Society
Kroton operates in every state in Brazil. As such, it is the understanding of the company that it has a major impact on society. Currently, 2,142 social responsibility projects are in place in all the company's units. In 2014, there were more than 2 million attendances by the group, mainly in the areas of education, health and well being. The services are provided in the form of courses and extension events (on-campus and distance learning) and may be either permanent or temporary projects. [G4-SO1]
| Social projects*
By area of activity (2014) [G4-SO1] |
|
|---|---|
| Agribusiness, environment, veterinary assistance | 5% |
| Communication, culture and languages | 3% |
| Sport, tourism and others | 5% |
| Legal assistance | 9% |
| Education | 23% |
| Health and well being | 39% |
| Community | 15% |
*These actions are organized at the company's units and at the distance learning centers and are funded by Kroton. They are part of the institutional social responsibility or community programs defined in the undergraduate course regulations.
Kroton also undertakes cultural, sports and social projects with funding from tax incentive laws – including the Sport incentive law, the Municipal Children's and Adolescents' Rights Funds (Fumcad), the Elderly law, the National Oncology Support program (Pronon), the Audiovisual law and the Rouanet law. Investments totaled R$ 1,065,297.34 in 2014. [G4-EC7]
Social work highlights (2014)
After the merger with Anhanguera, in 2014 Kroton incorporated its Social Responsibility area. The company is currently engaged in the following projects.
- Pitágoras Art Space: in the Pitágoras Cidade Jardim unit in Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais, Kroton created an amphitheater cum art gallery where major exhibitions are organized, such as "Por Dentro da Mente de Da Vinci", in which models of Da Vinci's inventions were shown.
- Community support: all the higher education units organize community support initiatives, in particular in the areas of health and law. By means of school clinics and legal aid units, students provide community members with free services, always under the supervision of a course coordinator.
- Responsible Teaching Week:1 this initiative run by the higher education association Abmes (Associação Brasileira de Mantenedoras de Ensino Superior) is aimed at offering students the opportunity to put the knowledge acquired in the classroom into practice. This involves providing the public with free services in the areas of leisure, culture, health care, recreational activities, professional qualification and sport. In 2014, more than 300 thousand people benefited.
- Global Entrepreneurship Week:1 the Kroton institutions participate in this global action developed in Brazil by Endeavor, offering programs focused on entrepreneurship for the student body and for the communities around group units. A total of more than 300 activities were developed in 2014, including exhibitions of works and innovative projects, discussions with entrepreneurs and fairs. More than 60 thousand students and teachers were involved.
- Trote Solidário (Inclusive Prank):1 at the beginning of each semester all the Kroton teaching institutions organize the Inclusive Prank. This is aimed at welcoming newcomers and involving them in socially oriented activities that promote civic awareness, leadership and team work. In 2014, approximately 50 thousand students took part.
11These three activities were developed by Anhanguera in 2014, with Kroton brands participating in the Responsible Teaching Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week in a simplified manner due to the ongoing merger process. In 2015, the initiatives will be part of the Kroton Social Responsibility area's institutional activities calendar. It is expected that 100% of the brands and 70% of the units and centers will participate by the end of 2015.
- Anhanguera Entrepreneurial Challenge: the initiative is aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship among students and is developed in partnership with the non-governmental organizations Aliança Empreendedora and Endeavor. Students and recent graduates who have a business or an innovative project receive support to put their idea into practice. More than one thousand people submitted projects, of which 20 were selected to take part in a workshop on entrepreneurship and related activities. At the end, a jury selected the four best projects, with two tying in third place. They received prizes of R$ 10 thousand, R$ 6 thousand and R$ 4 thousand respectively for first, second and third place. Another two students won honorable mentions, receiving tablets as a prize. More information at http://desafio-empreendedor.anhanguera.com.
Fundação Pitágoras
The Fundação Pitágoras was created in April 1999. It is focused on helping to improve education in Brazil based on the application of an advanced technology that facilitates and enhances the learning process for students. This technology bears the name of the Integrated Management System (SGI in the Portuguese acronym).
In every new city in which the SGI is implanted, supplementary results are achieved:
- new multipliers are trained and start working as facilitators for the foundation, disseminating the methodology in the region;
- at the end of the application of the SGI, after two years, managers receive a Postgraduate Certificate in School Management from the Faculdade Pitágoras – the number of postgraduate students between 1999 and 2015 totals some 2,500;
- SGI implantation costs are low, while the results are impressive, making it a highly scalable and effective social technology.
A total of 105 municipalities, 1,093 schools and 728 thousand students benefit from the foundation's actions. Working via contracts with key cities and large organizations, the foundation has become financially self-sustaining.
As such, regardless of the budget made available by Kroton, the foundation earns a surplus, enabling it to provide services on a pro-bono basis for a growing number of municipalities that need support to overcome their limitations.
Kroton also presents the data for the Conspiração Mineira pela Educação (Minas Gerais Education Conspiracy), a movement that has been coordinated by the Fundação Pitágoras since 2006. The Conspiracy is an alliance of partners from three sectors (government, business and foundations), whose mission is to improve the quality of public schools, in particular in the area of basic education. The project benefits 506,989 students in 458 state and 307 municipal schools, ranging from nursery to secondary level.