Impact Platforms / LAC Leads
Impact Platform · Since 2026
LAC Leads.
Latin American and Caribbean governments and civil society shaping the next generation of international cooperation, rather than adapting to a system designed elsewhere.
Why it matters.
LAC Leads (LAC Lidera in Spanish) resources Latin American and Caribbean governments and civil society to shape the next generation of international cooperation. GCI leads it with Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá. Together we launched it on 1–2 October 2026, with an opening keynote by former President Juan Manuel Santos and GCI Executive Director Jonathan Glennie.
Why Latin America and the Caribbean. The region already leads. Social policies pioneered in the region have been studied and adapted worldwide, and Colombia's kangaroo mother care, developed in Bogotá, is used around the world. Barbados and other Caribbean islands have led on climate finance. From the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 to Colombia's role in launching the Sustainable Development Goals, the region has shaped the global agenda.
The Latin American paradox. The region shares languages, cultures, histories and families that cross borders, yet political divisions have repeatedly stopped it exercising the collective influence it should have. LAC Leads works across divides, on the common ground that exists: human dignity, interdependence, a shared scientific understanding of the threats to the planet, and responsibility to future generations.
What it delivers.
Narratives
Framing cooperation as shared investment in public goods and resilience, tied to domestic priorities.
Policy options
Across five questions from GCI's report for UN DESA - purpose, beneficiaries, financing, governance and effectiveness - including financing structural and green transformation.
Alliances
Across Latin America and the Caribbean and with Africa and Asia, ready for international financial architecture reform, UN renewal, the future of ODA and climate negotiations.
Phasing.
- 2027A core group of partners engaged; cooperation systems and priorities mapped; narratives tested; first regional dialogues; the priorities agreed at Rosario taken forward.
- 2028–29Concrete proposals on financing, governance, cooperation models and effectiveness; governments supported to apply them in regional and global processes; cross-regional alliances built.
Publications and blog posts.
Nothing here yet.