Everlane Souza, 16, arrives for another week of classes at the Agroforestry Family House (Cfaf in Portuguese), where she attends the third year of the Technical Professional Course in Forests, knowing what to expect: a cornucopia new knowledge. Through the Pedagogy of Alternation, where she spends five there days boarded at the institution and 15 with her family, applying all that she has learned, the teenager is becoming a rural businesswoman. Besides the theoretical and practical training necessary for the formation, another ingredient contributes to Everlane being prepared for life: the Odebrecht Entrepreneurial Technology (TEO in Portuguese). 

TEO is a philosophy conceived by Norberto Odebrecht and based on the values received in family education. Systematized through books, and edited and marketed by the Odebrecht Foundation’s Editorial Program, it is also made available to institutions supported in the Southern Bahia Lowlands, such as Cfaf. “Education through work for me is very important, just as in the care of my organic garden,” Everlane said when speaking about one of TEO’s concepts practiced by her, where learning is gained through practice.

For Débora de Jesus, farmer and former student of the Rural Family House of Igrapiúna (CFR-I in Portuguese), TEO’s teachings marked her life. “It (the House) has ensured me many teachings through the books, as the certainty that discipline generates trust and that we should serve well to keep on serving. This is what I believe and apply to my community,” she said. Graduated in 2015 by CFR-I, Débora is an associate of the Southern Bahia Lowlands Hearts-of-Palm Producers’ Cooperative (Coopalm in Portuguese), also supported by the Foundation through the PDCIS Program, where it guarantees the commercialization of its hearts-of-palm production.

Important not only for beneficiaries, TEO is also a reference in social institutions, such as the Right and Citizenship Institute (IDC in Portuguese). “I usually associate IDC’s results and the image that we have built to TEO’s teachings,” says Executive Director Maria Celeste Pereira. The IDC Community Mediator, Joína Oliveira, emphasizes that professional living is easier when there is an association with the principles of the technology. “We see opportunities in people and we can make a difference in their lives. This for me is the very Spirit of Service,” she says.

Editorial Program

The publications that systematize TEO are part of the Editorial Program’s Acquis and are currently edited and marketed by the Odebrecht Foundation. You can buy the books, some of them in three languages and also in a digital version (eBook).