Communication and Institutional Responsibility

The Second Edition of AVINA Awards for Investigative Journalism for Sustainable Development in Latin America in 2008 received 510 proposals from 770 journalists in 24 countries. After a rigorous selection process overseen by 12 journalists and experts, 60 awards were made for articles to be published and distributed in 2009.

The AVINA journalism awards offer financial and technical support. They are given to innovative journalistic research proposals on issues relevant to sustainable development in Latin America, and in this way encourage the media and professional journalists in enriching the public agenda.

As part of this awards program, AVINA organized the Second Meeting of Investigative Journalism for Sustainable Development, which took place in Cartagena, Colombia, in November, 2008. The meeting brought together the 60 winners of the Second Edition of the AVINA Awards for Investigative Journalism, with the participation of speakers Javier Darío Restrepo, Colombian reporter and expert on journalistic ethics, and Jaime Abello Banfi, AVINA partner and director of the Fundación Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano (FNPI).

The AVINA journalism awards program receives institutional support from FNPI, the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the Foro de Periodismo Argentino (Fopea), the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), the Asociación Brasileña de Periodismo Investigativo (ABRAJI), the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), the Agencia de Noticias por los Derechos de la Infancia (ANDI), Communication Initiative Latin America (CILA), the Alliance of Communicators for Sustainable Development (COM+), Reporters d´Espoirs and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

Since their creation in 2006 the AVINA Awards for Investigative Journalism have mobilized some 1,800 journalists, representing approximately 900 media outlets in Latin America, Europe and the United States, to seek more thorough coverage of issues such as fair trade, socially inclusive business, climate change, transparency, social inclusion, access to water, Latin American integration, art and education.

For further information click here..

AVINA and Social Responsibility

AVINA has supported the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement in Latin America since its inception as the principles that guide CSR are aligned with those that inspired the creation of AVINA. Our foundation has been encouraging, connecting and promoting a variety of initiatives hand-in-hand with its partners at the local and regional levels. It is within this context that the Latin American Program for Corporate Social Responsibility (PLARSE) was created, which you can read about in this section of the Annual Report.

Encouraged by these successful initiatives, by the changes it has witnessed, and in constant pursuit of ways to improve the quality of its relationship with stakeholders, AVINA initiated in 2008 a Social Responsibility in AVINA (SRA) program. This initiative aims to ensure that AVINA strives to be an organization that is socially just, environmentally responsible and economically sound, and establishes a transparent management process on the basis of integrated systems and processes.

AVINA chose as its methodology one that had originally been designed by the organizations that developed the Multilateral Investment Fund’s Cluster Project, which is promoted by IDB with various partners. This methodology, which has been adapted to AVINA’s structure, involves five development phases:

1. Raise awareness of and analyze sustainability
2. Determine AVINA’s sustainable management processes
3. Develop policy and action plans
4. Implement policy tools
5. Incorporate mechanisms for socially responsible management

AVINA established indicators as a result of an analysis to define initial goals, strategies and actions. These were based on the guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), indicators of the Ethos Institute, and those used by the Argentine Institute for Social Responsibility (IARSE). The main objective of this phase, which ended in 2008, was to obtain information on current management practices and hear proposals for action that would contribute to AVINA’s excellence and responsible management.

In 2009 AVINA will review the results and focus on existing best practices. A second phase, with the collaboration of the whole organization, will focus on new types of relations, governance and responsibility.