Having been evaluated by the Abrinq Foundation for its commitment to children and adolescents, the Presidente Tancredo Neves Rural Producers’ Cooperative (Coopatan in Portuguese) received the right to use the Child Friendly Company Program seal on its packaging and other communication and promotional materials. Approximately 890 institutions across Brazil use the initiative’s seal, created 20 years ago, and which has already directly benefited more than 9 million children and adolescents.

The Child Friendly Company Program seal recognizes companies committed to children and adolescents “Social responsibility and carrying out activities, in line with the Statute of the Child and the Adolescent, have always been included in our commitments. In addition to having many young people as associates, we believe that we need to think of initiatives which benefit the families and communities”, confirmed Ailton Pereira, the Coopatan CEO. In order to achieve this, the cooperative needed to show that its productive chain, which starts with production in the farmers’ fields, to processing and selling food, such as sweet cassava, bananas and pineapples, does not use child labor.

Starting in 2018, Coopatan’s packaging for cassava flour and fermented cassava paste will feature the Child Friendly Company Program seal. The Odebrecht Foundation supports the cooperative through the Development and Integrated Growth Program with Sustainability (PDCIS in Portuguese).