Read about our performance in the social and cultural area and see how clients, employees and suppliers can participate in the Projeto Escola Brasil (Escola Brazil project) and the Programa Amigo Real (Real Friend program).

Change comes with involvement

Private social investment plays an important role in building a more inclusive world. And to do our part, its not enough to just donate money. We've decided to go further by mobilizing employees, clients and suppliers to work at making a difference in transforming society.

Our work also involves monitoring and evaluating projects and their results, and establishing partnerships with different sectors of society.

This is what happened with the Projeto Escola Brasil, which started with a small group of employees and later became our primary volunteer effort. The Amigo Real program has a similar structure, is run with the involvement of our employees and relies on the participation of clients and suppliers.

Based on the success of these two initiatives, our social investments are centred on education. In the cultural area we focus on historical heritage preservation and the visual arts, while diversity, income generation and the environment are also key aspects of our projects.

Education

. Projeto Escola Brasil
The Projeto Escola Brasil (Escola Brazil project) is Banco Real's primary volunteer program and relies on the participation of employees, family members, clients, suppliers, partners and the community. The project is designed to help improve the quality of public school education and to strengthen the bonds between a school and its immediate community, transforming it into a local centre of sustainable development.

. Programa Amigo Real
The Amigo Real program (Real Friend program) allows taxpayers to allocate a portion of their payable income tax to help strengthen local service systems and improve the lives of children and adolescents in cities with critically low social indicators..

. Brincando na Rede
Brincando na Rede (Playing on the Net) is an entertaining website that stimulates the development of children aged 5 to 12 by triggering their interest in reading. The site encourages children to learn the language of the internet, which contributes to their formal education and helps them learn and think about current and topical issues such as sustainability.

. Banco na Escola
Banco na Escola (Bank in the School) is the first project from the Aliança Social pela Educação (Social Alliance for Education), whose members include Banco Real, Citibank, the Banco do Brasil Foundation, the Itaú Social Foundation, IBI, the Unibanco Institute and Santander Banespa. These institutions are committed to help improve the quality of public schooling through volunteer efforts of bank employees, who share their knowledge with students, parents, educators and the community to help improve school budgeting and management.

. Programa Compartilhar
The Programa Compartilhar (Sharing Program) is designed to help employees of outsourced companies to complete their primary schooling.

Diversity

. Talentos da Maturidade

To value creativity, memory, artistic potential and social inclusion, the Banco Real Talentos da Maturidade (Seniors' Talent Award) has four special categories for people aged 60 or more: Storytelling, Art, Literature and Singing.

. Virtual Vision

Banco Real donates Virtual Vision to clients and non-clients. This screen-reader software helps the visually impaired to use the internet and applications like Windows (Word, Excel and PowerPoint).

. Prêmio Educar para a Igualdade Racial
In partnership with the Centro de Estudos das Relações do Trabalho e Desigualdades - CEERT (Centre for Labour Relations and Inequality Studies), in 2002 we introduced the Prêmio Educar para a Igualdade Racial (Educate Award for Racial Equality), which identifies, analyses, recognizes and spreads educational practices which have ethnic-racial content. To qualify, projects must involve public and private school teacher training at the primary or secondary level.

Income Generation and the Environment

. Concurso Banco Real Universidade Solidária
Through the Concurso Banco Real Universidade Solidária (Banco Real University Solidarity Award), university students have the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a systemic way to help low income communities find sustainable ways to generate income. Every two years a selection is made of the top ten projects submitted by universities, with the involvement of teachers, students and communities.

. Investimento Reciclável
The goal of the Investimento Reciclável program (Recyclable Investment program) is to strengthen paper collector co-operatives through their inclusion in the formal productive and financial system. This helps us work more closely with the recycling industry to generate income and improve quality of life for the collectors. In addition to financial support, the program helps these institutions improve their productivity and management. The program is a partnership between Banco Real, Suzano Papel e Cellulose, the AVINA Foundation and the Ecofuturo Institute.

. Alameda das Flores
Alameda das Flores is a revitalised street next to Banco Real's head offices. It offers the chance of a first job to low income young people, and provides free cultural events on weekends. All earnings from the block's Coffee Shop and Florist are donated to the activities of the Instituto Escola Brasil (Escola Brazil Institute).

. Cisterns
In Brazil's semi-arid region, access to water can be difficult. To provide solutions we have joined forces with the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban) to support the program for Social Training and Mobilisation for Living in the Semi-Arid Region, whose goal is to provide five million people with clean, good quality water by building one million cisterns.

. New Ventures
The New Adventures program is a World Resources Institute initiative which is also active in China, Mexico, India and Indonesia. The objective is to improve the performance of sustainable businesses in the market, helping to enhance business plans and providing the chance for business people to approach investors interested in sustainable businesses.

Culture

. Historical Heritage Preservation
Banco Real has sponsore a number of projects recently, including the restoration of Rodrigues Alves School (Escola Rodrigues Alves) and Independence Park (Parque da Independência), both in São Paulo, and the Christ the Redeemer statue (Cristo Redentor), in Rio de Janeiro.

. Art Exhibits
Our cultural investments have primarily been directed to presenting art exhibits. Our activities are also focused on education, with actions designed for students and teachers. Exhibits are held in the Events Plaza of our head office building in São Paulo (SP), in the Banco Real Cultural Institute in Recife (PE), and in the facilities of other Brazilian institutions.