Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Senegal will be the 2022 destination of the aid from Viña Ardanza Solidario, a philanthropic initiative promoted by La Rioja Alta, S.A. since since 2007. The Allocation Committee reviewed more than twenty applications submitted to this call, finally choosing the proposals submitted by the NGOs Cultivalia Senegaal, Egoaizia, FRS Foundation, Manos Unidas and Medicus Mundi to which the house will allocate €170,000 this year. This figure includes 1% of the winery's annual profit, as well as the contributions made by shareholders, employees, partners and friends, which may increase throughout the year.
Board member Maite de Aranzabal, head and promoter of the Viña Ardanza Solidario initiative, emphasized “the difficulty we face every year in choosing from among all the interesting projects submitted. Particularly among those who are involved in processing and marketing agricultural products with the aim of creating businesses and being self-sustainable; something that is so necessary in these countries.”
After weeks of deliberations, the five members of the Allocation Committee “agreed that those finally chosen fully meet all our requirements, including training actions for beneficiaries and, most particularly, being sustainable and enduring over time; for us an essential goal.”
The five winning projects are:
• “Promotion of the right to food in mining communities in the Eastern Province” developed by the NGO Manos Unidas de La Rioja in Kono (Sierra Leone).
• “Guhanga Ibishya Birambye” promoted by the NGO Medicus Mundi in Tuzamurane-Gihara and Ituze-Kiges (Rwanda).
• “Recovery of agricultural and livestock livelihoods for the most vulnerable populations, women and children of the civil conflict” carried out by the NGO Egoaizia in Tigray (Ethiopia).
• “Promoting the socio-economic empowerment of women and young girls in Banwa (Burkina Faso). First stage” of the NGO Fundación FRS.
• “Cultivation, processing and sale of Moringa oleifera in the Thiès region (Senegal)” undertaken by the NGO Cultivalia Senegaal.
These five initiatives on the African continent will be closely monitored by the Allocation Committee, thus ensuring the effective and transparent implementation of each project throughout the year. Thanks to Viña Ardanza Solidario, the winery La Rioja Alta, S.A. won the Empresa Social Award of the Fundación Mundo Ciudad in 2017 and, in 2021, the Solidarity Award from Caixabank Banca Privada.
