Projeto Assistentes do Bem
We want to change society’s perception of oral health and the dental profession with respect to the socio-environmental impact of these activities. Our proposals are: to promote access to dental care, to value and mobilize the dental profession towards a new code of socio-environmental conduct, discuss ethical practices for the dental sector, incentivize the use of low cost products and services that increase access, inspire responsible conduct in other sectors and, through our cause, influence and change public policies. The Assistente do Bem project promotes the technical training of Auxiliares da Saúde Bucal (Dental Assistants/Hygienists) for youth attended by the organization, providing the students with an avenue into the job market and creating a circle of social inclusion.
About You
About You
First Name
Fabio
Last Name
Bibancos
Facebook Profile
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Turma do Bem
Organization Website
Organization Country
Brazil
Country where this project is creating social impact
Brazil
Is your organization a
Please select
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Entry Form title
Projeto Assistentes do Bem
What change do you want to bring to the world?
We want to change society’s perception of oral health and the dental profession with respect to the socio-environmental impact of these activities. Our proposals are: to promote access to dental care, to value and mobilize the dental profession towards a new code of socio-environmental conduct, discuss ethical practices for the dental sector, incentivize the use of low cost products and services that increase access, inspire responsible conduct in other sectors and, through our cause, influence and change public policies. The Assistente do Bem project promotes the technical training of Auxiliares da Saúde Bucal (Dental Assistants/Hygienists) for youth attended by the organization, providing the students with an avenue into the job market and creating a circle of social inclusion.
What are the primary activities of your project?
The Assistentes do Bem Project promotes technical education for 290 students from the Projeto DENTISTA DO BEM (Dentist of Good Project) through an online platform and a semi-present system distributed in 97 locations throughout the Brazilian territory.
The course lasts for nine months with a total workload of 660 hours, of which 60 are devoted to a practical internship. We have divided the course into three modules of three months each in order to accompany the students’ evolution step by step. The students are evaluated in each class through online exercises, online evaluations and teacher/tutor dynamics.
The vast majority of our students come from a weak education system and, many times, from a system that uses “continuous education” – in which students can’t fail—which opens an educational disadvantage for these students. As a solution for this problem, the tutors provide remedial and supplemental classes in Portuguese and mathematics.
Another important point is the addition of extra-curricular classes including culture, leisure and marketing –all enablers of a more complete professional.
What is innovative about your initiative? How is it a new contribution to the field?
The Turma do Bem offers dental treatment for low income youth between 11 and 17 years old through a network of voluntary dentists. The organization has a network of more than nine thousand volunteers dispersed around Brazil, nine other Latin American countries and Portugal. With time, we have realized that more than dental treatment, these youth need recommendations of where and how to find a job that helps to raise their families’ income. That is where the idea to train dental hygienists came from. In 2010, the pilot project graduated 24 young people through the on-site system.
In 2011, with the objective of attending more young people with the project, we created an online platform (developed by Turma do Bem in partnership with sitescola) and a course with a semi-present methodology. The semi-present format allows for the formation of young people from regions where there are no technical courses in the field being offered. The youth are supervised by Turma do Bem volunteers and follow a specific syllabus. This year, we plan to educate 290 young people throughout five regions in Brazil.
There isn’t another organization in the world that offers free dental treatment followed by a technical training course in the Dental sector.
Of the 24 youth trained in the first class, 91% are already working and their income represents more than 50% of the total family income. In the 2011 class, many of the tutors involved have already demonstrated interest in hiring their tutees.
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 years
Tell us about the community that you engage? eg. economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history, and experience with engagement efforts.
The children and teenagers served by Turma do Bem come from screenings done by the team in public schools and educational institutions that work with at-risk youth.
It is a low/no income public that live in the peripheries of urban centers, places with low human development indices with very few and/or no infrastructure. Abandoned by local public policies, these regions have terrible living conditions and mortality rates and their populations have their rights constantly violated. Questions like the lack of quality housing, basic sewage systems, education, health, and leisure among others are everyday problems for these populations.
The offering of an opportunity to have dental treatment for free already generates a transformation in the lives of these kids and teenagers. Through the dental care, youth recover their self-esteem which motivates them to achieve new heights and development. Connected to this virtuous cycle, the opportunity of a professional course and insertion in the job market make the intervention of the Turma do Bem and the Assistentes do Bem project a great opportunity for a real social transformation.
Share the story of the founder and what inspired the founder to start this project
Dr. Fábio Bobancos, after publishing his 1995 book “Um Sorriso Feliz para seu Filho” (“A Happy Smile for Your Child”), a book about prevention, started to lecture in private schools for parents and students. Next, he started to do lectures about prevention and dental care in public schools, where mothers approached him to talk about the situation of their kids’ oral health. The problem was that prevention didn’t work anymore for the situation of these kids, so Dr. Fábio started to attend some of the children in his clinic. Because there were too many kids, Dr. Fábio invited some friends to participate and soon they started the Turma do Bem.
In this way, Dr. Fábio Bibancos organized a group of friends and started to offer free oral care for youth in public schools. In 2002, the Turma do Bem officially opened. Currently, we are present throughout Brazil, nine Latin American countries and Portugal. We are nine thousand volunteers dentists and orthodontists and we see more than eighteen thousands children.
The dental hygienists course in oral health completes this transformative cycle. First these extremely poor youth with terrible oral health conditions receive dental treatment by the DENTISTA DO BEM project and after they are trained through a professional experience that helps them to enter the job market. The youth are of ages near their first job and the first income level is, on average, R$ 770. Many of them have a family income of R$ 500.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
Please describe how your project has been successful and how that success is measured
The Assistentes do Bem project graduated its inaugural class in 2010. Beyond the success measured through the employability of these youth with 91% working, we consider the human development achieved through the course, a subjective form of measuring the success and efficiency of the project. Today we still maintain contact with graduated students and the transformation that each one goes through and the possibility to envision better future perspectives is undeniable. On the contract with oral surgeons, we have seen efficiencies in the learning of the content. In less than a year we have had cases of promotion due to great professional development.
In the 2011 academic year, already in the first module, we have had an approval rating of 85% from the students. Data was gathered through the evaluations described above.
How many people have been impacted by your project?
101-1,000
How many people could be impacted by your project in the next three years?
101- 1,000
How will your project evolve over the next three years?
The main objective of the project is to enable the social transformation of youth, to make them realize the opportunity to change their status quo, their importance in their families’ income and in the country’s economy. As well as to awaken the social conscience of these youth so they can contribute to improving the lives of other youth in the future.
In the next three years, we hope to increase the number of beneficiaries, independent of geographic location, once the course is made through Distance Learning, which allows us to reach cities where there are not yet professional training courses.
Sustainability
What barriers might hinder the success of your project and how do you plan to overcome them?
Because we have a semi-present course, through the internet, connection problems are an obstacle. For this reason, we run a digital training so that tutors can acquire the necessary technical knowledge to utilize digital tools and to acquire their own connections for use in the online course.
Another problem is the possibility of inadequate educational levels. The students come from the public schools network, many times from a continued education framework, which means that the public system does not fail students with low development indexes. This could lead to difficulty for the learning and application of the content. To overcome these different levels, the course offers, through its tutors, remediation and reinforcement in basic courses such as Portuguese and Mathematics.
Tell us about your partnerships
The Turma do Bem is a nonprofit OSCIP that supports its activities through partnerships with sponsoring institutions that donate to the organization or to specific projects. For example, the 2011 class was sponsored by the JP Morgan Foundation. To give continuity to the project, new partnerships will be established.
Current annual budget of project, in US dollars
$250,001‐500,000
Explain your selections
The annual budget of Turma do Bem in 2010 was around R$ 1.800.000,00 (one million and eight hundred thousand reais) which came from three sponsoring institutions and events promoted by the organization, in partnership with its network of volunteers, to raise funds.
How do you plan to strengthen your project in the next three years?
Increasing our resources will allow us to increase the number of beneficiaries of our programs, and to improve the educational-pedagogical process by growing the team and diversifying the educational curriculum.
Another point to be developed is digital autonomy through the development of unique software that will serve as a base for the course.
Challenges
Which barriers to employment does your innovation address?
Please select up to three in order of relevancy to your project.
PRIMARY
Lack of skills/training
SECONDARY
Lack of access to information and networks
TERTIARY
Lack of visibility and investment
Please describe how your innovation specifically tackles the barriers listed above.
The lack of capacity/education is overcome through evaluations that constantly verify if the student has reached the desired level of performance. The tutor evaluation is also decisive, because the student can only finish the course if the tutor judges them capable of performing the functions as a Dental Hygienist or Assistant.
The lack of access to information and networks was solved previously though our volunteer network that invests in the improvement of the digital equipments and their networks.
The lack of visibly for investment – We try to publicize the sponsor together with the project in all publicity tools and quotations from the press.
Are you trying to scale your organization or initiative?
If yes, please check up to three potential pathways in order of relevancy to you.
PRIMARY
Grown geographic reach: Within host country
SECONDARY
Leveraged technology
TERTIARY
Enhanced existing impact through addition of complementary services
Please describe which of your growth activities are current or planned for the immediate future.
The geographical reach – From 24 graduated students in the first class from ASB in the city of São Paulo, we have expanded to 290 young people in 97 locations in five regions in Brazil.
Taking advantage of technology and learning from it – This distance learning project serves as an initial experience for the implementation of other projects through an online platform like, for example, the training of our volunteer network, which today is done through an annual meeting and can perfectly happen through online platforms.
Reinforcing the existing impact through the addition of complementary systems – The Assistentes do Bem project represents an effort to build upon and increase the generated impact by the DENTISTA DO BEM project.
Do you collaborate with any of the following: (Check all that apply)
NGOs/Nonprofits, For profit companies, Academia/universities.
If yes, how have these collaborations helped your innovation to succeed?
ONGs – The DENTISTA DO BEM project screens for the treatment of young people from other organizations or not-for-profit institutions.
Companies – In all TdB communication, we make sure to highlight the sponsoring institutions that work with us and support the Turma do Bem projects.
In some cites the odontology majors and courses serve as centers that extend themselves to receive Assistentes do Bem students in an internship during the internship period of the curriculum.
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