PURC/IADB Benchmarking

Workshop for Water Utilities in

Central America

Utility managers, policy-makers, and regulators from Central
 America learned about sustainable and cost-effective
benchmarking procedures, and reviewed resource allocation issues
associated with water utilities in Central American nations during this
workshop delivered by the UF Public Utility Research Center (PURC)
and the Inter-American Development Bank in San Jose, Costa Rica in
October 2007. The workshop identified the strengths and weaknesses of
current data collection procedures. It also served as a forum for
obtaining feedback on PURC's benchmarking work and for developing
institutional mechanisms for maintaining a regional database. The
Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) funded PURC to assemble
the data, conduct an analysis of utility performance, and organize the
workshop in San Jose. The 40 attendees included data providers from
Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and El Salvador,
a legal consultant from Bolivia, a regulator from Belize, and
representatives from the IADB, The World Bank, and The United
Nations. More information can be found on the Water Initiatives page of
the PURC web site: http://www.cba.ufl.edu/purc/research/water.asp.


LAS Course Development Grants

Six affiliate faculty members received Latin American Studies Course
 Development Grants to develop new courses with 100% Latin
American content. The grants may be used for travel related to course
development activities, software, course materials, or student OPS
assistance. Funding was provided by the Center's Title VI National
Resource Center grant from the US Department of Education. The
grantees and their courses are as follows:

 Susan Gillespie (Anthropology): Maya Civilization

 Elizabeth Ginway (RLL): Latin American Science Fiction and
 Fantasy

 Juan-Carlos Molleda (Public Relations) and Marilyn Roberts
 (Advertising): Latin American and U.S. Hispanic
 Communications Industries

 Gerald Murray (Anthropology): Anthropology of Cuba,
 Hispaniola and Puerto Rico

 Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo (Anthropology): Origins and
 Development of Latin American Agriculture

 Charles Perrone (RLL): Jorge Amado and the Bahian
 Imaginaries


A Participants of the PURC/LADB Water Utilities workshop.


2007 Latin American Business

Environment Report Released

Copies of the 2007 LA Business Environment Report, which reviews
 developments relevant to business in the region over the past year
and assesses the outlook for the region and the 18 largest economies in
2008, are available electronically at:
http://www.latam.ufl.edu/LABER2007.pdf or by contacting Terry McCoy
at tlmccoy@latam.ufl.edu.


























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