Marcelo Ber was a 19-year-old student at St. Andrés University, the most prestigious business school in Argentina, in 2001 when his nation experienced the worst economic and social crisis in its history. More than half of the population was living below the poverty line and in just one week, the country went through five presidents. Many people felt disillusioned in the political system and apathetic about the future, recalls Marcelo, who knew he had to do something to improve the situation. His strategy: mobilize young people themselves to be part of the solution. Along with a handful of his peers, Marcelo founded Compromiso Joven (Youth Commitment) with the goal of promoting volunteerism among university students. Through the program, students at St. Andrés volunteer their time at local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Since the program began, 150 students have participated as volunteers, with 1,200 children and 30 NGOs benefiting as a result.

CURRENT UPDATES

Marcelo is currently the Regional Child Rights and Business Focal Point at UNICEF Latin America & the Caribbean Regional Office (based on Panama)

This is the description of his current job

- Lead programmatic regional engagement with sectors with large impact on child rights such as Mining, Oil&Gas, agriculture, ICTs, etc.
- Promote regional and national engagement with the corporate sector in key UNICEF programmatic areas such child labor, breastfeeding, armed violence prevention, etc.
- Advice UNICEF country offices on engagement with government for the adoption of policies, legislation, and an enabling environment related to the promotion of children`s rights by business.
- Coordinate UNICEF regional office Child Rights & Business annual plan development and implementation at the regional level.

Marcelo has promoted private - public partnerships from different positions at the global offices of both Ashoka in DC and UNICEF in NYC. His first job after receiving the YouthActionNet award was starting the Corporate Social Responsibility projects at Procter & Gamble southern cone.

In May 2011 Marcelo received 1st place among 600 papers submitted by master and PhD students from 60 countries in the St Gallen Symposium essay competition (Switzerland). The St Gallen competition is considered by many to be the most important student competition in the world.

Marcelo completed his studies at NYU in May 2012 with an MPA from the Wagner School of Public Service. Marcelo studied at NYU as a Reynolds fellow and as a Fulbright Argentina Fellow.

He was recognized as a YouthActionNet fellow in 2004 when he started the organization Compromiso Joven to promote Youth Volunteerism in Argentina