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In addition to its role of influencing the portfolio companies to commit to embedding social value creation into their business models, Votorantim invests in initiatives focused on citizenship and education—recently, due to the pandemic, health was also included on the list. These projects are developed in partnership with the Votorantim Institute.
In 2020, the Votorantim Institute implemented projects in 252 municipalities in Brazil, in addition to initiatives carried out abroad. The coronavirus pandemic significantly impacted the work of the organization in two aspects, which were successfully faced: it required the review of part of the activities planned for the year and presented the challenge of creating a specific strategy to address the COVID-19 crisis.
One example is the Partnership for the Enhancement of Education (Parceria pela Valorização da Educação, PVE), the focus of which was directed to supporting the 75 participating municipalities in addressing the effects of the pandemic on education systems. Issues that were broadly discussed included enabling virtual learning, adapting educational tools, planning for classes to resume and ways to recover the gap in learning.
The activities of Desafio Voluntário and Via Solidária were also maintained in an adapted format. Under the motto “It’s time to join forces”, Desafio Voluntário engaged company and contracted employees from Votorantim and portfolio companies in initiatives to address the effects of COVID-19. To maintain social distance, the activities could be done individually and remotely. At the holding company, some of the highlights included the Career Festival (learn more) and a fundraiser to support the distribution of toys and clothes to approximately 700 children from low-income communities in Vila Leopoldina, a neighborhood in São Paulo state where Votorantim maintains real estate developments. Via Solidária, in its fourth year, encourages charitable support to projects that assist vulnerable children and adolescents. In 2020, nine projects that are already supported through resources from the portfolio companies and Votorantim received donations from employees. Through donations starting at R$ 10 and that could be paid in installments, the campaign raised R$ 624,000, close to the amount raised in 2019.
The Votorantim Institute is an intelligence center and a hub for social and projects innovations that develops and implements strategies that help the companies expand their social and environmental legacy through a specific vision for each business.
In addition to supporting the social performance of Votorantim and its portfolio companies, in 2020 the Votorantim Institute started to act as a center of applied intelligence for social and environmental issues.
Citizenship
In continuity of activities initiated in the centennial year (2018) focusing on raising awareness of the importance of voting, Votorantim formalized its Citizenship Program in 2020. The initiative is based on the assumption, identified with the support of specialists and through research sponsored by the holding company, that for citizens to actively participate in society and vote consciously, political participation and the democratic culture in Brazil must be strengthened. As recent research shows, Brazil is one of the countries with the lowest level of satisfaction with democracy; the levels of knowledge and political interest of its citizens are also low and associated with a generalized mistrust toward public institutions.
To help reverse this situation and strengthen citizenship, in 2020 the activities of the Program were carried out on three fronts: raising awareness, generating knowledge and practical interventions.
The awareness front included the publication of the Guia do Voto (Voting Guide) – Municipal Elections, authored by political scientist Humberto Dantas to explain the processes of representative democracy in Brazilian cities and help citizens vote consciously. The book was distributed free of charge, in both printed and digital format, both to employees of the portfolio companies and to external specialists and organizations.
Another initiative in this area was Cidadania em Cena, an online event featuring discussions on political education, social participation and the future of democracy, open to the general public. Held between September 29 and October 8, the event was shown live on Votorantim Institute’s YouTube channel, with the participation of more than 20 local and international specialists and researchers, and was promoted by all companies in the Votorantim portfolio.
A special edition of Vototalks entitled “The neuroscience of citizenship” was held specifically for employees of the portfolio companies. It included the participation of political scientist Humberto Dantas and neuroscientist Carla Tieppo. On that occasion, the experts talked about how current issues in society can be explained by neural mechanisms in the brain and what each citizen can do to help strengthen a democratic culture.
Activities of knowledge generation included support to research initiatives, such as the application, in Brazil, of the “2020 Values in a Crisis” survey, from the World Value Survey Association. The results pointed out the impact that extreme crisis situations, such as the pandemic, have on individual moral and democratic values, and motivated the creation of a network of organizations and experts to discuss the systemic causes and effects of the weak national democratic culture, which will continue holding discussions in 2021.
In practical interventions, Votorantim advanced the activities of the Citizenship Lab (Lab Cidadania), an initiative that aims to identify effective methods to develop a democratic culture and foster political participation at the local level and help improve three electoral indicators: abstention, blank and void ballots, and 16- and 17-year-old voters.
To achieve this goal, in 2019, Votorantim launched a call for proposals and selected six organizations, which presented five methodological proposals to be tested in municipalities where the portfolio companies operate.
These projects were carried out between January and August 2020 and benefited more than 2,200 people directly and more than 140,000 citizens indirectly, corresponding to 46% of the population of the five municipalities. Other highlights included the strengthening of public debate in the areas, around an agenda focused on local development and the guarantee of rights, and the development of individual skills of citizens to prepare them to participate more actively in democracy.
The main lessons learned from the Citizenship Lab were shared through virtual seminars open to the public, held on Votorantim Institute’s YouTube channel with the participation of project members in the municipalities. In addition, based on these learnings, the Institute started to integrate citizenship promotion methodologies into its portfolio of social solutions, by promoting social influence and political education.
The main activities in each municipality are detailed below:
Citizenship Lab Highlights
Três Marias, in Minas Gerais, organized by Politize with support from Nexa: promotion of Dialoga! Três Marias, which brought together, virtually, citizens for rounds of discussions on public policy proposals; over 200 people participated in the project’s activities and more than 2,000 people accessed the project’s social media channels.
Miraí, in Minas Gerais, organized by Colab with support from CBA: promotion of Jornada do Cidadão, which was attended by approximately 1,200 local residents; development of teaching content on political education to be used by the local public school; awareness of more than 100,000 people through a communication strategy.
Votorantim, in São Paulo, organized by Cidade Democrática and Governo Aberto Institutes with support from Votorantim Cimentos: organization of Social Investment Agents, who promoted a public consultation about the city’s problems, with participation of 356 people; creation and implementation of social intervention projects, developed by youth in the areas of People with Disabilities (PWD), mental health, culture, sports and food security; and a mobilization campaign for young people to register to vote.
Araripina, in Pernambuco, organized by Politiquê with support from Votorantim Energia: inclusion of approximately 80 students from the ten schools participating in the project in online discussions on issues related to public policy and public engagement, through the networking of young leaders appointed by the schools.
Matão, in São Paulo, organized by Terroá Institute with support from Citrosuco: the project fostered community engagement involving local youth, in addition to training 305 teachers on civic education; Democracy Festival, a 12-hour virtual event on rights, the environment, art, education and representation, which was broadcast live and attended by 7,700 people; mobilization of young people to register to vote; and presentation of public policy proposals to more than 50 mayor and city councilor pre-candidates.
