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Horizonte Minerals Plc (Horizonte or the Company), has had a community presence for approximately 10 years in the southern region of the state of Pará, Brazil. During this period, Horizonte has, communicated, listened to and partnered with the community on important topics in the region. A release published in late 2019 highlights three recent initiatives that are being supported by the Company.
One of the aforementioned projects, the youth health education campaign, will start in vigor in the first half of 2020, focused in Conceição do Araguaia and Floresta do Araguaia municipalities. The project aimed at adolescents has been designed to educate youth on health, and in particular on matters of sexual/reproductive health.
Katie Millar, Head of ESG & Communications for Horizonte Minerals, commented:
“We identified that women’s health, youth health and reproductive health indicators are areas where we could have a lasting and positive impact in our local communities, which in the long term, could lead to better Human Development and Social Progress Indexes in the region. I’m really excited about this project and look forward to sharing the results as we progress this initiative.”
To ensure the success of the project, it was important to bring in external experts. That’s why Horizonte partnered with Barong NGO, an NGO which has a long history of educating youth on health and sexual health matters and has experience in working in rural communities where mining operations are present.
Barong do not apply an ‘off-the-shelf product’ approach to their work. Each project is tailored to the needs of the region. The NGO first visited the communities and undertook a regional analysis by engaging with local government, health institutions and educators. This provided an essential baseline to understand the weaknesses and opportunities of the region as well as a network for Barong to partner with in the implementation phase. The diagnostic also highlighted the importance of social media platforms as this is the main source of information for youth in the region.
The education campaign will launch this month. “Youth: our time!” (“Juventude: a Nossa vez!”) aimed at adolescents, includes an exclusive web digital platform and direct communication channel, so that youth can explore the subjects relevant to them and clarify doubts about health from digital platforms.
Additionally, in March, Barong experts will provide tailored training modules to approximately 100 community leaders at universities, health outlets, welfare institutions and schools. Once professionals are trained, they will replicate workshops for teenagers and continue to strengthen public health policies.
The project has so far received wide support from local government ministers and health/education institutions.
From this initiative, Horizonte hopes to have a direct positive impact on the region even before construction commences. Our socio-economic goals are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development goals and we seek to be a partner-of-choice for our communities.
The community Facebook group can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/juventudeanossavez/
For more information about Barong NGO: http://barong.org.br/
