republic. Clive Crook, senior editor of The Atlantic and column writer at Bloomberg, was in charge of moderating the second seminar, “Capitalism at a Crossroads”.

The ‘Socrates Seminars’, created by The Aspen Institute in the United States, bring together young people between 28 and 45 years old, from different countries and sectors of civil society, in order to reflect on current affairs via an expert-led debate. Based on the Socratic method, these seminars allow participants to examine current, pressing issues in more detail and reflect on them from the point of view of responsible leadership. The debate pivots around contemporary texts and is led by moderators who involve and encourage the participants.

More than 2,200 BBVA employees in Spain took part in the two week Mercadillo Solidario, with more than 8,300 items being bought in the five categories: Home, Travel, Electronics, Books And Miscellaneous.

The three community projects that will benefit from the money raised are:

• Labor insertion projects for young people at risk of social exclusion, run by  Fundación ADSIS. This foundation provides comprehensive support to persons and groups in situations of poverty, particularly young people. The foundation operates in various Spanish cities.

• Community food center and vocational training courses for women at risk of exclusion in Barcelona, run by Fundación Ared. Fundación Ared works toward social and labor integration for persons at risk of exclusion, mostly women from penitentiary and social services institutions.

• Social assistance to 200 low-income families via Asociación de Caridad San Vicente de Paúl. This association, based in Santiago de Compostela, provides social assistance to low-income families, to help cover their basic needs (food, clothing and other requirements).

At BBVA Innovation we are studying the possibilities that the already existing information offers to help us in obtaining a city model with new opportunities for the citizens and the institutions, and in creating new value services. We believe that the intelligent use and combination of the information that the city accumulates can open new doors to its understanding. And this understanding will enable better decision making, both at an individual and collective level. It should capacitate us to improve efficiency, but it also will help us discover new, previously unknown insights about these centers of population that concentrate most of the economic, creative and innovative activity. To this end, we have started by asking the city questions such as the citizens’ mobility habits, when and why are they loyal to a neighborhood or whether there are more tourists in this or that other area.

In order to pose these questions we use anonymized and aggregated information about card payment transactions, combined in several ways with other public data sources such as photographs shared on the internet or activity in social media.

With these studies, we aim at proving the value that is stored in all this data, and we want to do this from the standpoint of the citizens and the city they inhabit. Services that have a positive impact on the living conditions of those living in the urban landscape are the ones that deserve more our efforts. We believe that the value that is generated for the citizen will yield in turn a positive value for all the stakeholders in the city. Our first results start to give us valuable knowledge for the city that can, for example, help improve businesses placement policies, the understanding of a quarter and its dynamics, the creation of urban guides based on reality, based on what the people that live in them do as a whole and not just on what some of them think, etc. A local city council may review its urban planning and infrastructure management policies in light of data that shows the real usage and the real economic activity that develops in the urban territory. And we can measure the real effect that a festival or a world congress has on the city, looking at the variation in consumption patterns, influx of tourists, urban services usage, etc. All of these uses may directly mean a better, more rational use of public resources, a higher survival rate for businesses and entrepreneurs, higher job creation rates and even a new way of experiencing the daily urban life.

All this information speaks to us directly about what is going on in the streets, in the businesses, in the restaurants, in the life that surrounds us. It turns on the lights for us to see for the first time with our own eyes, without the need for the generalizations that we had so far accepted as an approximation to reality. Some visual examples of this new way of understanding the city may be downloaded from this link.

We believe that the answers to the questions that we are starting to ask to the city will enable the improvement of its quality of life, its efficiency and its sustainability. We are now at a historic moment when we can make decisions based on facts, not guesses. We just have to listen to what the city has to say.

Elena Alfaro-Martínez/ Marcelo Soria-Rodríguez, BBVA Innovation

This project is for the construction of social care centers for the victims of the 12 January 2010 earthquake, which caused serious harm to the population of Haiti.

The centers, built with the approval of state and private institutions in the country, are the following: ‘Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos’ professional training school; ‘Mensajeros de Paz’ school and medical dispensary; Mission Haiti orphanage; ‘Unidos por Ellos’ Fond Des Blac clinic; and the ‘Petit Boucan’ orphanage.

The BBVA Bancomer Foundation decided to provide help in the days following the earthquake with the sending of 2,800 packages containing 28 tons of food and opening an account for the receipt of economic assistance from the public. The money raised together with a grant from the BBVA Bancomer Foundation added up to over 9 million pesos that were added to the contributions from state and private institutions that participate in ‘Alianza México por Haití’.

“Good Citizen”

Ignacio Deschamps pointed out during the ceremony, held on 12 April in Port-au-Prince, that the entity is celebrating its 80th Anniversary with a steady record of “good citizenship”, which includes a clear strategy in its Social Responsibility programs, giving priority to the sending of humanitarian aid in natural disasters cases. “Our devotion to solidarity, which is always on the agenda for Mexicans, leads us now to provide help to those who most need it in Haiti,” he explained.

Upon invitation by BBVA and BBVA Bancomer, the Mensajeros de la Paz association joined the project as operator of the Integral Care Center built in the Haitian capital, focused on education and health for children who are victims of the earthquake. It will boast a full-time school for 300 kindergarten and primary children. It also includes a dining room to serve 300 meals a day, as well as a dorm for 120 orphaned children and two training classrooms, in addition to a medical dispensary to serve 3,500 people.

During the event, the guests, led by Felipe Calderón, visited the educational center before they attended the symbolic inauguration act for all the works projects, including this center in Port-au-Prince and the rest of the project’s works.

BBVA Group with Haiti

This BBVA Bancomer Foundation initiative is in addition to those launched by the BBVA Group after the earthquake that devastated Haiti. Thanks to the participation of customers, non-customers and employees, nearly €7 million was collected for the emergency in Haiti, to which the bank added €1 million more. The funds raised in this campaign are making it possible for the Red Cross to rebuild two schools – the Guerín National School and the Anacaona secondary school, the two of which will directly help 3,009 students and indirectly help 152,536 people.

In addition, through social networks and initiatives such as Facebook Places, the Group has contributed to the creation of a community of 18,559 people who want to continue to help the Haitian society. The challenge being in the sustainability of the assistance, the Bank has recently launched BBVA SUMA, a digital platform for emergency donations and solidarity causes, taking advantage of our payments processing experience.