Social Understanding for Bioeconomic Initiatives in the Amazon Basin

Citibeats proudly supported a bioeconomic project in the Amazon basin conducted by IDB Lab, the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). 

Powered by Citibeats and promoted by the IDB, the leading source of financing for improving lives in Latin America and the Caribbean, the project focused on seven countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname. This bioeconomic project was designed to foster the financial, social, cultural, and environmental growth of the Amazon basin by measuring and analyzing citizen feedback on health, security, biodiversity, education, investment, and more. 

The ultimate goal was to implement new initiatives in response to the needs of citizens working and/or living in the Amazon basin. Home to approximately 10% of the world’s biodiversity, the Amazon region also regulates climate change by acting as a carbon sink.

"A fundamental part of what we do in the IDB is to closely monitor the citizens’ pulse. Our teams in the countries are a key part of this task, and we have also incorporated AI tools to better understand complex civic scenarios." — Richard Martínez, Vice President for Countries, IDB

From Social Listening to Social Impact

Thanks to Citibeats’ software for social understanding, the IDB strengthened its direct dialogue with local and international stakeholders, listening to thousands of voices to define a joint road map on bioeconomy-related projects.

"Listening to understand citizens’ needs contains the seed for innovation because every innovation that has become a great business has the unavoidable condition of responding to people's real needs." — Flavia Milano, Team Leader/ Operations/Civil Society Senior Specialist, IDB

In the short term, the collaboration with Citibeats will allow the IDB to react promptly and proactively with communication campaigns and interventions that respond to citizens’ challenges. In the medium and long term, it will help shape projects and allocate funds to areas or sectors in greater need (for example, to foster credit access for women in the basin, to promote recycling policies, etc.).

Citibeats: Understand How Society Changes in Real Time

The IDB project used two different methods to collect data: CivicLytics, the AI tool powered by Citibeats to process and analyze open civic data, and data on demand.

Citibeats’ ethical technology uses data to give voice to all citizens in real time while respecting their privacy and reducing gender-based bias. This supplies continually updated data about citizens’ opinions and necessities to create a better, smarter, and more inclusive society. Our language-agnostic and culturally adaptable platform gives any institution or organization a qualitative and temporal edge that is unmatched by traditional survey methods and the media. The time factor is essential to improving citizens’ living conditions.

These characteristics were essential for the IDB research analysis in the Amazon region, offering a series of actionable insights and giving voices to many people that otherwise may have remained unheard.

"The IDB project powered by Citibeats’ software is a great example of how technology (namely an AI platform for social understanding) can contribute to actively and practically improve the living conditions of people and the environment. It is also one of the finest cases of how data can be used for understanding what matters to people, at scale, and help protect communities and a natural resource that is unique for our planet. Citibeats’ technology helps monitor complex narratives and collect unstructured data to deliver gender-unbiased, anonymized, actionable insights in real time. We are really proud to join IDB in this project. For us, it is a further confirmation that technology can help shape a better society." — Ivan Caballero, CEO, Citibeats

About IDB

We work to improve lives in Latin America and the Caribbean. Through financial and technical support for countries working to reduce poverty and inequality, we help improve health and education, and advance infrastructure. Our aim is to achieve development in a sustainable, climate-friendly way. With a history dating back to 1959, today we are the leading source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. We provide loans, grants, and technical assistance; and we conduct extensive research. We maintain a strong commitment to achieving measurable results and the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability.

The IDB prioritizes social inclusion and equality; productivity and innovation; and regional economic integration in its development work across Latin America and the Caribbean. In doing so, we address the cross-cutting issues of gender equality and diversity; climate change and environmental sustainability; and institutional capacity and the rule of law. Learn more about the Institutional Strategy. 

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