This session examines the role of the public sector as a key actor in scaling social and environmental solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean. It will address intersectoral coordination frameworks, enabling public policies, and mechanisms for collaboration with other actors in the impact ecosystem.

This session will focus on the challenges posed by climate change and its cross-cutting impact on the economic, social, cultural, and environmental dimensions of the region. Through a conversation with experienced leaders in sustainability, science, and public policy, the session will examine the interconnection between these spheres and the urgency of generating positive impact through integrated approaches that address both social and environmental challenges.

Health is at the heart of sustainable development, yet it still faces major gaps in access, quality, and funding — especially in the Global South. This session will explore how various actors across the capital continuum — from philanthropy to impact investing to commercial capital — can mobilize resources and generate innovative health solutions. Concrete experiences will be shared, including multisector partnerships, emerging technologies, and business models aimed at transforming access to and the quality of healthcare services. Panelists will reflect on key challenges, collaboration opportunities, and the most effective financial mechanisms to achieve sustainable impact.

This session proposes a reflection on innovation as a necessary condition for asking better questions and seeking new answers to complex challenges. Drawing from diverse institutional experiences, it will explore strategies to address fundamental issues such as health, education, and disability, using systemic, collaborative, and sustainable approaches focused on impact.

This session invites a rethinking of value chains from a transformative perspective to address challenges such as structural violence against working women, exclusion of social suppliers, the climate crisis, or the new global regulatory context. Participating organizations will share experiences that challenge the status quo and propose alternatives based on collaboration, regeneration, and strategic innovation. This space aims to make visible the learnings, tensions, and potential pathways toward more just and resilient value chains. A space for uncomfortable dialogue, collective learning, and aligning business practices with the values of equity, sustainability, and shared responsibility demanded by today’s context.

From the legal and philanthropic perspective of Mattos Filho in Brazil, through direct support to enterprises from the Miller Center, to the hybrid financing tools proposed by Unboxed, this conversation will explore how to redesign alliances between civil society, investment, and philanthropy. Real cases, structural tensions, and lessons on what works—and what doesn’t—will be explored to catalyze fairer and more effective impact ecosystems. A space to collectively reflect on how to unlock the productive and transformative potential of communities through radical collaboration.

This session proposes rethinking education as a platform for collective transformation. Drawing on diverse experiences, it will explore strategies to reduce gender gaps in STEM, prevent dropout in rural contexts, and strengthen educational leadership through collaborative networks. It will also examine how human-centered design can be applied to complex challenges such as sexual and reproductive education, promoting empathetic, inclusive, and context-sensitive solutions. A space to exchange learnings, challenge the status quo, and co-create new pathways toward a more equitable, relevant, and sustainable education in Latin America.

This session proposes a collaborative conversation on how to mobilize purpose-driven capital to simultaneously address the challenges of the climate crisis, structural inequality, and biodiversity loss in Latin America. From the experience of the Climate Justice Innovation Lab in Brazil to regenerative blue economy models in Colombia, participating organizations will share insights on how to build innovative financial instruments that place communities at the center.

In Latin America, most businesses are microenterprises, and a significant part of the economy is sustained by informality. Yet these key actors often remain off the radar of public policies, institutional financing, and strategic frameworks for economic development. This session brings together organizations that are not merely implementing aid programs but are testing replicable, collaborative, and transformative models capable of changing structural dynamics like informal employment, promoting productive inclusion, and strengthening the business base. From the social investment model aligned with the tequila industry led by Fundemex, to the income-generation and formalization approach led by Fundamental and its partners, and the scaling strategies of business best practices promoted by Fundación Coppel, this conversation will offer real-world experiences of collective impact.

This moment calls for innovation, creativity and conscious leadership. What if we funded like the future depended on it? Participants step into an imagined future where Philanthropy 4.0 has succeeded. This means that we now live in a world of abundance, where funding ecosystems, collective care, and distributed power are the norm. Grounded in real regional challenges (such as regenerative food systems or Amazonian climate resilience) participants will use that future lens to look back and explore: – What had to shift in our thinking and practice? – What new funding models and behaviors emerged? – How can we begin building that future now? The session will invite participants to move from treating symptoms to transforming systems identifying how to channel capital and collaboration toward root causes, not just outputs. Through guided social imagination exercises, role-based dialogue, and collaborative backcasting, participants will leave with concrete ideas, principles, and prototype practices they can apply in their funding strategies. More than inspiration, the session offers a practical path toward funding differently.

In this workshop, Roots of Impact, SDC, Impact Entrepreneurs, and capital providers will dive into Latin American examples of providing Impact-Linked Finance to high-impact enterprises. The objective is to share and discuss the many learnings of applying real-life Impact-Linked Finance ranging from the launch of SIINC (Social Impact Incentives) in Mexico in 2016, to impact-linked emergency loans during the pandemic across LATAM, to recent applications of innovative solutions in Colombia. Impact-linked finance was “invented” and implemented for first time in Latin America and it has been replicated globally gaining increasing traction ever since. The innovative financing practice of linking financial rewards for impact enterprises to the achievement of positive social outcomes is being adopted by an increasing number of actors. Evidence shows that Impact-Linked Finance (ILF) can be an effective means for unlocking the impact potential of enterprises, funds, and financial institutions while steering enterprises towards achieving positive outcomes that would otherwise not have been achieved. Participants of the workshop will discuss the potential application of Impact-Linked Finance based on practical past examples while considering particular contexts, financial vehicles, and investment strategies. We aim to share and discuss more than 8 years of insights and learnings so participants can directly implement Impact-Linked Finance in their sectors. Also, new innovations waiting to be implemented in Latin America will be presented.

Explore how major players in the financial sector are evolving toward more sustainable and inclusive models, highlighting the strategies, partnerships, and innovative mechanisms that are driving systemic change in the region.

This session brings together initiatives that are redesigning how climate action is financed, integrating blended finance, nature-based solutions, and cross-sector alliances. From impact funds to multilateral programs, strategies will be explored to mobilize public, private, and philanthropic capital in a coordinated way, with emphasis on local impact and environmental regeneration. The dialogue will center on the need for more flexible, integrative, and strategic financial instruments.

Sustainable economic development in Latin America requires much more than access to finance or economic growth: it demands the transformation of structural conditions that perpetuate poverty, financial exclusion, informality, and gender inequality, especially in rural, Indigenous, and Afro-descendant contexts. This session will bring together initiatives that address these challenges systemically from the territory, integrating key components such as: access to land, housing, and education; sustainable value chains (such as coffee production); financial inclusion from a gender perspective; and training for economic autonomy. From Colombian coffee fields to rural communities in Central America, cases and insights will be shared to show how the most transformative solutions arise when resources, local knowledge, and collective will are connected. The conversation seeks to identify alignment points between existing models, common challenges, and possible routes to scale comprehensive approaches that truly address the realities of the most vulnerable communities

The so-called “missing middle” remains a critical gap in Latin America: thousands of businesses that have moved beyond microcredit but still lack access to the financing they need to grow, scale their impact, and create sustainable jobs. Many of these enterprises are located in rural or peripheral areas, operate collectively or informally, and face structural barriers — such as lack of collateral, high operational costs, or investment models that do not fit their reality. This session brings together experiences that are challenging these limitations through catalytic financial mechanisms, innovative partnerships with banks and local institutions, and new co-investment models that prioritize inclusion and the redistribution of access.

This session builds on the philanthropy sector needs assessment conducted by The Partnering Initiative (TPI) in collaboration with WINGS and Philea. Our research found that while many foundations recognise the importance of systems change and cross-sector collaboration, structural and operational barriers often prevent them from engaging effectively. These challenges include rigid funding models that constrain long-term investment, as well as limited institutional capacity for managing and developing partnerships. During the session, we will explore practical strategies to overcome these obstacles and foster more impactful collaborations. We will also showcase a case study of a foundation successfully engaged in transformative partnership work, offering participants real-world inspiration and actionable insights.

This session will present the findings of a study conducted by Latimpacto and Argidius on the state of bioeconomy in Colombia. It will highlight progress in mapping key actors, regulatory frameworks, good practices, and challenges for the sector’s development, along with a case study illustrating the potential of bioeconomy as a sustainable development strategy. The discussion aims to offer practical insights to strengthen this emerging field through an intersectoral lens.

The Inspiring Talks are spaces designed to share knowledge, methodologies, and lessons learned from real-life experiences related to Education, Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Bioeconomy. Through brief and reflective contributions, the aim is to strengthen the ecosystem by exchanging lessons learned, identifying synergies, and fostering meaningful connections among diverse actors.

The Inspiring Talks are spaces designed to share knowledge, methodologies, and lessons learned from real-life experiences related to Inclusive Economic Development. Through brief and reflective contributions, the aim is to strengthen the ecosystem by exchanging lessons learned, identifying synergies, and fostering meaningful connections among diverse actors.

Currently, our field suffers from a cacophony of concepts – impact investing, blended finance, venture philanthropy (all imported from the global north) – that aim at describing the tools or frameworks for using capital for public good. In part this happens because we are afraid to discuss the moral imperative behind our intentions to change the world through capital allocation, we are afraid to bring the uniqueness of Latin America to the discussion – the perfect balance between the rational and the emotional. We want to address this unique opportunity by talking about what is or should be the personality, the values or the DNA of the capital that we are allocating towards positive social or environmental impact.

The blue economy is essential for Latin America and the Caribbean, given its marine biodiversity and coastal communities vulnerable to climate change and pollution. The blue economy project in Barú Island becomes a replicable model for other regions facing similar challenges.

This session brings together key stakeholders involved in the design, financing, and implementation of Pay-for-Results (P4R) mechanisms, with direct experience across multiple sectors and countries in Latin America. From the perspectives of philanthropy, international cooperation, and technical partners, the session will explore common barriers to scaling these mechanisms, lessons learned in health, employment, and social integration, and the potential of P4R as a driver of public efficiency and strategic alignment. A space to discuss how to consolidate an ecosystem that rewards proven impact, not just intent.

This session will present initiatives such as the REIN Hubs, which support environmental ventures from ideation to acceleration, and the proposal of an Innovation Hubs Network for the Amazon, as a commitment to a regenerative economy from and for the territory. Both experiences demonstrate that when science, entrepreneurship, and purpose-driven investment are connected through networks, real opportunities are unlocked for a nature-based economy.

In Latin America, where deep social and economic gaps persist, capital alone does not transform realities: enabling regulatory frameworks, strategic partnerships, and collaborative approaches are needed to generate real impact. This session brings together three key perspectives that demonstrate how to unlock that potential.

Latin America faces deeply rooted structural inequalities. Property concentration, the exclusion of workers and communities from economic benefits, and the lack of enabling legal frameworks all limit the transformations the region needs. This session proposes going beyond surface-level reforms and questioning the foundations of how economic value is created, distributed, and governed. We will explore how alternative ownership models — such as shared ownership, distributed governance, or purpose-driven trusts — can become concrete strategies to redistribute economic power and advance toward a more equitable economy. The session will also examine the key role of regulation and impact advocacy in enabling innovative financial instruments and legal structures that can make large-scale transformation possible.

In this workshop, we will explore new ways to strengthen and enhance this methodology through collaboration and strategic partnerships. Using the concrete cases from Necoclí, we will analyze the challenges and opportunities of implementing innovative solutions in complex contexts. Through participatory exercises, attendees will design strategies to turn the platform into an effective engine for change, connecting key stakeholders and generating sustainable impact in communities. This space is designed for those who want to turn ideas into concrete actions, strengthen networked work, and align around a common purpose in their daily practice—using social innovation as a tool to achieve real development. Because to innovate is not only to imagine change, it is to build it together.

In this session, three leading families from the region will share how they have structured their impact strategy within their family offices and, above all, how the new generations have taken on a leading role in the design, implementation, and evolution of these strategies—showcasing real, diverse, and replicable models that can inspire other families to walk this path with intention and purpose.

The Multistakeholder Partnerships Workshop on Climate and Biodiversity uses a strategic board and decks of cards —featuring actors, good practices, concrete actions, and financing mechanisms— to help each participant identify, from their role, how they can contribute to a climate solution through the four stages involved in building a concrete partnership.