Who we are
The SMF Sociedade Movimento dos Focolari is a non-profit association of an educational, cultural and social assistance nature.
Meet
SMF
With the support of national and international collaborators, SMF (Sociedade Movimento dos Focolari) promotes community strengthening and access to rights and guarantees of protection, especially for children, youth and women in situations of social vulnerability.
SMF meets the demands of the community, organizing and developing socio-assistance actions, within its own dynamics that are entirely linked to the principles of fraternity and care, which constitute the proposal and the basis of its social commitment.
The Sociedade Movimento dos Focolari's mission is to collaborate to reduce social inequalities, tackling both relational and material vulnerabilities, seeking to promote a more united, just and fraternal society. Our main social centres are based in the city of Vargem Grande Paulista, in the Great São Paulo region and in the Quilombola community in the municipality of São Roque, SP.
Currently, socio-educational, recreational, sports, artistic and cultural activities are carried out for approximately 260 children and adolescents in two centers. The centers offer a space for communal life and strengthening of bonds, regularly reaching around 100 families. International volunteering, leadership training and insertion in the labor market projects are also developed, mainly for the youth, reaching a hundred young people annually.
Cause
"Our main objective is to reduce the social inequalities rooted throughout the history of Brazil. We are committed to this cause in order to build a more united, just and fraternal society."
How
SMF supports projects and people, through the development of practical actions to transform the reality of communities that live in situation of social vulnerability. It seeks to establish strategies to strengthen social bonds, to develop community life and to promote a culture of universal fraternity as well as ethics of care.
10K
People reached directly
300
Volunteers
have already joined us
50
Projects supported by SMF
8
Opportunity
to make a difference
Our
story
SMF is a civil, charitable/philanthropic, non-profit, social welfare association founded in September 1972. It was inspired by Chiara's Lubich teachings, winner of the Templeton Prize (1977) –for its efforts aimed at interreligious dialogue– , the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education (1996) and the European Human Rights Prize (1998).
Mainly, since the 1990s, SMF started to focus its activities on the care and defense of children, adolescents and young people in a situation of material and relational vulnerability, taking into account the bonds and the community context in which they are inserted. SMF wants that, through community strengthening, none of the participants feel alone. Based on positive bonds and the presence of clear support networks, children, adolescents, young people and their families may trace a path of social emancipation and overcoming the vulnerabilities they face.
Sustainable Development Goals
SMF works with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a global agenda adopted during the 70th United Nations General Assembly in September 2015.
The SDGs to be implemented from 2016 to 2030, appear to take advantage of the momentum generated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They are part of an audacious development agenda and constitute an integrated and indivisible set of global priorities for sustainable development.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its 169 targets demonstrate the scale and ambition of this new universal Agenda.
The Focolare Movement had its roots in Italy, during World War II. In that warlike context, Chiara Lubich created a religious and social movement whose mission is precisely to promote unity and universal brotherhood for the construction of a more peaceful world. It is "religious", for its foundation on the christian spirituality tradition. It is "social", because it has been committed to social causes since its early beginnings in the city of Trent.
With the coming of the Focolare Movement to Latin America, the factor that most contributes to the lack of unity in this society was quickly identified: social inequality. Since the 1970s, many projects directed towards the more disadvantaged people, emerged. Today, these projects form the"Uniredes", a network of projects associated to the Charism of Unity in Latin America.
May 1991 is considered an important date do remember: It was Chiara Lubich's visited to Brazil. The time she spent on Latin American land had a strong impact on her, mainly due to the contrasting reality of social inequality that surrounds the Great São Paulo. The days that followed her visit were filled with novelty and inspiration.
With the desire to contribute to the reduction of this inequality, Chiara left lines of action that serve as a guide and reference to this day. They are also the life-motiv of countless individuals, groups, associations and companies. In these lines, the person is placed at the center of attention and care, with their dignity and values which must be preserved and highlighted.
Ideas such as the culture of sharing and universal brotherhood spring up from Chiara's vision and certainty that everyone, individuals and peoples, are invited to be protagonists of a better, more just and united world.
Chiara Lubich in Brazil
Subscribe to
SMF newsletter
