Lasting impacts that empower people and communities

The FEMSA Foundation is our social investment vehicle through which we aim to create lasting positive impacts that empower people and communities to take the reins of their own development. We work with high-level international partnerships that strengthen our impact: in 2016, for every dollar invested, we secured another US$2.39, a total of US$13.5 million in partner investments to support our projects and grantees this year.

Our investment philosophy is rooted in innovation, replicability, and scalability, with an emphasis on capacity building and community ownership to ensure sustainable impact once interventions are complete. We are currently focused on two strategic action areas:

Water

Goal: Address water challenges in Latin America and the Philippines through technology-supported informed decision-making, access to water and sanitation, and water security through watershed sustainability.

Partners: Inter-American Development Bank, Global Environment Facility, The Nature Conservancy, Millennium Water Alliance, Coca-Cola Latin America, Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Key Programs: Latin American Water Funds Partnership: initiative that provides technical and financial assistance for the creation of Water Funds, collective action mechanisms aimed at helping achieve water security by investing in natural infrastructure and governance; to date, Water Funds have leveraged over Ps 2,149 million from more than 100 local partners.

Water Links: program that empowers more than 110,000 people through access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene education in 196 rural communities of Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia.

Strategic Decisions Hub (NED, for its acronym in Spanish): tool run by the Water Center for Latin America and the Caribbean at Tecnológico de Monterrey to support the decision-making process in complex matters such as water management, integrating methodology, technology information, and a network of experts.

2016 Highlights: Hosted the 3rd Water Funds Biennial in Bogotá, Colombia, with President Juan Manuel Santos as the guest of honor, during which we built capacities, shared lessons learned, and finalized the first phase of the Partnership and launched the second, with a new approach: water security. Supported the Monterrey Water Fund in leveraging NED’s powerful simulation instruments to design the city’s Water Plan and help secure its supply for the next 50 years.

Early Childhood Development

Goal: Foster early childhood development so children, mainly those who live in adverse conditions, may reach their maximum potential; support applied scientific research on health.

Partners: Save the Children; Sesame Workshop; Food for the Hungry; Glasswing International; Healthy Ministry of Mexico; UNICEF; as well as local schools in Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Colombia; Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of Houston.

Key Programs: ¡Listos a Jugar! (Ready to play!): a multi-platform initiative to promote life-long habits among children from 0 to 6 years.

Eating as a Family: training mothers and caregivers in healthy cooking habits to empower them to promote their families’ health and well-being.

Colors Campaign: nutrition education programs for elementary and pre-school children to boost their development, together with their teachers and parents.

2016 Highlights: Organized the Early Childhood Development Symposium “Foundations for Our Future,” a dialogue space where over 200 specialists from 9 countries gathered to analyze the situation of the sector in Latin America and the Caribbean; supported the development of a device for early diabetes detection at the FEMSA Biotechnology Center, which is now ready for clinical trials.

Carlos Vives, Colombian celebrity, was one of our guests of honor at the 3rd Water Funds Biennial. ©Ana Guzmán/TNC.

Children eating nopal salad prepared with Comer en Familia at the fair Juntos con Mexico 2016.

Lasting impacts that empower people and communities.”