Fundación Arias
Fundación Arias/The Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress was born in 1988, after President Oscar Arias decided in 1987, upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, to create it with the resources from the award. The Arias for Peace Foundation would contribute to the consolidation of just and peaceful societies.
Since then she has been dedicated to promoting democracy, gender equality, disarmament and demilitarization. It has developed more than 400 programs and projects, numerous national and regional forums, and published 220 documents. The Arias Foundation has been recognized numerous times for the quality of its work, such as in 1994 when it received the Wilmer Shields Rich Award for “excellence in communications”.
He is responsible for promoting decisions that have contributed to the transformation of society such as the abolition of the army of Panama and that of Haiti. It has promoted the enactment of Central American legislation that grants political and patrimonial rights to women. Since its founder is the proponent of the idea of an Arms Trade Treaty, she is the author of the first draft of this text, and today she carries out activities and projects to promote its implementation at the regional level.
Since its inception, the Foundation has successfully received and executed funds, from almost all governments and funding agencies, including: the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, USAID, Sida, AECID, Government of Finland, European Union, Government of Canada, Government of Japan, Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Government of Switzerland, Kingdom of Belgium, Government of Germany, Inter-American Development Bank, UNESCO, United Nations and HIVOS, among others.
The Arias Foundation is administered by an Administrative Board integrated since its creation by well-known Costa Ricans from both the academic world and the business world. Day-to-day operations are handled by the Executive Directorate. It compensates its carbon emissions, maintaining a 62,900 square meter property, with a primary forest, dedicated to the conservation of hydrographic basins.
