Latin America Leadership Program

The ILG Impact Award was created by Georgetown University’s Latin America Leadership Program and the ILG Alumni Network to recognize Innovation and Leadership in Government Program (ILG) alumni who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the public sector in Latin America through innovative projects supporting the ILG Program mission. Today, we are very proud to announce that Diego Irazabal, ILG 2014 from Uruguay, was awarded the 2020 ILG Impact Award.

Latin America and the Caribbean possess 70% of the planet's biodiversity and an extraordinary cultural wealth that comes from the native and indigenous communities peoples. But at the same time, these countries face enormous environmental and conservation challenges that put the possibilities of sustainable development at risk. The current global crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic should be the opportunity to move towards greener and more resilient cities, with territorial systems that are more environmentally responsible, and socially more just. UNESCO Global Geoparks are territories called to promote the ethics of care, valuing geological heritage and ancestral cultures. Through a holistic approach and active community involvement, geoparks constitute innovative public policy projects between governments, companies, and academia. The Network of Geoparks of Latin America and the Caribbean is the integration of various territories that extend from Mexico to the southernmost part of the continent, with a shared purpose of protection, education, and sustainable development.

Diego Irazábal Tidemann.
Graduated in Political Science (Universidad Católica del Uruguay), with specialization studies in Local and Regional Development (CEPAL), Decentralization and Local Public Management (AECID). Georgetown Alumni ILG 2014. General Director of Promotion and Development in the Departmental Mayor of Flores (2005 - 2019), and Departmental Mayor of Flores (February 2020 to November of the same year). Coordinator of the UNESCO World Geopark “Grutas del Palacio” (2013 - 2019); Founding member of the Geoparks Network of Latin America and the Caribbean, and its secretary between 2017 and 2019.
Advisor in Geoparks projects for Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador. Member of the Organizing Committee of the First Intensive Course on UNESCO Global Geoparks in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Flores, Uruguay, from November 26 to 30, 2018.Deputy (s) of the National Party (National Parliament, period 2014 - 2019). Member of the teaching staff in workshops and diplomas of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (Montevideo) in the areas of Planning, Management and Public Policies.