Background

Formally established in 1993, although active as a volunteer organization since 1990, ANDI is a not-for-profit and non-partisan civil society organization engaged in integrating innovative initiatives in the area of media for development. The institution’s strategies are based on promoting and strengthening a professional and ethical dialogue between news organizations, communications/journalism schools (as well as other higher education disciplines), government, and entities involved in the field of sustainable development and human rights.

ANDI was founded in Brazil shortly prior to promulgation of the country’s new Constitution (1988), through which civil liberties were fully restored and democratic governance enshrined. Thanks to significant popular pressure, article 227 of the new Constitution mandated that the rights of children and adolescents be given “absolute priority” by families, society, and the State. Within two years of the Constitution’s enactment, Brazil ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and passed into law the Child and Adolescent Bill of Rights (Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente – ECA).

The insight and vision of two journalists – Ambar de Barros and Gilberto Dimenstein –, combined with the invaluable experience and knowledge of their allies in the educational, sociological, business, and international cooperation fields, gave shape and form to the mission of the Brazilian News Agency for Children’s Rights (Agência de Notícias dos Direitos da Infância – ANDI).

Under the direction of Ambar de Barros, ANDI began devoting special attention to two interrelated realities: children and adolescents from underprivileged backgrounds victimized by various forms of social disruption and the news media, a sector largely disconnected from the realities of children and adolescents and hampered in its efforts to build an investigative news culture through which boys and girls could be effectively incorporated in the public agenda as subjects of rights.

In short order, ANDI rose to become a key mediator between the news media and social groups dedicated to advocating the rights of the youngest age groups.

In search of solutions

From its inception, ANDI took on the commitment and challenge to contribute to a journalistic culture centered on bringing rights abuses to light and highlighting the wide range of initiatives undertaken – by countless civil society organizations and the various levels of government – to combat exclusion, with particular focus given to promoting respect, welfare, and opportunities for children and adolescents.

As an entity founded on the perspectives of professional journalists, ANDI did not strive for a “journalism made by children’s activists.” Nor did the organization believe in coverage which, obsessed with apparently insurmountable statistical numbers, would serve only to paralyze society. ANDI sought (seeks) critical and independent, yet socially responsible, journalism capable of forging spaces for debate and discussion between a diversity of voices, with a view to mobilizing citizens to discern their reality and contribute toward a stronger and fairer society.

Subsequently, under the direction of Geraldinho Vieira (1995-2002), strategies were adopted to mobilize journalists to bring new perspectives on children and adolescents, contribute to enhanced training for news professionals, and provide media outlets with regular analyses of their editorial tendencies, efforts which helped transform Brazilian journalism into one of the world’s most recognized for its considered dedication to the field of children’s issues – and made of ANDI an international leader in this area.

In 2000, the ANDI Brazil Network was established in the context of a news media industry now equipped and prepared to build on its investigative coverage of children’s issues and used the related issues as a channel through which to address the country’s underlying social problems. Today, the network operates in nine states – reapplying ANDI’sinnovative methodology through a host of local civil society organizations.

The period was also marked by the initial application of ANDI’s methodology to the coverage of other issues – specifically, the question of philantropy.

The outcomes obtained from the childhood/adolescence + journalism equation demanded that ANDI, now under the direction of Marcus Fuchs and Veet Vivarta, promote, beginning in 2002 further geographic expansion and introduce the organization’s experience into other social and environmental realms. This push led in 2003 to the creation of the ANDI Latin America Network – which currently maintains operations in 12 countries.

Extending the areas of engagement

With Veet Vivarta and Ely Harasawa (who acted as Deputy Secretary from 2005 to 2008), the expansion process was consolidated. Initiatives were launched (particularly through media analyses) in a broad range of fields, including corporate social responsibility, climate change, science and technology, gender equality, social technologies, and regulatory frameworks for the media sector.

The dialogue with news outlets and the development of training opportunities for journalists and information sources have been applied to issues affecting human rights and sustainable development in general (including workshops in human rights, social technologies, and climate change). Efforts have also been made to promote an increasingly systematic dialogue with universities and communications/journalism schools – key institutions for the education and training of future communications professionals.

Additionally, the media analysis and monitoring procedures employed have become more complex and detailed – serving to strengthen the methodologies created by ANDI and generating interest from other areas of the social-environmental movement. The results of the media analyses conducted in the field of children’s issues have prompted the reapplication and appropriation of the related methods by other organizations, leading to the development of critical media analysis tools through an ongoing capacity building process followed closely by ANDI.

In addition to this thematic and territorial expansion, ANDI has built the capacity to address (primarily through knowledge production and advocacy) questions related to communications policies. The institutions has staked out a more active presence in various forums connected to the field: first because a number of the associated policies – or their absence – directly affects the rights and development of children (as in the case of the TV ratings system); second because the legal frameworks governing communications and the self-regulating models currently in place impact the opportunities for ethical and investigative advances in the journalism profession. In this light, ANDIhas turned to building knowledge on media regulations, fostering analyses on the substance of the legal frameworks enacted in various countries.

As a consequence of the work of the Executive Secretary Veet Vivarta, in 2011 after increasing assessed contributions in other areas such ANDI reframes its existence. Now, as ANDI – Communications and Rights, the institution assumes an expanded its mission based on three programmatic areas: Children and Youth, Inclusion and Development, Communication Policies.