Mandalla Agency wins Sustainability Innovation Award

The Franquia Social (Social Franchising) Project devised by Agência Mandalla de Desenvolvimento Holístico, Sistêmico e Ambiental (Mandalla Agency for Holistic, Systemic and Environmental Development), from João Pessoa (State of Paraíba), was the winner of the first edition of the Sustainability Innovation Award, organized by the Ethos Institute in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development - Usaid. In addition to the recognition, the institution receives R$ 60,000 to invest in the program. “This award has crowned the work of an entire team”, says Tárcio Handel, Mandalla Agency’s strategies management director.

The project’s core idea is to settle the population in the areas, enabling appropriate technologies that couple scientific and popular knowledge. The Mandalla Project, which will be enhanced by Franquia Social, allows the rural worker to plant several kinds of fruits and vegetables with no pesticides, and breed small animals taking advantage of all natural resources available with very little waste.

The award was presented by Ricardo Young, President of the Ethos Institute, and Jennifer Adams, USAID Director in Brazil, and both were pleased with the choice. “In times of food and commodities crisis, this may be the solution in many places”, says Young.

The goal for the next 5 years is to expand the project to each Brazilian state and advance towards Central America and Mozambique. “This money will be critical in the franchising structuring process, in the structure development and replication”, explains Handel explained.

Successful initiatives

This award aims to support public-private partnerships in themes such as environment, information technology, value chain development, education and health, so as to collaborate with sustainable development in Brazil. Among the criteria set for the award, the initiative, besides being already successful, must be viable and have large scale potential.

104 projects were submitted along the 15 days open for submission. There were five finalists: Convivência com a Realidade Semi-Árida (Living with the Semi-Arid Reality), by Centro de Educação Popular e Formação Sindical; Empreiteira Escola – Morar na Cidadania (Builder School – Living Citizenship), by Associação Lua Nova; Oficina Escola (School Workshop) by Lutheria da Amazônia; Arquitetas da Comunidade (Community Architects), by Joice Genaro Gomes; and the winner Franquia Social, by Mandalla Agency. “Imagine what will happen next year with longer submission time and more support from companies. I am sure this award has potential to set a new standard”, commets Ricardo Young.

In Jennifer Adams’ opinion, the initiative meets the objectives of Usaid in Brazil: “We want to build bridges between the two governments, the two nations and among sectors. This award is a public-private business partnership to support non-governmental organizations”.

Currently Usaid can count on a network that searches for innovative solutions comprised by 50 North-American companies based in Brazil. “This is one more way to link both sides”, says Jennifer.

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