The Strong NGO Award, an initiative of the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation and the Maria Emília Foundation, had its results announced on Monday (13). After eight weeks of evaluation, carried out by four specialized commissions, the public notice announced that the Association of Residents of Conjunto de Santa Luzia was the winner among the 30 institutions registered in Salvador (BA).
Created in 1989, Santa Luzia Association works to mobilize the residents of the Uruguai district to guarantee basic rights such as housing, basic sanitation, education, health and leisure. Among other projects, the organization maintains the LuizaMahin Community School, which assists around 300 children; organizes a Bank and a Community Fund to support the residents; and carries out cultural and sports activities.
Now, the institution is to receive personalized advisory services to support its management from the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation, and a BRL25,000 grant from the Maria Emília Foundation to boost its work. “This qualification will help a lot, because we have much to learn about the technical part of management. With this qualification, we will be able to deliver better results to our community, do a better job, and thus reap better fruits”, affirmed Danielson Vieira, leader of the Tax Committee of the Association, during the announcement of the award.
Strengthening
The winner of the Strong NGO Award will have access to a boost that, in the Third Sector, has a name already: institutional strengthening.
“Institutional strengthening is about providing support for the management, governance, and teams of NGOs so that they can do their social work in a more efficient and transparent way,” explains Fabio Wanderley, superintendent of the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation. “And granting this opportunity to an organization in Salvador marks our efforts to turn to the capital of Bahia as well, taking our action to more territories,” he says.
For ThamileAccioly, executive director of the Maria Emília Foundation, the support for an educational NGO is a reflection of what has moved the institution in its 25 years of existence. “We have always had education as one of our main pillars. This is why boosting an NGO that promotes the education of children and teenagers is so important to us. This collaborative work to promote social inclusion and transform people’s lives is part of what we believe in,” she says.
