FUNDAÇÃO PRÓ-CERRADO (PRO-CERRADO FOUNDATION)

Organizational Vision
Citizen Base Strategy
How It's Working
Lessons Learned

Organizational Vision

Fundação Pró-Cerrado tackles both unemployment and the destruction of Brazil’s environment by turning unemployed youth into paid environmental activists. Founded by Ashoka Fellow Adair Antonio de Freitas Meira, Pró-Cerrado trains disadvantaged youth as environmental educators, then places them in paid internships with local industries where they earn valuable supplemental incomes for their families and spark environmentally-friendly reforms within companies.

The students, all of whom must attend school regularly, study environmental preservation and acquire vocational skills like basic administration, mailroom work and computer skills. After two months of training, they are then placed in jobs with partner companies where they function as company-sanctioned environmental educators, teaching fellow workers about environmental issues and concrete solutions like power and water conservation, waste collection and land management. These young people help preserve the largely unprotected Brazilian savannah, which covers 100% of the state of Goiás and 24% of the country, and Pró-Cerrado pays them to do so. More than 12,000 students have participated in the Pró-Cerrado’s Young Citizen Program, and the organization employs 100 full-time support staff, including teachers, administrators, social workers, psychologists, and professors.

Citizen Base Strategy

Diversify resources by partnering with both the public and private sectors

Pró-Cerrado leverages the cooperation of both the public and private sectors to create a strong, diverse, and economically robust support base. For-profit companies, who can typically afford to pay more substantial fees for services, provide Pró-Cerrado 10% over the minimum wage for their interns, covering the organization’s cost of training the youth and compensating for several of the partner non-profit organizations who may not be able to accommodate the full cost. Currently, 60% of Pró-Cerrado’s operating budget comes from private sector donations and pro bono support. Private companies hire 86% of students when their internship ends.

Partnering with public institutions has also had its advantages for Pró-Cerrado. In 2000, the Brazilian Government’s Office for Public Defense donated a large building and substantial amount of furniture and equipment to Pró-Cerrado. The building, now the hub of Pró-Cerrado’s national operations, was completely remodeled to meet the demands of new projects, and currently includes departments dedicated to social, educational and environmental activities, as well as cultural and professional endeavors. Pró-Cerrado also counts the Federal Ministry of Labor as an important partner as it supports part of the training efforts, primarily through the FAT fund (Worker Support Fund). Money from this fund supports an extension program in the form of traveling buses that bring computer skills and other courses to young people at home in their communities. Pró-Cerrado maintains partnerships with 1,500 public companies and 2,000 private enterprises, and currently operates in 23 cities in the states of Goiás and Tocantins, with plans to expand nationally.

Develop physical resources to attract and expand community support

Pró-Cerrado considers the best way to attract more support is to be noticeably and prominently successful, and has discovered that developing physical resources as well as people leads to increased visibility and backing. Pró-Cerrado’s headquarters are located in a large public space (130,000 square meters), which the organization restored through a carefully planned revitalization campaign. Pró-Cerrado designed a model for integrated public administration and won the support of valuable partners including the government, entrepreneurs, and the local community. Currently, Parque da Criança - Children's Park - is an example of the transforming capacity of the community and the power of physical space as a way to attract support and awareness of the organization. The former neglect, weeds and vandalism have been replaced by community sports, educational activities, and a new level of citizenship awareness, which in turn attracts new partners and volunteers to Pró-Cerrado.

How It’s Working

• A large hydro-electric company requested Pró-Cerrado to help them plan how to work with local residents when their new plant is constructed.

• Pró-Cerrado reaches a national audience through the National Conference of Environmental Education and its methodologies are being observed and adopted by NGOs across Brazil.

• Pró-Cerrado publishes a bimonthly newsletter, with 5,000 copies covering its activities.

• In a testament to its popularity, Pró-Cerrado recently implemented a toll-free informational telephone number to answer questions and respond to the growing demand for information about the organization.

Lessons Learned

• Have faith in your idea. Meira believes that as the local community is educated about the environment, they will work to protect it.

• Expand when appropriate. To complement Pró-Cerrado’s growth, the organization has expanded its programs to address more needs, while always promoting ecological and economic sustainability. One such project involves the creation of a trade school to train eligible youths in tourism and hotel services, as well as in cattle raising techniques for the Vale do Araguaia region.

• Spread a consistent message. Pró-Cerrado’s youth program pioneered a paradigm of "citizen-based business," constantly encouraging companies to adopt "green" and "socially-conscious" practices regarding recycling, electricity use, and employment policies.

• Campaign your cause. Pró-Cerrado is mounting a forestry bank to allow farmers to borrow seedlings on credit and repay the bank once the trees mature. To stimulate the process, Pró-Cerrado launched a public campaign called SOS-Cerrado, to preserve the native plants of the area. A publicity poster portrays a sapling tree growing out of a young person's hand, with the text, "I planted a change."

“Taking risks is the best way to get support. In the private sector, people thrive on taking high risk. Sometimes social entrepreneurs don’t take risk. We took the risk of assuming the entire legal responsibility for the children for these companies, which was a great, great risk but the companies would not have agreed had we not done this.