Valeria Scorza, CEO of Fundación Avina, offers a compelling exploration of how philanthropy can act as an orchestrator in addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing Latin America and the broader Global South. With a 30-year legacy of fostering sustainable development, Fundación Avina operates at the intersection of climate action, democratic innovation, and economic transformation, working through six key programs—climate, circular economy, labor innovation, biomes, democracy, and water. What sets the foundation apart is its commitment to building trust, promoting systemic change, and fostering co-creation among diverse stakeholders.
At its core, Fundación Avina embraces a decentralized model, with a team of 95 staff members across 15 countries, emphasizing coordination, autonomy, and self-regulation. Beyond simply deploying grants—having mobilized over $500 million across 13,000 initiatives—the foundation plays a catalytic role in multi-stakeholder collaborations, ensuring that local knowledge and grassroots organizations shape solutions tailored to their specific contexts. Expanding beyond Latin America, the organization is increasingly forging partnerships in Africa and Asia, reinforcing a philosophy that philanthropy must be complementary rather than prescriptive, engaging both grassroots actors and large institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank.
A particularly striking element of Fundación Avina’s work is its long-standing engagement with access to water, an issue affecting nearly a quarter of Latin Americans, with rural communities being disproportionately impacted. Viewing water access as a fundamental human right, the foundation draws from the principles of Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom, advocating for decentralized, community-led governance of shared resources. Through the Latin American Association of Community Water Management Organizations and other regional initiatives, Avina has helped scale innovative, locally-driven water management solutions, from rainwater harvesting to adaptive governance structures that enhance resilience in the face of climate change. The foundation’s work in Brazil’s semi-arid region, for example, illustrates the power of community networks in not only implementing practical solutions like cistern installations but also shaping public policy at the national level.
The conversation highlights key bottlenecks in water governance, including the misconception that solutions must always be top-down or infrastructure-heavy. Instead, Avina advocates for a model that aligns incentives across communities, governments, and the private sector, ensuring that solutions are sustainable and adapted to local realities. The role of trust is particularly emphasized as a crucial yet often overlooked form of infrastructure—essential for managing climate-induced conflicts over water scarcity and ensuring long-term collaboration across sectors.
Indigenous and tribal communities also play a central role in Avina’s approach, with a strong commitment to ensuring their participation in decision-making processes. From advocating for indigenous representation in climate governance discussions to recognizing traditional water conservation methods as legitimate forms of technological innovation, the foundation underscores the importance of cultural intelligence in addressing environmental challenges. This extends to Avina’s broader mission of reducing power asymmetries, ensuring that historically marginalized voices are not only heard but actively shape policy and investment decisions.
Fundación Avina’s collaborative ethos is further exemplified by its engagement with global and regional funders. From working with One Drop Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation, and FEMSA in the Lazos de Agua initiative to partnerships with Skoll Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Packard Foundation, Avina positions itself as a key facilitator in bringing diverse actors together to drive systemic change. Whether working with corporate foundations, development banks, or local philanthropic funds, the foundation’s role is not merely to fund initiatives but to strengthen ecosystems that ensure solutions are deeply embedded in their communities and sustained over time.
Ultimately, this conversation sheds light on a model of philanthropy that moves beyond traditional grant-making to embrace systemic, collaborative, and trust-driven solutions. By leveraging its position as a convener, Fundación Avina is not only addressing immediate challenges but also reshaping the way sustainable development is approached across the Global South.
About Valeria Scorza
Valeria Scorza (she/her) was named CEO of Fundación Avina and Board Chair of Avina Americas in 2024. Previously, she served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships, where she played a crucial role in establishing alliances with private donors, international development organizations, and corporations to advance the foundation’s mission.
Valeria has led various grantmaking initiatives to amplify marginalized and underrepresented communities’ voices in decision-making processes. She has also advised the Human Rights Funders Network and served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council. With a robust background in political innovation and human rights, Valeria has worked with ProDESC, the International Center for Transitional Justice, Amnesty International, and the UN Mission in Liberia.
She holds a BA from Universidad Iberoamericana and a MIA from Columbia University. Valeria also serves on several boards, including the Human Rights & Business Award, WINGS, and Equis Justicia para la Mujeres.
Links
Some of the organizations referenced in the interview:
- WINGS: Global Network of philanthropy support and development. https://wingsweb.org
- Human Rights Funders Network: Network of Funders dedicated to resourcing human rights action worldwide. https://www.hrfn.org
- Latimpacto: https://latimpacto.org/en/
- GIFE (Brazil): https://gife.org.br
- GDFE (Argentina): https://www.gdfe.org.ar
- CEMEFI (Mexico): https://ait.cemefi.org/inicio
- Water Confederación Latinoamericana de OCSAS: http://clocsas.org
- Lazos de Agua: https://www.lazosdeagua.org
- Asociación del SemiArido (Brazil): https://www.asabrasil.org.br