Fundacion CALI – Regional meeting report
Costa Rica, August 15th -17th 2010
Hotel Intercontinental
Executive Director: Carmen Irene Alas
Submitted: August 15th, 2010

The Central America Leadership Initiative (CALI) second regional meeting was held July 15 - 17 at the Intercontinental Hotel in San José, Costa Rica. Trustees of the Aspen Institute, Partners (formerly referred to as Founders) of the initiative in Central America, CALI Fellows and special invited guests attended the gathering which provided an opportunity for the Fellows from all six countries and all five classes to meet each other and for others to learn about CALI.

The event opened with a lovely dinner hosted by CALI Partner Jaime Montealegre and his wife Margarita at their home. The evening featured special invited guest David Rubenstein, co founder of the Carlyle Group, who was interviewed by Don Jaime on his trajectory, philanthropy, and the global economy. The evening event also included the graduation of the fourth class of CALI Fellows who joined the group from the Los Sueños Hotel on the beaches of Costa Rica, where they held their final seminar.

CALI IV Fellow Juan Sebastian Chamorro (NIC) gave a speech on behalf of the class, during which he characterized the CALI experience as "a journey from darkness to light, from a position of comfort to one of facing the reality of life and the regions problems." He concluded by saying that CALI had been a wake-up call to action.

During the graduation ceremony a candle was lit in honor of CALI IV Fellow and friend, Ian Merriam, who passed away in a tragic accident just prior to the class’ last seminar. The class thanked CALI for giving them the opportunity to meet this spectacular human being. "His memory will be a constant inspiration to us all," said Juan Sebastian.

In conclusion, the graduating Fellows made a public oath reiterating the values and principles they strengthened during CALI such as humility, transparency and committed to being an example of integrity and responsible behavior.

On the morning of the 16th, honored guest, Mrs. Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica, participated in a discussion on "The Challenges of a New Generation of Politicians and the Role of the Private Sector," Mrs. Chinchilla laid out what she sees as the main challenges facing Central America: lack of social cohesion, institutional weakness, organized crime and the war against drug trafficking, and highlighted the need for leaders who will take action on these issues. The discussion was moderated by Harry Strachan, a business man and founding partner of the Central American initiative as well as a CALI moderator.

Then the group divided into four groups of 20 for mini Aspen style seminars which consisted of expertly moderated discussions on four specially selected poems: "Love After Love" by Derek Walcott, "Throw Yourself like Seed" by Miguel de Unamuno, "What I Have Learned So Far" by Mary Oliver and "Anthem" by Leonard Cohen.

Results on study on “The Road Traveled and Future Projections” for CALI

Over lunch Mirei de Heras, founding Director of CALI, presented the results of a study on “The Road Traveled and Future Projections” for CALI. The analysis was carried out on a survey answered by 52 fellows from among the first four CALI classes. One of the key findings was that the fellows' projects should focus mainly on social issues, especially related to poverty, inequality, education and governance, followed by economic issues. These results demonstrate not only the interests and passions of the Fellows, but it also responds to the reality of Central America, where poverty is widespread and government institutions are weak.

Group discussions

Participants then broke into groups to engage in group discussions on: how to increase the probability of Fellow’s projects success, whether the projects should be seen as a platform to enable the CALI network and whether these projects focused on addressing the most pressing issues in Central America. Here are some of the outcomes of those sessions:

Suggestions on How to increase the probability of project success:

• Projects should be designed in such a way that they can be replicated in other countries, particularly to address the most urgent problems of the region.
• Look into whether there is project overlap or competition before approving new projects.
• CALI should work hand in hand with INCAE to create training seminars that would help fellows to carry out successful projects, including courses on project management and seminars on the reality of Central America’s challenges.
• Approve new projects based on the experience of what has worked in the past and have graduated CALI fellows with successful projects assist new members
• Group Fellows by country and by project focus.
• Ensure projects should have a measurable impact and that the CALI website provides more information on the projects.

Suggestions on whether projects should be used as a platform to take action through the CALI network:

• There was a unanimous agreement that Fellows of the CALI network should strengthen certain projects and take advantage of existing economies of scale when replicating projects throughout the region
• CALI Fellows should develop a platform where best practices and successful projects are promoted and experiences shared in order to increase the impact of CALI in the region.

Suggestions on projects addressing the most pressing issues in Central America:

It was agreed that the projects should tackle the region’s key problems and that the regional meetings provided an opportunity to do this.

• CALI should facilitate networking opportunities among Fellows so that projects go from being isolated efforts to strong and consolidated initiatives organized around particular areas of action.
• Unite efforts in the areas where most work is needed in the region and consequently have a greater impact.

Other suggestions:

Another valid suggestion made during this discussion is that The CALI Foundation should regularly keep stakeholders informed on what is going on with CALI.

Project Consultancies

In the afternoon, project consultancies were held using the Young Presidents Organization’s methodology allowing one Fellow to present a project challenge and get specific moderated feedback from peers. The Fellows who presented project challenges were Ricardo Terán for Agora Partnerships (NIC), Salvador Biguria for (GUA), Diego de Sola for (ES) and Carmen Irene Alas for (ES).

Panel discussion on "Using our business platform to create social Welfare"

Later that same day Peter Reiling, Chairman of the Central American Leadership Initiative and Executive Vice President at the Aspen Institute, moderated a panel discussion titled "Using our business platform to create social welfare," featuring Fellows Sylvia Gereda (GUA), Luis Javier Castro (CR), and Alfredo Lacayo (NIC).

Alfredo Lacayo explained how through his company, CENTROLAC, in Nicaragua, he has helped small dairy farmers by helping them improve the quality and quantity of their production and which has resulted in the doubling of their income.

Sylvia Gereda spoke about her project Switch, a weekly insert in the newspaper she directs created for and by young people. The magazine doesn’t only allow teenagers to participate in the creation of its content; it is also a platform to give a voice to youth and to promote exemplary young leaders throughout Guatemala.

Luis Javier Prado shared his experience grouping together over 80 private enterprises in Costa Rica to promote Corporate Social Responsibility and to work for concrete actions to improve education. He stated that his main challenge is to achieve social cohesion through public-private partnerships.

They all agreed that it was not always easy for them to integrate their leadership project into their business, but they emphasized that once implemented, their projects had various unintended positive consequences which resulted in the eventual approval by their companies.

Lastly each of the three fellows explained what CALI meant to them. Alfredo said that CALI had taken him out of his comfort zone and that he was now a better person for it. “CALI pushed me into a pool full of alligators and forced me to swim very hard, fight for my life and come out unscathed”. Sylvia stated that “CALI is the hope for the region” and that it is the best thing that ever happened to her. Luis Javier on his part admitted that CALI was a “very humbling experience” for him and that he was very grateful to be a part of it.

Recognition to Mirei de Heras for her work as CALI CEO

At the end of the forum Peter Reiling recognized Mirei Heras for her leadership as Executive Director of CALI since 2006 after graduating as a member of the inaugural class. Under her direction CALI was transformed into a strong and professional operation and marked the beginning of five new classes of CALI Fellows who are currently very involved in making a difference in their communities, countries and regions.

Peter also formally presented Carmen Irene Alas, CALI II Fellow and Executive Director of Estrategia & Negocios magazine, as the new Executive Director of the Central American Leadership Initiative bringing extensive regional experience and a first hand commitment to CALI to the position.

Saturday morning kicked off with a breakfast for fellows and founders to share ideas on how to strengthen CALI in their respective nations.

Working groups on ethics, governance and finance

The participants then divided into working groups to discuss issues regarding ethics, governance and finance. The results were as follows:

Ethics

• The appropriate selection of new fellows is key in avoiding future problems and that Fellows in each country should participate in the nomination and pre-selection of future Fellows.
• CALI should have a Code of Conduct, which could include expulsion of a Fellow that breached this code or CALI’s principles he or she did not rectify.
• The ethics group undertook to submit a preliminary code of conduct to the Board for its approval within 45 days.

Governance

• After five years, they agreed the time is ripe to think about how to better organize the network into an instrument for influencing the development of the region and reinforce individual or countrywide efforts. It must address questions such as where are we headed?, what do we want to achieve as a group? What strategies do we need to achieve our vision and goals?
• They also brought up that fellows should be grouped at moments around the focus of their projects and not necessarily by country and by class and that some activities should be organized by the fellows themselves.

Finance

• To increase donations CALI must create an information packet, or Media Kit, that presents specific outcomes and the impact that CALI has had on its fellows as well as the impact fellows have created through their projects.
• They agreed on promoting a culture of contribution and repayment among fellows towards the Initiative, also CALI should promote internal donations and the creation of a formally established finance committee.
• To reduce costs the use of technology was recommended; some interviews could be conducted online, and personal interviews should be carried out only for those who had gone through a first filter.
• The group also suggested that fellows could share rooms during seminars to reduce costs and that there be a penalty fee for those who do not complete the course.

"Founders report" by Stanley Motta

During the closing ceremony CALI Board Member and champion Stanley Motta, gave the "Founder’s report” noting that CALI is reaching critical mass with more than 100 fellows, and declaring the CALI IV graduation and the regional meeting a success.

He noted that "Founders" has been used to refer to major donors, but in the future they will be called "Partners" and each country will have a coordinating partner to support fundraising. In Panama it will be Stanley Motta, in Costa Rica Harry Strachan and Jaime Montealegre; in El Salvador Ricardo Sagrera and in Guatemala Juan Luis Bosch. In addition, they will help finance countries like Honduras and Nicaragua where fund-raising has been a greater challenge.

Mr. Motta emphasized how pleased the partners are with the donations Fellows have made noting that "their contributions make it possible for other young leaders to have the same experience they had."

In addition, he reported that one Fellow will be assigned to coordinate CALI events in each country and should organize at least three yearly gathering for Fellows, Partners and investors, as well as a yearly dinner for Fellows and their spouses.

He also suggested meetings be held annually after the class graduation.

He concluded by agreeing with the findings in the group sessions that "We need to start encouraging regional and national projects and start grouping them around specific challenges, at the same time as promoting individual initiatives."

Closing session by Peter Reiling

Peter Reiling, closed the session with a summary and encouraged Fellows to use the technologies made available for the network to become more tight-knit and informed such as the Google Earth Fellow Finder and the AGLN Online Directory. “In Central America we have reached a critical mass of approximately 11 fellows and will continue to grow”, he said.

He encouraged everyone to attend the biennial gathering of the Aspen Global Leadership Network (AGLN) Act II which will be held July 7 - 10th in Aspen. He concluded by reminding the Fellows that "This is your initiative."