3,200
HECTARES BENEFITED
from restoration, conservation and sustainable production processes.
Grupo Argos Foundation
At Grupo Argos Foundation we work with the purpose of harmonizing the relationship between human beings and nature.
Our purpose
At Grupo Argos Foundation we work resolutely with the purpose of harmonizing the relationship of human beings with nature to contribute to water security and the development of territories through education, culture and volunteer actions.
In order to promote their voluntary actions of corporate citizenship, the companies of Grupo Empresarial Argos integrated the assets, human talent, experience and management capacities of their businesses to promote Fundación Grupo Argos as one of the vehicles of corporate social responsibility most powerful in Colombia.
2021 Milestones
Sustainable Development Goals
Our work focuses are aimed at supporting the fulfillment of five Sustainable Development Goals.
GOAL 4
No poverty
Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.
GOAL 3
Good health and well-being
Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
GOAL 4
Quality education
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
GOAL 5
Gender equality
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
GOAL 6
Clear water and sanitation
Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
GOAL 8
Decent work and economic growth
Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
GOAL 10
Reduced inequialities
Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries.
GOAL 11
Sustainables cities and communities
Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
GOAL 12
Responsible consumption and production
Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.
GOAL 13
Climate action
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
GOAL 14
Life below water
Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
GOAL 15
Life on land
Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
GOAL 17
Partnerships for the goals
Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
Our work
Water resource conservation
1. Sembrando futuro
2. Huella Viva – Río Claro
3. Río Saldaña, una cuenca de vida
4. Alianza Cartama Sostenible
5. Conservamos la vida
6. Acceso al agua segura
7. Verde Vivo
Territorial Transformation
8. Becas para el Desarrollo Regional
9. Voluntariado Conecta
10. Alianza Empresarial por el Empleo
11. Emprender Mujer
12. Hogares Saludables
13. Programa Puentes
14. Distrito San Ignacio
We work to contribute to water security in the territories, our strategy starts from the protection of water from the mountains to the sea. We focused our intervention on the Río Claro and Río Cartama basins in Antioquia, Río Saldaña in Tolima and the Canal del Dique in Sucre, achieving the conservation of 3,910 hectares.
How do we do it?
We contribute to the sustainable development and quality of life of the communities of the Río Claro basin, through actions of conservation, restoration and sustainable production. The area of influence of this project is between the municipalities of Sonsón, San Francisco, Puerto Triunfo and San Luis in Antioquia, achieving the conservation of 1,239 hectares.
We work for the protection and restoration of the Río Saldaña basin that supplies approximately 46% of the inhabitants of Tolima through conservation and sustainable production strategies, strengthening community capacities to promote the use of alternative solutions for access to water, sanitation and sustainable use of water resources. At this time, we have achieved the conservation of 2,671 hectares.
We contribute to the design, implementation and promotion of actions of conservation, restoration and ecological regeneration under the integral management of water basins, contributing to the improvement of plant covers and ecosystem connectivity in the province of Cartama.
We protect and restore mangrove ecosystems, recognizing their importance for the conservation of biodiversity, the capture of blue carbon and the quality of life of the inhabitants of the Canal del Dique in Sucre. At this time, more than 28 hectares of mangrove have been restored.
We protect the habitat of the Andean bear, considered the guardian of water, working to avoid conflict between the bear and peasant communities, developing actions to take care of their environment through the conservation of the forest area, ecological restoration, the development of projects sustainable production and environmental education processes. To date, thanks to the program, more than 2,500 hectares have been protected through which the bear now roams for freedom.
We lead an environmental education process to create awareness around issues such as: the protection of water resources, good environmental practices and health. Currently, we have 54,393 students benefited throughout the country.
We are committed to the territories where we have a presence, we carry out a dedicated and careful management that allows us to benefit the collective interest and contribute to the solution of the problems that we share as a society.
To do this, we join wills around education, culture and corporate volunteering and contribute to create employment opportunities and promote economic growth.
How do we do it?
We believe in the power of education as the engine of social transformation with this program we offer access to higher education for young people to more than 174 students, strengthening their leadership skills and sense of belonging to their territories.
We promote the sense of transcendence and solidarity through the mobilization of collaborators in transformative, sustainable and high impact projects. We contribute to the construction of a more empathic and supportive society.
We lead processes to contribute to the generation and strengthening of employment and strategies to promote sustainable social development in rural and urban communities.
We support art, culture and heritage in Medellín. This project seeks to strengthen art and heritage in the area of the city center to reinforce cultural expressions and continue to build a new way of sharing and inhabiting public space.
This campaign emerged during the pandemic to contribute to different causes such as food security for the most vulnerable families, support for primary education for boys and girls, and higher education for young people.
Other initiatives
Tekia
A few years ago, we began the transformation process towards a nature-based solutions company through strategies that allow us to develop voluntary and mandatory compensation projects and provide ecosystem services to the businesses of Grupo Empresarial Argos.
We lead the implementation of the Grupo Argos Foundation’s Sembrando Futuro project, whose goal is to reach 10 million trees planted voluntarily in the next five years, and we support Celsia’s reforestation initiatives through its ReverdeC program.
Likewise, we deploy initiatives to promote green businesses among the communities and contribute to the strengthening of community nurseries as the main ally in the planting processes.
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The support of the Grupo Argos Foundation has allowed us to go from 107 to 153 intensive care units and we hope to grow another 30 more units. We are sure that we will not be inferior to this great challenge that we have to meet for Medellin and all of Colombia. Thank you for allowing us to continue fulfilling our mission to serve and protect life.
Mauricio Tamayo CEO San Vicente Fundación. -
I am very grateful to everyone on the project, because not only have they changed my way of thinking, but they are also teaching me to work on what I have worked on all my life, but as it should be and for the benefit of what we have in our region, so it's very rewarding for me.
Jhoan Bravo Finca El Consuelo, Valle del Cauca. -
San Ignacio is similar to other latitudes in the world where all the groups are one, where all the groups are family, where all the groups have the same vein that fills them and positions them in a brotherhood, and where the people find no just a guild with active and lively people, also a place in the city where you will throb, live, learn and respect art.
Wilson Zapata Executive Director, Elemental Teather, Medellín. -
A la Fundación le quiero expresar mi mayor gratitud por lo incondicionales que han sido en estos pasos tan importantes para mi vida, creo que no me cansaré de darles las gracias por el apoyo. El mayor compromiso que tengo es siempre llevar a todos lados los valores que nos han inculcado y esforzarme cada día más para hacer grandes aportes a mi pueblo, comunidad y país. No me canso de decir mil y mil gracias por contribuir a cumplir mis sueños.
Daniel Porras Serna Laws Student, Medellín’s University. -
Gracias a Huella Viva ahora puedo comenzar a hacer lo que yo he querido con mi predio, a cumplir un sueño mientras trabajo por cuidar el bosque, ojalá sean más como yo que puedan salir adelante con ayuda del proyecto.
Iluminada Ospina Huella Viva Project’s Beneficiary. -
We are very happy with the delivery of the water filter because it will give us many health benefits, receiving the filter at home is as exciting as when we brought the refrigerator or stove, it will bring us a lot of well-being.
Isidro Pinzón Vereda San Marcos, Roncesvalle. -
The mangrove is life, it is wealth. That is why we have to take care of it, because we eat the fish that are raised in it, from there we get everything, it protects us from the tide, it is a source of life. For these and more reasons we must restore it.
Alejandro Quintero Community Leader Bocacerrada. -
The students feel motivated to participate in these environmental meetings of the Green Live Program and have become aware of the importance of preserving, conserving and caring for natural resources as an important element that is part of the environmental component.
Edgar Ospina Teacher, IE San Pablo Headquarters, Támesis Municipality.
Learn about our management report
Crecer en Paz Foundation
The Crecer en Paz Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2015 by the initiative of Grupo Argos, to strengthen the social fabric in the Montes de María region, by promoting the development of the peasants of El Carmen de Bolívar and Ovejas. For this purpose, it received a donation of 6,600 hectares of productive land and financial resources from the Grupo Argos Foundation.
With this vision, the Crecer en Paz Foundation launched a sustainable territorial development model involving 400 peasant families from El Carmen de Bolívar and Ovejas. During the process, 10 associations were formed, eight of which were made up of 250 landless peasant families. These associations received more than 5,000 million pesos in productive investments such as water reservoirs, irrigation systems, technical equipment, packing plants, and other assets that have allowed them to consolidate their productive projects.
In 2023, in line with its strategy, the Crecer en Paz Foundation formalized the donation of more than 1,200 hectares to the eight peasant associations, meaning that 250 families now own the lands where they develop their productive projects. There were 19 properties valued at approximately COP 7,700 million.
In this model, the peasant families decided to work collectively on the land. The Foundation provided them with ongoing technical and social support, as well as seed capital. Eight years later, these associations have consolidated at their own pace, featuring women’s leadership, and the vast majority have received public co-financing resources.
In 2021, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, through the National Parks Unit, declared 400 hectares as a Civil Society Natural Reserve Area. This is a very relevant contribution to the conservation of the tropical dry forest, threatened in that region of the country.
With this work, the Crecer en Paz Foundation has contributed to rebuilding the social fabric, creating bonds of trust among the communities based on a model that consolidates the relationship between producers and buyers under fair conditions. Today, all products from the associations have guaranteed commercialization.
Through supermarket chains or restaurants, thousands of Colombians can enjoy the traditional products of the Montes de María region such as honey, beans, yam, sweet potato, and vegetables, grown by the 400 families that make up the peasant associations supported by the Grow in Peace Foundation.
Additionally, to contribute to the reconstruction of the social fabric in this area of the country, the Grow in Peace Foundation donated about 1,300 hectares to the National Land Agency that are not subject to any claim or restitution process.
Likewise, the Grow in Peace Foundation has and efficiently complied with restitution rulings and has donated land and invested resources in productive projects benefiting the peasant communities of the region.
