The Rights and Citizenship Institute (IDC) assisted some 12,000 people in the Bahia Southern Lowlands in 2014. Since 2004, the partner institution of the Odebrecht Foundation has been organizing and strengthening its capital to ensure favorable circumstances and opportunities for people to fully exercise their citizenship. IDC focused on two areas through its Citizen Assistance Center and Education for Citizenship Center. At the first, it helps citizens by issuing basic civil documentation, offering legal advisory and facilitating access to the Federal Government’s Food Acquisition Program (PAA).

At the Education for Citizenship Center, the institution offers projects such as Reading Circle, which gives youth access to new knowledge through group reading; and Treading Paths, which promotes the development of adolescent citizens through workshops and training. Approximately 320 youth were benefitted last year through the two projects.

According to Maria Celeste, Executive Director of IDC, the actions in 2014 were especially dedicated to those individuals benefitted through the projects developed under the Bahia Southern Lowlands Environmental Protection Area Mosaic Program for Development and Growth Integrated with Sustainability (PDCIS), supported by the Odebrecht Foundation and public and private partners. “The IDC implemented actions designed to contribute toward the social and production inclusion of the PDCIS family units, said Celeste.

Mailza Andrade dos Santos, age 18, is a resident of the rural zone of Presidente Tancredo Neves and one of those benefitted by the initiative. “My life, thoughts and values all changed after participating in Treading Paths,” she revealed. I had a year of discoveries, challenges and new knowledge, primarily because I learned more about a very important person: myself.”