Instituto Amazonas - Vaccine Education

The issue

Every community on earth has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. For communities that already face multiple deprivations and inequalities, the effect can be even more pronounced, and the path to tackling the virus less straightforward.

That’s the case for the indigenous tribes of the Brazilian Amazon. Already at risk due to the ongoing deforestation of their rainforest home, the encroachment of western society into their communities combined with cultural issues means that vaccine roll-out is far from straightforward.

Croda Foundation is delighted to be supporting an Instituto Amazonas project to improve the health of indigenous people in the Amazon. This project gives native people the tools they need to protect their communities and tackle the virus, while promoting education and economic opportunity through digital inclusion. 

More widely, the presence of the internet in the Amazon, and the increasing number of mobile phones, computers and tablets present an opportunity. Previously isolated populations can gain new access the economy, be able to participate in networks and have access to educational and information solutions. 

Instituto Amazonas

Instituto Amazonas is a non-profit organisation incorporated in Brazil, with a mission to develop income generation projects and provide face-to-face and online training to communities living in the Amazon. 

Indigenous women, riverine people and young people need income. Even if they tribal and riverine people remain in their villages, the advancement of western society into the previously isolated rainforest has brought profound changes in the life of Amazonian communities - impacting gender roles and forcing communities into a cash economy, creating new needs and aspirations. 

With goals to promote education, digital inclusion, value indigenous culture and achieve food security, Instituto Amazonas is a very worthy recipient of support from Croda Foundation grants. 

Find out more about Instituto Amazonas on their website.

The project

Croda Foundation has granted Instituto Amazonas £68,000 for a project to tackle vaccine hesitancy through education and digital inclusion - improving an estimated 7,400 lives from ten tribes in Mato Grosso.

This project, targeted at both adults and children, is creating educational materials in six indigenous languages to engage tribal chiefs to explain the importance of vaccination. 

By securing buy-in from tribal leaders, who are also involved in designing the programme and training community champions, the project will be self-sustaining once support from Croda Foundation ends.

The project also aims to contribute to digital inclusion and promote social and economical changes. Digital inclusion can reduce social inequalities by democratising access to technology for women and young people - enabling them to enter the digital world.

By creating a community centre for information technology training, the project is promoting digital literacy among women and young people in the Amazon.

The centre will be a hub to promote education about the labour market, citizenship and digital culture; It will help the users advance their knowledge and get access to education and business training.

Croda expertise and know-how

This project is utilising expertise and know-how from Croda Pharma, to ensure the project’s educational materials and videos benefit from leading knowledge on the benefits of vaccination, as well as technical support on production. 

Smart science to improve lives

This approach is underpinned by Croda’s philosophy to use Smart science to improve lives.™

Find out more on Croda Inc’s website: https://www.croda.com/en-gb/smart-science

Impact

7,400 indigenous people from 6 tribes will receive digital material to tackle vaccine hesitancy