While non-governmental organizations active in health, education, microenterprise and environment have long been applauded for supplementing traditional government services, religious organizations are now also gaining recognition for their contributions in these areas.
Religious groups are active in nearly every one of the region's cities, towns and villages.
In addition to providing a sense of identity and community, church organizations deliver vital social services. These range from church-affiliated schools and hospitals to orphanages, rural clinics, urban soup kitchens and all manner of emergency assistance. In many of the poorest settings, religious groups are the only source of such services. IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias has spoken frequently about this dimension of civil society and has encouraged groundbreaking meetings with representatives of religious groups. The most recent of these took place in December, when 70 leaders of Jewish communities from 12 Latin American countries, together with senior officials from the principal multilateral lending institutions and representatives of Israeli and United States Jewish organizations, met at IDB headquarters.