Mission

Promote life quality of “Rio Doce Offsprings” communities around water sources through environmental and social-economical actions.

Who are we?

Xopotó Institute is a social organization, without profitable aims, political or religious. It was stablished as an Organization of Civil Society for Public Interests(OSCIP), in 2007. Xopotó’s name was chosen due to the river that cross the region and is an important one in Rio Doce Valley.

Our aim is to spread human sustainable and wholesome development in the comunities from 25 districts where we act. All of them are located in central and Mate Zones, in Minas Gerais, called “Rio Doce Springs”.

The Institute´s actions and projects aim to improve the regional potentialities, social entrepreneurship, protection and responsible use of natural resources. To acomplish this objective, we have not only State and District government but public and private enterprises as partners. Besides, we count on institutional and technical support from other organizations and enterprises which social values are similar to ours.

Solidarity in Offsprings Program

Due to the hopeless social and economical situation in the described area, Xopotó Institute conceived and carries on the “Solidarity in Offsprings Program” that functions as a “base” to the other projects and actions of the Institute, which pilars are the social, economical and environmental ones. These pilars interact with the alternatives and administrative acts and effective results to improve social, economical and local environmental development.

LOCAL VIEW

Stablishing changeable actions in this social and environmental unequal region is the main focus of the Institute. The Rio Doce Offsprings’ countries, that are 250km far from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais’ capital, concentrate an average population of 6.000 inhabitants, with more than 60% located in rural areas.

In these communities, the Human Development Index (HDI) is considered one of the lowest in the country according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The region potentialities are composed by the abundant natural resources that are between Piranga and Xopotó´s Rivers, the first ones that formed the “Rio Doce” river, one of the most important of the country.

However, the region is not only suffering with the negative mankind interference but also with few public and private investiments. Despite its natural richness, the region has faced problems recently, such as the lack of paved roads and telecommunication system. These factors, among many others, make the access between countries difficult, resulting in few socio-economical projects and lack of stimulation for the local actions.

The communities depend on subsistence´s agriculture, that is featured by low technological level due to the micro-rural proprieties’ concentration. All these facts described above still generate a great migratory flux to the big urban centers as Belo Horizonte, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

LOCALIZATION

Map of Xopotó - click here

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