IPS is not a newcomer to the world of international media.

IPS was born more than 40 years ago, the result of the vision and efforts of a group of journalists from around the world who were convinced of the need for a different voice among the mass media, one that provided an independent view of the events that shocked humankind, one free of ties to any state or political or economic group.

The aim was to give voice to the countries of the South, the socially excluded ethnic groups and populations, the poor and the marginalized. To sound the alarm launched by many individuals and social organisations all over the world in the late 1960s regarding the serious state of the natural environment, the dramatic problems caused by massive migrations, the violation of the most basic human rights, the hunger suffered by a substantial portion of the world population, and the limited access to education and health services for billions of people.

Along the path that IPS has followed over the years, thousands of journalists have worked for the agency and several generations of managerial groups have served at its helm; technological advances have revolutionised our societies and have multiplied the impacts and influence of the media. Some countries have disappeared, new countries have been born, superpowers emerged and vanished - the world has turned into a single global reality.

IPS adapted to all these changes, embraced new technologies and reflected the new reality in its news coverage. It is not for us to judge how successful we have been in meeting these new challenges, but we do know that despite the changes, IPS has remained faithful to its original goal, which is more valid and urgent than ever.

The agency's 40 years of history are testimony to the legitimacy and seriousness of the IPS mission.

The challenges of our times are the greatest that IPS has faced in its history, but the current state of the communications media leaves an enormous space for our agency, and it is our responsibility to fill it.

Now, more than ever, among the voices that report and analyse world events, an independent and alternative voice is needed: a voice that informs from the viewpoint of the countries and peoples excluded from the benefits of globalisation, a voice that takes the gender perspective into account and gives the multifaceted actors of organised civil society the recognition they deserve. We need a strong voice, one that is not merely testimonial. In this sense, the development of IPS itself has created previously unimagined opportunities for rapid growth.

In a scenario of increasing concentration of the global media in the hands of transnational corporations, to be competitive is ever more difficult for an independent media outlet: more resources are always needed, and are difficult to obtain without losing independence.

Independence is needed to maintain IPS's role as critical witness, unbeholden to any political or economic power. Resources are needed to maintain IPS's presence in all global issues and geographic areas, and to transcend the marginal, testimonial role to which discordant voices are usually relegated.

As always, but now more than ever, the only resources to which IPS can aspire come from those in government, international organisations, civil society, the cultural and academic worlds, corporations and trade unions, who - regardless of whether they agree with the agency's editorial line - believe in the need for a voice like that of IPS.

This is why we are turning to you this time. IPS has enormous responsibilities and great possibilities for development. To meet its obligations and to make the most of opportunities, IPS needs to project itself into the future, to live and to grow.