Project Selection Event

BrazilFoundation kicks off an innovative project in celebration of its 10th Anniversary

BrazilFoundation gathered members of its Rio de Janeiro and New York based teams along with fourty leaders of the twenty grantee organizations, and a group of expert advisers, in a hotel located inside the Itatiaia National Park in Rio de Janeiro. Surrounded by the Atlantic Rainforest, the group of 60 people exchanged ideas and experiences and were given the necessary tools to develop the project BrazilFoundation 10 Years.  The 2011 grantee organizations are past BrazilFoundation grantees and are thus part of the Foundation’s history. Together with BrazilFoundation, the grantees will capture their experiences and methodologies while evaluating the results of their work.

Training workshops were held in three areas: Memory, Institutional Organization, and program evaluation.  The Museu da Pessoa (Museum of the Person) staff – a virtual museum that collects stories of everyday people and values “memory” as a tool for social and cultural development  - spoke about how the memory of an organization can and must be captured as a basis for its identity and for its future. Hector Berthier, a sociologist from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and an expert on youth and urban issues, guided the institutional organization workshop focusing on the possibility of replicating the methodology to other contexts. Finally, sociologist Caio Silveira, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, spoke about the method of participatory evaluation and its importance for organizational management.

Leaders of the grantee organizations found a space where they could share their work, learn about the work of other grantee institutions, and the different customs and stories from so many different parts of the country.

Edisvânio Nascimento, from Rádio Comunitária Santa Luz FM (Santa Luz Community Radio Station), presented his “Repente” (Brazilian folk tradition from the Northeast that combines poetry, music and improvisation).

Click here to watch the video (In Portuguese.)

The tribal chief Maria Muniz de Andrade, Mayá, her indigenous name, spoke about her tribe’s traditional costumes.
Click here to watch the video (In Portuguese.)

After four days of work and activities, managers were able to delve into the Project 10 Years’ proposal, to retrieve and share their stories and reflect on their practices. In the coming months, they will be guided by BrazilFoundation’s team and consultants to analyze and evaluate their challenges and achievements and to build a future vision based on institutional strengthening and sustainability.

Visit the BrazilFoundation 10 Years’ Blog  to learn more about the 2011 grantee organizations.