Klabin’s initiative in partnership with Fundación Avina and Ipardes will have an interactive platform Território em Desenvolvimento (territorio.app.br)

Paraná, January 22, 2021 – An index that measures the social progress of municipalities based on an internationally recognized methodology. A website where this data is available to local communities and governments, enabling interaction and participatory public management in the municipalities.

All this was put into practice yesterday, with the launch of the Social Progress Index (SPI) for 37 municipalities in the Telêmaco Borba and Ortigueira region, where Klabin's operations are located in the Campos Gerais region of Paraná state. The actions is an unprecedented partnership between the company, Fundación Avina, which is present in 20 countries with the mission of promoting large-scale changes for sustainable development across Latin America, and the Paraná Institute for Economic and Social Development (Ipardes).

The index was launched on January 21 during an online event in which the Paraná state secretary of Planning and Projects, Valdemar Bernardo Jorge, mayors, as well as representatives of regional organizations, local communities and the company participated.

“The launch of this important index, which is aligned with our Sustainability Policy, helps us to conduct diagnoses and provide tools to support the planned and structured development of the regions where we operate and to prepare them to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, the so-called 2030 Agenda,” said Francisco Razzolini, director of Industrial Technology, Innovation, Sustainability and Projects at Klabin.

What is the SPI – The SPI is an index that has been used around the world to measure and compare social progress and guide the allocation of public and private investments. The tool has helped cities, countries and regions to measure their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which were agreed upon by all member states of the United Nations (UN).

Developed by Social Progress Imperative, an NGO based in Washington D.C., in partnership with the Harvard Business School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the SPI has the differential of measuring only social and environmental results that directly impact people’s lives. It considers three dimensions: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Well-Being and Opportunities. Each dimension is divided into four components, as shown in the chart below.

Figure 1: The Social Progress Index. Source: Fundación Avina

Results – For the SPI of municipalities in the Campos Gerais region, official data from public sources was used combined with a perception survey conducted of 1,500 people in 12 municipalities in the region, in December 2019.

The results show that the average SPI of the region municipalities was 53.17 in 2019, which means that, on average, the cities are halfway towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals measured by the index.

The results for all municipalities are shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 – SPI of municipalities near Klabin’s Puma Project (2019) Source: Fundación Avina

In addition to providing an overall comparison of the municipalities, the tool allows for analyzing specific areas. A three-color semaphore indicates whether the location is positioned above (green), below (red) or near the region’s average (yellow). All results are available on the Território em Desenvolvimento portal at territorio.app.br.

The difference between the SPI and other metrics that measure social development, such as the Human Development Index (HDI), is that it focuses on observing social and environmental indicators rather than economic variables. “Social progress is not necessarily linked to economic growth. Sound management of resources and community engagement can be decisive for social progress,” explained Marcelo Mosaner, manager at Fundación Avina who is responsible for the SPI in Latin America. “Few municipalities in Brazil and Latin America have access to such up-to-date and relevant data on their situation and that of their region. And this data is invaluable for supporting management by governments, communities and the private sector,” he added.

According to Valdemar Bernardo Jorge, the Paraná state secretary for Planning and Projects, one of the greatest benefits of SPI is the opportunity for municipalities to manage the positive aspects and opportunities to act on each aspect evaluated. “The details provided by the indicator will help us to identify actions that, when shared with the local community and governments, will result better in social and environmental conditions,” he noted.

The indicators also will be used to assess Klabin’s social programs in the region. “We have social programs to assist these municipalities in the areas of planning, education, family farming and solid waste, and the SPI will help us to measure the value each of these initiatives delivered to the communities,” said Uilson Paiva, Community Relations and Social Responsibility manager at Klabin.