The year 2004 was marked by countless changes in the lives of the Bahia Southern Lowlands families. With the mission of organizing and strengthening the social capital, creating the circumstances for the full exercise of citizenship, the activities began at the Rights and Citizenship Institute (IDC) – one of the entities associated with the Bahia Southern Lowlands Environmental Protection Area Mosaic Program for Development and Growth Integrated with Sustainability (PDCIS), supported by the Odebrecht Foundation together with public and private partners.

Ten years later, with four permanent units located in the Bahia municipalities of Camamu, Nilo Peçanha, Presidente Tancredo Neves and Valença, IDC has offered 350,000 appointments, benefitting more than 100,000 people.

“During this time, we learned the importance of doing things together, of being united to work toward a common goal and building solutions for the development of our region,” emphasized Maria Celeste Pereira, Executive Director IDC.

The institute works through two centers: Citizen Assistance, offering access the public policies (such as the issuing of basic civil documentation: worker’s card and identification card, among others), and Education for Citizenship, designed to train community leaders and qualify the Municipal Board for the Rights of Children and Adolescents (CMDCA) and Guardianship Councils of the Southern Lowlands.

On May 27, an event was held to celebrate the 10 years of IDC, which gathered together the community, Members and local partners at the Novo Horizonte Farm, head office of the Presidente Tancredo Neves Rural Family Home in Bahia. Also attending were representatives of the executive, legislative and judicial branches from the municipalities of Valença and Camamu, from CMDCA and the Guardianship Council.

“IDC works to interact with the surrounding community and its mission is to serve citizens,” explained João Nildo, Coordinator of the IDC Social-Productive Inclusion area, who has worked at the institution since 2004. “We started a dialogue and through this process, we were able to contribute toward the development of the region’s residents. I’m very proud to be part of the history of this institution and contribute toward the transformation in the lives of many of the families in the place where I live,” emphasized Nildo.

Luiz Rocha, Secretary of Planning and President of the Presidente Tancredo Neves CMDCA, stated: “I want to congratulate all of those for being part of this initiative,” he said. “The many strong words of phrase expressed here only confirm the importance of the grandiose service offered by IDC to the municipalities of the Southern Lowlands.” For Celeste Pereira, “the achievements should be celebrated and encourage new and bigger challenges.”