Mato Grosso Institutions receive development project

The Development Management Project for Special Education Schools, from Instituto Votorantim (Votorantim Institute) with ASID’s help, aims to strengthen the management of special schools so that they develop autonomy, management vision and fundraising, achieving their sustainability and generating social capital in the region, for through the development of networks and alliances.

The performance is focused on the cities of Cuiabá and Várzea Grande, in the state of Mato Grosso. The project started in March 2019 and will run until the end of 2020.

The focus is local development, through the professionalization and enhancement of the management of the five selected organizations. Management training will generate conditions for organizations to improve their services and methodologies, generating more impact for people with disabilities who are present in these spaces.

Networking can strengthen the sector and generate exchanges of knowledge and experiences, in addition to a closer dialogue with the government and the Secretaria de Estado de Educação (State Secretariat of Education, SEDUC).

Activities

In March, the first stage of the project happened, referring to the purposes agreement with all the actors involved. At this time, a meeting was held with members of SEDUC, Instituto Votorantim, Votorantim Cimentos, leaders and representatives of the five schools, in addition to representatives of ASID. The goal was to present the project, the methodology that would be used and the steps to come, in addition to formalizing the commitment and participation of everyone in the process.

In April, we returned to the field for a round of diagnosis and understanding of the scenario. Through the a index developed by ASID and applied since 2011, we were able to understand the scenario of each one of the schools and define what would be the work priorities in 2019.

Interviews were conducted with representatives of the management team, satisfaction surveys with employees and family members and analysis of financial documents. The results were presented to those involved in May, together with the Institutional Development Plan (IDP). With the diagnosis, we also defined what would be the schools’ development goals.

The IDP was built based on the evidence and analysis obtained in the stage of structuring the diagnosis of school management. Then, four areas were selected to be worked with each school. With that, there was the meetings structures that needed to be held and what their themes were, the deliveries expected by the schools referring to each training meeting and which was the month of execution.

Beginning in June, the training rounds for schools began. According to schedule, two training sessions were held each month, which could refer to the four main areas that were defined in the IDP: Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Fundraising and Marketing. Linked to the rounds of collective training, schools also received moments of individualized assistance, in which they had the opportunity to clarify specific doubts and receive more reinforced support for the implementation of new management tools.

The training period came to an end in October, reserving the month of November to reapply the management diagnosis and collect feedback from schools. Repeating the same process as in April, it was possible to understand how schools adopted the changes and innovations in management proposed by ASID throughout the year and the expected growth in management was achieved.

Results

The average growth in management, considering all schools that participated in the project, 18,25%.

According to Fátima, director of Livre Aprender (Free Learning), the project was important in the sense of “preparing the manager to be competent to lead the themes and seek autonomy”.

For representatives of Raio de Sol (Sunshine),, “the course was exceptional”. They believe that the training contributed to a comprehensive understanding of the school’s management, drawing attention to things that had previously passed and reinforcing the integral development of the organization.

For the representatives of CHP [Centro de Habilitação Profissional (Professional Qualification Center)], the project was valid, mainly due to collective meetings: meetings are good because we exchange experiences, we can see that other schools also have the same difficulties”.

For Luz do Saber (Light of Knowledge) school, the project “opened doors to think about other possibilities, it was an incentive, arousing the mood for changes”. The school, which was one of the most engaged, says that the project was carried out within the organization, as they began to seek new possibilities for attracting, disseminating and relating to students and families.

The director of CEJA [Centro Educacional de Jovens e Adultos (Youth and Adult Educational Center)], in turn, said that he found the project “super interesting and valid, but with adaptations”.

• 12 training meetings
• 30 hours of training
• 44 individual advisory meetings
• 88 hours of individual advice

New methodology

To seek greater engagement and long-term results, a complementary methodology for 2020 will be adopted.

In addition to the structure of group training and individual advisory services that happened in 2019, there will be the engagement of other civil society actors, who are related to the cause of people with disabilities, having as reference the methodology of collective impact.

Considering that one of the project’s purposes is to generate sustainability, that is, to ensure that the changes implemented during these two years last in schools, it is important to involve other actors and create a network that includes not only special state schools, but also the secretariats of education and social assistance, the CRAS [Centros de Referência de Assistência Social (Social Assistance Reference Centers)], philanthropic institutions that serve people with disabilities. In this way, there will also be greater exchange between institutions, creating relationships and exchanges.

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