Two decades of promoting sustainable territorial development were celebrated on July 20: the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation held an event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of PDCIS, the Program for Development and Integrated Growth with Sustainability. The meeting brought together around 150 people in the city of Presidente Tancredo Neves (BA), including representatives from the state government, municipal authorities, social investors, members of the Novonor Group, partner NGOs, as well as farmers and young beneficiaries, to celebrate the achievements of two decades of the Social Program coordinated by the Foundation.
The theme chosen for the event was “literatura de cordel” (a traditional Brazilian folk literature), as a way of honoring the Northeastern heritage of the Social Program, created in the state of Bahia by the Pernambucan businessman Norberto Odebrecht, who was also the founder of the Novonor Group and the Foundation. The theme was present in the decoration, in the conduct of the meeting and in the commemorative video of the 20 Years of PDCIS, shown at the event and available by clicking here.
In the opening, the superintendent of the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation, Fabio Wanderley, recalled the lessons learned in 20 years of PDCIS implementation. “Today, in the prime of its youth, PDCIS looks back at its achievements and carries within itself great vitality and courage, as typical of this stage, associated with many plans and aspirations,” he said. “I desire to continuously offer quality education to more young people, to promote economic development in the most remote and isolated communities, and even in large urban centers, never forgetting to help conserve and preserve the environment, thereby expanding the impacts to more and more communities,” he asserted.
Francisco Cruz do Nascimento, member of the Board of Education of Traditional Peoples and Communities, representing the Bahia State Department of Education, was also part of the opening table of the event. In his speech, he shared how the Social Program has become a reference for the Secretariat and for himself. “The Foundation provided the ruler and compass [a reference to Fabio Wanderley’s speech that mentioned Gilberto Gil] to the youth of Baixo Sul – and it gave me this ruler and compass to chart a path as an educator. PDCIS is a great example when we talk about human development and mobilizing society to work for success,” he said.
The mayor of Presidente Tancredo Neves, Antônio Mendes, who was also present at the table, spoke about the pride of being the manager of one of the first cities benefited by PDCIS. “We feel enormous gratitude for the care with which this Social Program has operated in our city. The beneficiaries were the farmers and the children of farmers who, today, are seeking education and training, and we owe this to the municipality and the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation,” said the mayor.
Testimonials
In addition to institutional speeches, moments of tribute and themed cultural celebrations, such as the presentation of Seu Barbosinha, a local accordion player, the event’s program featured a round of conversation with four PDCIS beneficiaries. One of them was Martinha da Conceição, a farmer who receives technical assistance from the Land Conservation Organization (OCT), and she shared about the impacts of the Program on her life: “I started my farm from scratch, with the help of the OCT technicians.” Before, I had to work for others to survive. Now I am very happy because I no longer depend on anyone. I can proudly say that I am a farmer,” she said. “For this, I am very grateful to PDCIS, OCT and everyone who assists me,” she added.
In addition to the approximately 150 guests present at the event, the live broadcast of the gathering was viewed over 490 times on the social media channels of the Norberto Odebrecht Foundation.
