“In viewing the future, we see ourselves helping those in need and eventually positioning Dianova as a benchmark institution for social action in Spain”
Would you please introduce yourself and present your professional career?
I started my professional relationship with Dianova Spain in 2011 as Director General. As regards my career, I have held a number of responsibilities for more than 20 years in various companies and organizations – my career has spanned many aspects from university professor and researcher, to general manager, head of communications and international cooperation officer, consultant, etc.
Who makes up the rest of the management team?
Firstly, our Board of directors consists of seven people, four of whom have no working relations with Dianova and three belong to the Dianova network. The management team per se is comprised of myself, in my position as director general, and the human resources department, directed and supervised by Ms. Rosa Maria Frias. Rosa has over 25 years of professional experience and holds a master’s degree in Industrial and organizational psychology.
Can you describe the organization’s areas of activity?
Our work is in line with the common mission of the Dianova network, i.e. “promoting personal self-reliance and social progress”. As part of this mission, our social purposes include prevention, intervention and reintegration in the various areas related to substance abuse and addiction; the development of educational programs for youth and in the field of family mediation; support for the social and vocational integration of people in situations of high personal and social risks; education and health promotion; development cooperation, and lastly, the development of gender equality and volunteer work in all our programs and actions.
What were your greatest achievements since 2010?
In these four years, our association has had many achievements. I will not list them all, but among those most noteworthy, one could mention the way we’ve been able to successfully diversify our services and funding sources; our professionalization and ongoing improvement of the quality of services; the implementation of a new human resources management model; and the development of policies and programs on work-life balance.
Personally, what I am most proud of is to have joined this organization, to believe in the essential values it conveys; being able to share with the people who endeavor to make its vision and mission come true is something for which I’m immensely proud. They all share knowledge, experience and skills; they all strive to achieve our goals. It’s a great privilege for me to work with teams that are so committed, proactive and positive and at the same time capable of providing a strong sense of belonging. Dianova works with people for people. Nothing could be more motivating!
What difficulties have you experienced since 2010 ?
The main difficulty has been to ensure the financial viability of the organization; the economic crisis that we’ve been experiencing for several years has resulted in a significant decrease in revenue. Similarly, we have been faced to the evolution of the drug and drug addiction phenomenon, how it affects people and how it is perceived socially. It is up to us anyway to consider these difficulties as mere challenges and opportunities and to take the right decisions while anticipating and adapting to change.
How do you see the future of Dianova ?
We don’t know what the future holds but we see ourselves carrying out our mission, helping those in need, providing services and eventually positioning Dianova as a benchmark institution for social action in Spain, with high social impact and visibility. Our strategy will allow us to increase our revenue while providing more and better services.
We will also be able to maintain or even increase our workforce, we will coordinate and streamline effective responses, offer more innovative services through a better quality management system. We will eventually become the best place to work in our sector while fulfilling the fundamental value of transparency and good governance. It is in this prospect that we now work on a culture of anticipation which allows us to maintain a management model which is not only effective and rigorous but also socially and economically sustainable – with support from the talented people with whom we work in Dianova Spain.
