About us
| Ortopolis – Holcim Brazil |
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Description As part of a program to promote sustainable development in the communities where Holcim Brazil operates, the company initiated the Ortopolis program in late 2003, together with the community. Following a participatory approach, this pilot project defined an overall plan to renew the city of Barroso in a self-sustainable way. |
Objectives
The project’s main objective is to promote a joint analysis of the community’s problems and to evaluate the necessary actions to guarantee a sustainable socio-economic growth. Based on this analysis, local development projects are planned and implemented by representatives of the private sector, public authorities and civil society. The main goal is to transform the city’s social, environmental, and economic sectors thereby creating sustainable local development.
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Activities As a first step, an analysis of the community’s problems was undertaken, and necessary actions, such as new income-generating projects, were identified to improve the population’s socio-economic conditions and quality of life. These included strengthening an existing handicraft cooperative in the city with a sustainable livelihoods project, and the hosting of a gastronomic festival to raise funds for a key community-based organization. |
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Results Dialogue among the community, government and Holcim is bearing fruit: more than 300 community members have been trained in areas such as management skills needed to establish and conduct social projects, as well as leadership and participative planning. A social investment fund has also been created to support and fund community-based entrepreneurial projects and contribute to the sustainability of the funded organizations. The success of the project attracted the interest of the Interamerican Foundation that donated USD 63,000. Key success factors include ongoing community involvement to ensure that the population becomes an agent of its own development instead of inactive beneficiaries. Holcim, whose commitment continues, invested CHF 75,000 in Ortopolis in 2005. |
