Instituto Coração de Estudante – PRECE

FUNDO DE INVESTIMENTO SOLIDÁRIO – FINS

Community funds as a strategy for sustainable educational initiatives

PRECE came to be in the community of Cipó located in Pentecoste, Ceará, as an initiative of seven students who would gather at an abandoned manioc flour mill to study for the university entrance test. Despite being of older age than the average student, they all ended up gaining admission to college. After 20 years, this cooperative learning methodology and the EPCs (popular cooperative schools) has spread to 13 communities producing excellent results: 650 youth have gained admission to college. Many graduates went on to technical schools and some eventually opened up their own businesses.

At this moment, the main challenge of the cooperative schools is its long-term viability and the continuity of the services offered to the communities. The Fund for Solidary Investment (FINS) is a community-led crowd funding channel designed to fund projects proposed, designed and coordinated by the students themselves and EPCs.

With support from BrazilFoundation, the project will:

• Develop a method for administering the FINS to sustain a network of EPCs;
• Benefit 100 students between the ages of 16 and 29 from rural communities in
municipalities of the backlands of Ceará.

Impact

100 students benefited directly
Youth initiatives supported
Sustainability for cooperative schools (EPCs)

“Believe in people, invest in their dreams: this is the motto of FINS.” – Antônio Adriano, project coordinator