Projects
Vale Foundation’s projects and initiatives are developed and structured on Education, Basic Health, Productive Inclusion, and Social Protection, and include five Knowledge Stations. The projects are implemented in the territories in which Vale operates. On this page, you can learn more about the projects and filter considering the theme, the state or the city of operation.
Rural Development Center
The Rural Development Center of the Arari Knowledge Station seeks to be a Center of Excellence in Permaculture and Bioconstruction that promotes and generates social technologies and solutions for the sustainable production of family farming in nearby communities. Supported by the Vale Foundation, its technical partners are the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) and professors and researchers from the federal and state universities of Maranhão (UFMA and UEMA). The Center provides technical assistance and rural extension in the production process, strengthening food security and generating income for the families assisted.
Women of Maranhão Network
The Women of Maranhão Network is a collective formed by social businesses that were incubated, accelerated, and graduated by the Agir program (Support for Income Generation and Increase) on the Carajás Railroad – EFC. The social businesses are mostly composed by women who sold products through the windows of the EFC passenger train and who lost their main source of income with the modernization of the carriages in 2015, when the windows were closed. The Agir program supported the groups in their reinvention in the face of the new scenario and encouraged network associations.
As a continuation of the Agir program, the Women of Maranhão Network gained protagonism through the dynamization of its productive activities, integrating groups of babassu coconut breakers to the Network, and accessing new markets. The implementation of the program and the business support actions are carried out in partnership with Mandú Inovação Social and have Wheaton Precious Metals as an investor partner.