FRIDA Awards Ceremony at the IGF

This Tuesday, LACNIC's Regional Fund for Digital Innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean (FRIDA) held the ceremony where the two winners received their FRIDA 2016 Awards: AgriNeTT by the University of West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago) and the Mexicoleaks platform (Mexico).

The two winning initiatives were presented with their awards during a special ceremony held within the framework of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The awards were presented together with the Seed Alliance, a collaboration program between LACNIC, APNIC and AFRINIC, for their FRIDA, ISIF Asia, and FIRE initiatives. Seed Alliance promotes and funds initiatives that contribute to local and global Internet development in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

The ceremony was attended by Oscar Robles, LACNIC CEO; Carolina Caeiro, responsible for the FRIDA Program; Laurent Elder, program leader for Information and Networks (I&N) at IDRC; Raul Echeberría, ISOC Vice President for Global Engagement; and Sebastián Bellagamba, ISOC Regional Bureau Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

During the ceremony Oscar Robles highlighted that one of the program´s goals is to "look for projects that have a real impact on our society". Caeiro, head of the LACNIC program, noted that "it is an honor and a joy for FRIDA to celebrate its twelfth awards ceremony and to honor AgriNett and Mexicoleaks, two leading projects in the region that have shown how the Internet can become an instrument for the economic strengthening of rural communities and promote independent pro-transparency media in the region, respectively."

Caeiro highlighted the fact that the ceremony was held together with LACNIC's Seed Alliance partners. "Presenting these awards along with our peer programs in Africa and Asia and learning about other innovative initiatives in the countries of the Southern hemisphere inspires us," she added.

Winners of the FRIDA Awards

AgriNeTT is a project by the University of West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago) which brings ICTs to the country's agricultural sector, promoting the use of digital tools within the community of producers and agricultural institutions to help them lead the sector's economic growth and increase its competitiveness.

Mexicoleaks is an independent whistleblowing platform for revealing information and promoting transparency in the public interest in Mexico.

About FRIDA

The Regional Fund for Digital Innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean (FRIDA) is a LACNIC initiative supported by the International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC) and the Internet Society (ISOC). This year, the program awarded a total of US$235,000 to innovative initiatives and notable projects in the field of ICT in Latin America and the Caribbean.