In celebration of Black Awareness Day and the International Year of Afro-Descendants, Black Awareness Week was held from November 16-20 in the municipalities that make up Bahia’s Southern Lowlands.

Coordinated by the Bahia Southern Lowland Sustainable Development Institute (IDES), the actions reinforce the importance of the economic sustainability of the region’s black communities, with a focus on ethnodevelopment. The activities also promoted reflections with the participation of residents, cultural groups and quilombola leaders about public policies that affect Afro-descendants.

The event received the support of the local city governments, Municipal Departments of Education, Culture and Tourism, state and municipal high schools, public libraries, cultural groups and community and quilombola associations. “It is a feeling of victory, since we reached a gratifying result,” said Célia Prezaste, coordinator of the Valença dance group Filhos da Terra (“Children of the Earth”).

The celebration of Black Awareness Day is part of the calendar of events for the Bahia Southern Lowlands Environmental Protection Area Mosaic Integrated and Sustainable Development Program (PDIS), supported by the Odebrecht Foundation, with aims of promoting a closer relationship between the communities and PDIS.