DEMOCRACIES
WHAT WE DO
Let’s reshape democracy together so that all people take ownership of it, protect it, and have the ability to participate in it!
Each society is responsible for its own democracy, and although all democratic models are inspired by similar ideas and principles, every democracy is unique. Democracy must reflect a society’s agreements on how it wants to coexist, handle conflicts, manage public goods, and govern itself. Democracy must solve people’s everyday problems so that they care for their democracy and keep it strong.
Fundación Avina’s Democracies program promotes efforts to ensure that all people, especially those belonging to traditionally excluded and marginalized groups, can participate in building the democracy that they want and need today. In light of the transitions we are living through and the challenges we are facing, this program seeks to cultivate democratic models that reduce power asymmetries and make democracies more inclusive and resilient.
LINES OF ACTION
The Democracies program pursues two main lines of action:
INITIATIVES
WHERE WE WORK
Fundación Avina’s Democracies program promotes collaborative processes in a number of different Latin American countries, promoting citizen participation and strengthening democracy throughout the region.
Surge: Mexico.
Democracias en Paz: Colombia.
Reverso: Argentina.
ConversAcciones: Colombia.
VAC: Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay.
Indela: Throughout the Latin American region with a focus on Panama during the second phase.
Pulsante: throughout the Latin American region.
We need to connect democracy to people’s everyday needs and problems, create the institutional and noninstitutional conditions for effective citizen participation, engage the private sector in strengthening democracy, and address the positive and negative impacts of digitalization on democratic processes.
We need new political leadership with the capacity to put forward proposals for the future that address the many transitions we are living through, open up spaces for the convergence of interests to move these proposals forward, and foster participation and transparency.
We need shared agendas and positioning from the global South on issues that transcend borders, such as the energy transition, the fight against organized crime, the protection of biomes, and AI governance.
We promote institutions and forms of governance centered around the voices of underrepresented communities, strengthening their participation in key decision-making spaces to address the climate, energy, digital, labor, and migration transitions. We encourage civil society’s responses to address power asymmetries, reinforcing the capacities of networks, associations, and organizations to deal with challenges like environmental insecurity, authoritarianism, and disinformation. 
We create the conditions to boost citizen participation in the digital age while also addressing digitalization’s threats to democracy. 
We strengthen the regional response to organized crime through effective coordination among civil society, governments, and strategic stakeholders, with a focus on human rights, gender equity, and social justice. 
