In late 2025, Roda Educativa began a partnership with FOIRN (Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the Rio Negro), through its Department of Indigenous School Education (DEEI), to carry out a comprehensive education project in Amazonian Indigenous territories (São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro and Barcelos/AM).

The project was selected through a public call, launched by social funders Fundação Lemann, Fundação Itaú/Itaú Social and Porticus, to select initiatives supporting comprehensive education in Brazil.
It was named Yepewasu, which in the indigenous general languague Nheengatu conveys the sense of “together” or “in union,” reflecting the collective effort that guides the partnership among the different institutions, communities and territories involved.

With a planned duration of three years, the initiative includes activities for supporting the professional development of local educators who work in the final years of Elementary School, aiming to strengthen Indigenous school education and Indigenous culture within regular education across the territory as a whole.

The three municipalities hold great ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity, with more than 23 ethnic groups and 750 communities. The work involves the Amazonas State school network in the case of Barcelos, and the municipal networks in Santa Isabel and São Gabriel da Cachoeira.

Partnership with local liaisons

The project team started conducting a scoping visit and initial meetings with the local Education Departments back in 2025, and in 2026 it launched the training meetings with teachers, school administrators and Education Departments staff.

The methodology provides for 9 training cycles over three years, with two weeks of in-person work per cycle. The team includes two professionals from Roda Educativa and three regional liaisons.

Drawing on dialogue with each network, a specific action plan was designed, taking into account its strengths and needs. Across all three municipalities, the project is structured around 7 axes:

1. participatory diagnosis;
2. support for the professional development of educational agents;
3. building learning communities;
4. support for the professional development of administrators and teachers;
5. drafting and revising the Indigenous Political-Pedagogical Projects (PPPIs);
6. development of contextualized practices;
7. coordination with the municipal and state school networks.

The work with local educators is taking place in 8 communities and in reference schools across the 3 municipalities. In parallel, the team maintains an ongoing dialogue with the municipal and state education departments to strengthen the institutional conditions that will allow the training and its principles to expand to the other schools in the networks through regional liaisons.

The initiative seeks to strengthen Indigenous languages, cultures, traditional practices and pedagogies, linking Indigenous school education to municipal and state education policies, within the framework of Whole-Student Education.