Voith Brazil Foundation: Building a better future
The Voith Brazil Foundation was founded in 2004. Since then, the Foundation has managed Voith's social investments in Brazil and has coordinated the company’s social responsibility and internal volunteer initiatives. These efforts are focused on promoting the sociocultural inclusion of the community living in the vicinity of the Voith plant in the Jaraguá neighborhood, in São Paulo.
The Voith Brazil Foundation’s mission aligns with Voith's goal of developing sustainable technologies for future generations by supporting and implementing programs that offer vocational education and that bring children and adolescents closer to art, culture and the environment. Combined with local social care initiatives, these projects have directly or indirectly benefited more than 18,000 people over the past 19 years.
"The Voith Brazil Foundation makes a positive impact on future generations, which is a part of our company’s DNA. The initiatives we support have helped us to build strong bonds with all our local communities. We are proud to help our communities overcome local challenges and promote socioeconomic development," says Cibele Barbará, President of the Voith Brazil Foundation.
Since 2006, the music project “A Música Venceu” (“Music Won”) has offered violin lessons as a music introduction course for students of the Friedrich von Voith State School, located in the Jaraguá neighborhood, near Voith’s plant in São Paulo. The project gave rise to the first classical music school founded by the Fundação Bachiana Filarmônica (Bach Philharmonic Foundation). The Voith Brazil Foundation is proud to be a sponsor of this project.
Located in São Paulo's Jaraguá district, the Catavento Project is committed to combating child labor by offering educational activities to children and teenagers ages 7 to 16. The project's team actively reaches out to children engaged in child labor. With the consent of their families, the project provides after-school activities while also assisting families through a monthly stipend and helping them secure employment opportunities. Sponsored by Voith since 2023, this project serves over 80 children in the district.
The Voith Brazil Foundation sponsors the Voith Formare program, which annually offers apprenticeships and professional training to financially disadvantaged teenagers enrolled in public high schools from the Jaraguá neighborhood. Since 2006, more than 300 students have benefited from this social program which prepares young people for their first job.