Casa Familiar Rural in Bahia is selected for Criança Esperança

Odebrecht Foundation partner school will receive resources from Rede Globo’s initiative in 2021

Casa Familiar Rural of Presidente Tancredo Neves (CFR-PTN), located in the city of Bahia that gives its name to the institution, was selected to receive funds from Criança Esperança. Chosen for the project “education of adolescents, future rural entrepreneurs of family agriculture”, the Odebrecht Foundation’s partner school in the realization of the PDCIShis Social Program, is part of the 111 social initiatives of the country contemplated by Rede Globo’s campaign in partnership with UNESCO.

With implementation planned for 2021, the contribution will be allocated to part of the institution’s costs with food, human resources, transport and maintenance. According to Quionei Araújo, CFR-PTN’s director, the new partnership gives even more security for next year: “The pandemic scenario has affected everyone. Having a guarantee for 2021 is very important and brings a little more peace of mind to continue the education of young people in the best possible way, always with the same quality,” he says.

Magnison dos Santos (right) is one of the students at CFR-PTN, the school selected by Criança Esperança

This is the second time that Casa Familiar is contemplated by Criança Esperança, which demonstrates the reliability and solidity that the institution inspires – the first time was in 2015. For Araújo, the news reinforces the desire to “work to have more and better results”. And, for that, together with the pedagogical team, the educator is already outlining the school’s plans for next year.

Beatriz Lepikson, responsible for the Social Partnerships at the Odebrecht Foundation, also highlights that signing new partnership contracts contributes to the sustainability of the institutions. “Through our Social Program, PDCIS, we are all articulated and mobilized for social transformation. Achievements of this nature are fundamental so we can continue developing our actions on behalf of the communities”.

Rural contextualized education

Civil Society Organization recognized by the Ministry of Education (MEC) and the Education Department of Bahia (SEC) CFR-PTN is part of the UNESCO Associated Schools Program, and offers the technical certificate courses in Agriculture integrated to high school, benefiting over 100 students annually. The education process encompasses a curricular matrix contextualized to the realities of the students through the Pedagogy of Alternation, which optimizes their time and mitigates the difficulties of displacement in rural areas: they spend a week in school at full-time, with theoretical and practical classes, and two weeks on their families’ properties, applying the new knowledge in their productive projects, under the supervision of specialized monitors.

For Magnison dos Santos, 17, a 12^th grade student at CFR-PTN, Casa Familiar has expanded his possibilities in agriculture. “Before I started going to the school, my family only planted cocoa, but we were not very careful. I didn’t see the prospect of field working. My family didn’t work on our property because we had no income to invest. Today, I look at what I’ve already built with the support of CFR-PTN and I know that we don’t have to depend on other people or leave the countryside anymore,” he says.

Along with his family, Magnison currently grows bananas, cocoa and has poultry and pig projects. According to the student, new partnerships such as that of Criança Esperança represent opportunities for more adolescents to be impacted by the institution. “As a young entrepreneur, it’s very exciting to know that more people will believe in our dreams,” he says.