Fiotec works together with Farmanguinhos, in a partnership with Grupo Alfazendo, to develop the project Escola Socioambiental Verde que te Quero Ver (Socioenvironmental School The Green I Want to See), which has been transforming the reality of students and inhabitants of Cidade de Deus, a community in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro. The initiative pioneered the development of a sensory garden in the region and won the Joaquim Fontes Municipal School the title of first junior school in the territory to develop education based on nature.

The project began its first phase in 2022, calling up the school community to think of the development of a kitchen garden as a space for collective learning. It was also a possibility of providing complete and healthy meals for the students and their families. In 2023, the second phase focuses on actions to expand the learning space, providing teachers with pedagogical tools that contributed to the students’ literacy process. The Sensory Garden of Natures was then created to materialize the learning work that had been done. A collective construction in which 53 socioenvironmental art and education workshops took place to promote awareness raising in the school community and continual contribution in the implementation process. Students, family members and teachers participated actively in the entire process.

According to Magali Portela, coordinator of the Social Management Nucleus of Farmanguinhos, “The project is entirely carried out by young environmental educators of Grupo Alfazendo, who promote the work plans and training sessions for teachers. They participated in the building of the spaces themselves, always involving local artists and artisans. This is a super participative, integrational and intergenerational initiative, with a very interesting environmental side to it”, said Portela.

After the support provided during the first phase of the project, working on the financial and administration of the resources from Farmanguinhos, today Fiotec is in charge of forwarding directly to Grupo Alfazendo the values that are to be applied during the third phase of the initiative, which, in addition to other actions, has been restructuring the school, something that hadn’t been done since it was founded in 1965. Portela says that the entire painting job has been done by an autistic young man from the community, Mateus, in charge of giving life to the building with his illustrations of flowers, butterflies and other animals. “We can’t fail to mention the contribution of Grupo Alfazendo, a community-based organization that has been working at Cidade de Deus for more than 30 years, always promoting socioenvironmental education”. She finalizes: “Today we are Farmanguinhos, Grupo Alfazendo and Fiotec, working together in this project”.

(Images provided by the project’s team)