AGARESO
AGARESO
WHO WE ARE
AGARESO (Galician Association of Communication for Social Change) is a non-profit organization, made up of media professionals based in Galicia, who believe in communication as a fundamental right for citizenship, freedom and social justice. Our main objective is to use communication as a tool to achieve Social Transformation, in the fields of International Cooperation, Education for Change and Social Action projects.
Created in May 2008, AGARESO defines itself as a secular non-governmental development organization, politically committed but independent. We are convinced that communication is a powerful tool for social participation, people’s empowerment, Human Rights advocacy and social justice. Its members are committed to the design, production, implementation and dissemination of projects that contribute to the creation of a more critical citizenship in order to fight against global inequality.
OUR OBJECTIVES
- To fight against the structural causes of inequality and to promote social development based on community’s needs, while respecting their cultural identity and gender equality, and by guaranteeing their right to participation throughout the whole process.
- To raise awareness and to develop education activities for democracy, social justice, peace and solidarity at the local level.
- To organize, to train and to support volunteers to achieve these objectives in Global South countries, in Europe and in Spain.
- To promote education and training of media professionals in the research and coverage of information of a social nature, and to broaden their vision in the daily approach to storytelling on these issues, regardless of the media they work in, applying the ethical codes and specific regulations.
- To promote communication as an essential tool in the field of the Third Sector, through training, networking and building synergies.
- To achieve these objectives through a feminist strategy, where gender equality is the fundamental transversal variable in the development of our actions and projects.
WORK AREAS
AGARESO develops interventions in the following areas:
- International Cooperation: projects focused on Communication for Social Change in Global South countries, such as strengthening community radio and TV channels, training community media reporters and professionals and supporting them for political and social advocacy work.
- Education for Social Change and Media Literacy: design and execution of educational projects both in formal and non-formal education fields, by using communication tools to reinforce reflection, critical awareness on global justice topics and, at the same time, to facilitate learning processes aimed to create counter-narratives and self-built storytelling. Meanwhile, we also work in training for teachers and stakeholders in innovative learning strategies and media literacy activities.
- Social Action: AGARESO places special emphasis on working with groups at risk of social exclusion by using communication as a tool to empower themselves, to build their own discourse and to fight for their rights.
- Awareness and Dissemination: through communication campaigns, audiovisual production and the dissemination of the results of our projects, AGARESO intends to influence society by making it aware of the need to fight against social injustice and inequality, while the need to support International Cooperation projects is highlighted.
TEAM
Staff members of Agareso have a blended experience as trainers, facilitators and communicators. All the team members have been involved in ICT capacity building, media literacy projects and participatory media training, and combine this expertise as facilitators with their own experience as journalists and filmmakers on independent productions and broadcasting media. Skills of the team are:
– Communitary media: radio & TV
– Participatory Video
– Media Literacy Training for youth & adults.
– Media training within social organizations
– Awareness campaigns
– Media Production: documentary, radio, press release.
– Project design and implementation.
SOME RECENT PROJECTS
Agareso counts on a wide experience working in the field of participation and media literacy as keystones to build active citizenship and to reduce social inequality. Since 2008, this organisation has led and has participated as partner in several projects aiming to foster communication as a tool for social change; either working in community Tv and radio, social media, digital storytelling for education or in participatory media processes.
During these years, Agareso has developed a substantial background in social communication being involved in several projects at local, regional and international level. Among them, and related with the application, we could highlight:
EU funded team building
Be The Change
Agareso was a partner of this Erasmus KA2 project about conflict as an opportunity for social transformation. As part of the pedagogical group, Agareso facilitated a Participatory Video training on conflict management through video. Funded by the European Commission.
Year: 2019.
RecThink
Agareso was the coordinator of an Erasmus+ KA2 project using this PV methodology with groups of youngsters in rural areas at a severe risk of depopulation. This project, called RecThink, had as intellectual output a toolkit on this methodology, applied specifically to work with young people in rural areas. Funded by the European Commission.
Year: 2016
Training
Trainings on Participatory Video and Community Media Creation for community leaders, youth workers and volunteers.
Years: 2022, 2023.
Encouraging high school students
Gen Counterspeech
Educational project that aims to fight hate speech against cultural diversity, through media production that promotes mutual knowledge, empathy and media literacy in teenagers from 3 Galician Secondary School. We work hand in hand with 3 associations for the protection of the rights of migrants and Roma people. Funded by the Regional Government of Galicia.
Years: 2022, 2023.
EpDLab
This Laboratory of Education for Global Citizenship is a Long-term educational project focused on Media Literacy while building committed active citizenship by using digital media creation and by fostering critical reading and thinking skills. This project has been running in different Secondary Schools in Galicia, together with other stakeholders in the educational field such as the university. As other outcomes, toolkits, research papers and methodological guides have been published. This work is funded by the Regional Government of Galicia.
Years: 2015-2023.
Women’s Voices for Remembrance
Educational project that aims to bring out the stories of women retaliated during the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship, framed in several Secondary Schools of Galicia, by using audio as the main tool for collecting information and podcasting for dissemination. Funded by the Ministry of the Presidency of Spain since 2021.
Years: 2022, 2023.
Engaging citizens in vulnerable circumstances
The Tribe
Participatory media creation project co-leaded with IGAXES, an organisation that provides shelter to youngsters under tuition or at severe risk of social exclusión. Through this process, a group of youngsters created different fiction and non-fiction short-films, while building individual and collective soft skills. Each edition of the project ended up with an awareness campaign for media built up by the participants. Funded by a private foundation.
Years: 2019-2023
We, gipsy women
Agareso co-leaded a project together with Fundación Secretariado Gitano, a national organisation working with Roman communities. This PV project, focusing on Cultural Identity and Gender, worked with a group of women for 2 months, ending up with the participatory design of a communication campaign in Galicia. Funded by a private foundation.
Years: 2017, 2018.
Raising public awarenes
Change the Story
Youth & Volunteers training against hate speech, especially focused on the rights of LGTBI people, in coordination with regional associations and universities. Communication materials and specific social media campaigns were created within the activity. Funded by the Regional Government of Galicia.
Years: 2020 – 2023
Documentary films
If you don’t go, you won’t come back portrays the role migrant women assume in the survival and welfare of their families, on both sides of the migratory flow.
Guarantee of life collects testimonies from victims of Dominican Republic legislation on abortion, to support the feminist movement in its struggle to achieve basic rights for women.
Indebted to all Women gives voice to those women suffering and struggling to change one of the most restrictive laws in the world for sexual & reproductive rights.
Years: 2019 – 2023
Women human rights defenders
The aim of this collection of books is to raise awareness on Central American Human Rights defenders lives and commitment with justice. Literature helps teenagers to relate to these women and to acknowledge their political fight in one of the most dangerous regions of the world.
Years: 2021-22
Training Global South citizen journalist
República Dominicana
Within a development project founded by the regional government, Agareso has also carried out a community media process in the Dominican Republic, in one of the neighbourhoods of Santo Domingo (bateys), aiming to work around housing and community skills to protect women rights and gender equality.
Year: 2017.
El Salvador
Agareso works in El Salvador with women’s organisations such as La Colectiva Feminista for advocacy of Human Rights and equality, promoting the strengthening of women’s leadership, the creation of social and political advocacy materials, and supporting synergies between the feminist movement in Central America, mainly in the defence of sexual and reproductive rights. We also implemented in El Salvador a capacity building training, working with community TV and radio in the framework of Tourism development based on natural resources.
Years: 2017 – 2023.