Our history
SUMANDO Argentina is a civil society organization founded by young people in 2006 to promote responsible citizenship.
Democracy in Contemporary Argentina
Latin America, our region, lived a 20th century of dictatorships that left deep marks on the way we exercise our civil and political rights.
In Argentina, the return to democracy in 1983 meant the regeneration of democratic life and institutions, and positioned the vote as the democratic exercise par excellence.
With the arrival of the 21st century, Argentina experienced an institutional, political, economic and social crisis that culminated in the unfortunate events of December 2001. Its clearest example is the resignation of five presidents in just one week, adding to a climate of social confrontation, looting, and a strong social distrust for the political class.
Our beginnings
was created from the initiative of young people -born during the return of democracy- who were looking for a collective and participatory solution to the crisis of political disaffection that society was experiencing in the early 2000’s. They wanted to confront the apathy that was often heard under the slogan “Que se vayan todos” (Let them all go), referring to the political class.
To this end, they created the first educational program for youth participation: Demos, building responsible citizenship. Since then, we’ve sought to contribute to the strengthening of democracy, making different voices visible, creating spaces for dialogue and participation, and promoting critical citizenship with creative educational tools.
Our Reach
Since 2006, SUMANDO Argentina has been promoting the responsible participation of different social actors as a strategy for the construction of a democratic, fair, equitable and inclusive society.
We believe that participation goes beyond voting and electing our representatives. It is a daily construction of all the actors in a community. That is why we make visible the voices and experiences of children, youth, women and other groups. We encourage involvement in their communities as a first step towards the exercise of critical and reflective political citizenship.
In recent years, we have accompanied the extension of the right to vote to 16 and 17 year olds, supported projects that have influenced children’s public spaces, generated spaces for dialogue, and listened to young people about their possibility of voting in Argentina and the United States (Mi Voz My Power). We take Demos to other countries and languages, we promote responsible and informed voting among young voters through the program Informed Youth – Real Elections to deal with fake news, we get involved in the processes of water governance in informal urban settlements, and we accompany agendas that seek full access to human rights.
Today, we face the challenge of engaging 21st century citizens. We promote active participation in institutional and community spaces and engage in local agendas with global dialogue to discourage emerging authoritarianism and strengthen democracy.