We boost companies and organizations toward a sustainable future

We were born with the name Fundação Emílio Odebrecht (FEO), in tribute to our founder’s father. At the time, the very reason we existed was to provide members of Construtora Norberto Odebrecht (CNO) benefits Social Security did not include, such as health care, dental care, medication, education and recreation. 

Novonor - then Odebrecht S.A. - reached the number of 20 thousand members. This growth has also encouraged us: we implemented the so-called “decentralized units”, that take benefits to sites the construction contractor had started to implemented throughout Brazil. Support centers offered, among other supports, medical care and literacy courses. 

We passed to dedicate ourselves to Brazilian workers and their family, with sociocultural actions, such as debates, research grants and prizes, a milestone considered the first big turnaround in our operations. That year we launched the Fundação Emílio Odebrecht Award, the result of a partnership with the National Scientific and Technological Development Council (CNPq). 

We have assumed a new focus of action: education of teenagers, with the goal of forming responsible people, who are aware and participate, as well as of stimulating a lead-role being played by the young population.  

Starting in 1990, we supported the publishing of several books on adolescence and the leading role of the youth. In this period, we have participated in important discussions and actively contributed to creating the Children and Adolescents’ Statute (ECA), which confirmed our drive toward educating the young and their leading-role. 

In a partnership with the United Nations Fund for the Youth (Unicef), we launched the campaign “Só a escola corrige o Brasil” [The School is the Only Thing that can bring Brazil back to the right Path], that encouraged the debate on education in the country. The advertising campaign was watched by over 146 million viewers.  

We have taken a new name: Fundação Odebrecht. This year we also launched the campaign “O adolescente por uma escola melhor” [The teenager for a better school], which awarded the best proposals presented by 2,850 young people from ages 13 to 18, from 422 municipalities, in 19 Brazilian states.  

We supported the Discovery Site for Education Compact, a program that aimed at mobilization and articulation of actions for guaranteeing the entry, permanence and success of children and teenagers in schools in municipalities of the state of Bahia. 

We focused our actions on the Northeast region, passing to be part of the program “Alliance with Teenagers for the Sustainable Development of the Northeast”. It was concluded in 2004, upon the creation of the Alliance Institute, the initiative was the fruit of a partnership with the Ayrton Senna Institute, the Kellogg Foundation and the National Social and Economic Development Bank (BNDES). 

In another important turnaround in our story, we defined as the focus of our actions promoting sustainable territorial development. We created the PDCIS, our Social Program, social technology that strengthens family agriculture, respecting the vocation of communities benefited for boosting economic growth with inclusion and sustainability.  

“Tribute to the Future” was created, a campaign that raises donations to rural schools that are partners of the PDCIS and became an important initiative for resource mobilization both within and outside the Novonor Group. 

We conquered the 2nd ODM Brazil Award handed by the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, granted to projects that contribute with effective results for reaching sustainable development.  

Our Social Program, PDCIS, was acknowledged with the United Nations Public Service Award in the “Improving Citizenship Participation in Public Decision-Making Processes through Innovative Mechanisms” category. 

Our founder, Norberto Odebrecht, passed away in July of that year. We kept the commitment to keep his legacy alive, by continuing and expanding the PDCIS, wishes recorded by Norberto in his will. 

The celebration of our 50 years turned into an intensive communication campaign, which won the regional North and Northeast stages of the 42nd Aberje Award, in the Historic Responsibility and Corporate Memory category. 

We have promoted a first-of-its-kind assessment of PCDIS impact based on a methodology vested with scientific robustness. The study revealed the generation of significant social, economic and environmental impacts on the lives of beneficiaries.  

The “Tribute to the Future” campaign celebrated its 15th anniversary. Also in 2019, we were granted the Transparent NGO seal, an acknowledgment that attests to the transparency of the information we provide on the Internet, underscoring our commitment to ethical action with integrity. 

We developed the systematization of our social technology, the PDCIS in publication for the Third Sector that had been previously unheard of. Upon the launch in the same year Norberto Odebrecht would turn 100 years-old, we started the process of expanding our scope of operation. 

We have passed to be called Fundação Norberto Odebrecht, affirming the continuity of our founder’s legacy. Also in 2021, we launched the Impact Dialogs series, an initiative that gathers guests to debate themes relative to sustainability, ESG, social impact and the donation culture. 

We were elected the best NGO in Bahia and one of the best 100 NGOs in the country by the 2022 Best NGOs Award, an initiative of Instituto Doar in a partnership with O Mundo Que Queremos [The World We Want]. That same year, we started implementation of PDCIS in the Sana district, a rural community in Macaé, Rio de Janeiro.