The General Assembly of Partners is the main organ of the NGO. The Board of Directors is the organ for governance and representation of the NGO.
Currently, the Board is formed by the following people:
- Chairperson: Juan Luis Ros
- Vice-Chairperson: Ismael Yagüe García
- Secretary: Iñigo Osés Maestro
- Treasurer: Ignacio Javier Zabalza
- Member: Franciso Javier Chocarro Gutiérrez
- Member: Andrés Uterga Sanz
Solidarios con Arua / Arua Elkartsauna is a registered member of the Spanish International Agency for Cooperation, AECID, registration number 1038
Our NGO is part of the Burlada Town Council Sector Council for Social Services.
It is also member of the Zero Poverty (Pobreza Cero) Platform in Burlada.
Since 2021, Solidarios con Arua has been a Partner of Fiare Banca Ética, an entity that aims to be a tool at the service of social transformation through the financing of projects in the third sector.
ABOUT US
Solidarios con Arua / Arua Elkartasuna its a small NGO with head office in Burlada (Navarre, Spain) with a work experience over 30 years in Uganda, more specifically in the West Nile Region, in the northern part of the country. It currently counts on 120 partners. The activities carried out in Navarre are conducted by volunteers. The main hallmark is the Twinning, a direct way of working with the beneficiary population, which allows a better understanding of what they need and desire and also be more aware of what is going on in Uganda.
FIRST STEPS
The origings of Solidarios con Arua / Arua Elkartasuna go as far as 1990, in a group within the St. Joan Baptist Catholic Parish in Burlada (Navarre, Spain). They decided to add one day worth their salary to a common fund and give away to whom may be in bigger need. Even though the first collection was for Caritas in their Parish, they target would change when, through the missionary from Navarre, María Teresa Azparren, the group would meet a Ugandan priest called Grace Ayiga Waigo.
During the following years, the group undertook important sensitization activities about the so called Third World, whilst continuing to collect funds tu support different causes. Thanks to the deep bond generated between the group and Waigo, it was possible to articulate an understanding between the Spanish Parish and Arua Diocese. This way, the necessities were shaped in a much efficient and direct way. Many projects that helped the holistic development of the people of the area arose through this partnership.
In the year 2004, the increase of the activities and the projects undertaken by the group in the Parish push them to organize our current setting, the Solidarios con Arua / Arua Elkartasuna NGO, under the motto “creative solidarity”, maintaining the Twinning approach, but slowly incorporating people form outside the Parish.
A NEW ERA
The time and efforts dedicated to design the project of the NGO and the applications to the different institutions is done through volunteer work by the members of the NGO. Therefore, all the funds collected go uncut to the project in West Nile Region. Since 2014, we count on Aritz Azparren as an expatriate worker and operations director of the NGO in Uganda.
In 2007 Cooperative Growth Uganda NGO is created in Moyo, West Nile Region, Uganda, becoming our new local partner, with which the work is faster and more efficient compare to Arua Diocese.