The Odebrecht Foundation coordinates the Program for Development and Growth Integrated with Sustainability – PDCIS. Its operations are now dedicated primarily to the Bahia Southern Lowlands Environmental Protection Areas Mosaic, where approximately 285,000 people live. The work is focused on building an innovative social technology that calls together different social actors within a comprehensive development strategy. It is a model that simultaneously supports four capitals: Human – contextual education; Production – generation of jobs and income; Social – construction of a more just and fair society; and Environmental – conservation of natural resources. Within this context, four Family Homes – civil associations focused on teaching based on the reality of the rural regions – help offer training in agriculture, agribusiness, forests and fish farming.

With Trade-Off Teaching, where students spend one week full-time in both the classroom and the field, and then two weeks on the properties of their families, according to Graciela Mends Ribeiro Reis, Vice Chair of Organization & Governance at the Odebrecht Foundation, the youth are oriented “to assume a unique role with their families and communities, responsible for effective sustainable transformation around them.” Also part of this model is the Youth Home High School, the institution in which the students receive a formal education adapted to the reality of the rural region. For the area of Production capital, family farmers like Jairo Damasceno, resident of the Bahia municipality of Camamu, use strategic cooperatives to access technologies that help them boost their productivity, add economic and social values to their crops and receive sales support through specialized partnerships. This gives producer families access to technology and also improved income return by growing manioc, produce, heart of palm and fish farming.

Involved with cooperativism since 2009, Damasceno completed his first heart of palm harvest in 2012 and has recorded earnings of more than R$ 26,000 per year. “This crop has drastically improved my 28 29 life, giving me the means to remain in the rural zone in a dignified way,” he said. In the PDCIS Program, three cooperatives gather together 840 members. Under this program model, the citizen focus is developed through the Rights and Citizenship Institute, which contributes toward local communities through production inclusion and access to public policies.

The actions include the issuing of free basic personal documentation and land titling. During the first half of 2015, 3,129 people were assisted and 341 were trained. For the Environmental Capital, the Land Conservation Association works to promote soil, flora and fauna conservation and revitalize the region’s water resources. To achieve this goal, it has encouraged different initiatives, such as reforestati on and production conservation. When combined, all of the PDCIS Program initiatives promote education, the generation of jobs and incom e, with citizenship and respect for the environment: a replicable innovative development and growth model that is recognized nationally and internationally.

Presence That Continues To Mark History:

Member of the Odebrecht S.A. Board of Directors and Odebrecht Foundation Board of Trustees, Luiz Villar joined the Group in 1968. To highlight the phrase of one youngster during his last visit to the Bahia Southern Lowlands together with Norberto Odebrecht, who emphasized how the foundation is a synthesis of the spirit of service. “I heard that he was happy to have received training for life,” he said. For Villar, the focus on youth development through work makes the foundation an example for the Group’s other businesses.

Learn More About Some Of The Awards Received By The Odebrecht

2005 – TOP SOCIAL AWARD: The most important social responsibility award for Brazil’s North/Northeast was granted for the Odebrecht Foundation work focused on the state’s development.

2006 – DESTAQUE AWARD: Odebrecht was one of the 25 companies chosen to be part of the 2006 Exame Good Corporate Citizenship Guide. In one of the categories, the highlight was on the Odebrecht Foundation PDCIS Program.

6TH ETHOS JOURNALISM AWARD: The Odebrecht Foundation documentary was the winner in the Electronic Media – Television category.

2008 – 2ND BRAZIL ODM: The institution was the only company foundation to earn recognition for including the different Millennium Development Goals in a single initiative.

2010 – UNITED NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD: The PDCIS Program, the only action recognized in Latin America, won in the category “Improving Citizen Participation in Public DecisionMaking Processes through Innovative Mechanisms.”

2014 – NATIONAL AND LATIN AMERICAN AWARD FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE: Granted by Ecuador’s Fidal Foundation, it awards the innovation of professors, personalities and organizations on a global level who stand out for their social and educational contribution in those countries in which they are present.