EDP, a company that operates in all segments of the energy sector, will allocate R$ 1 million to 12 health and social entrepreneurship projects to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus crisis. The initiatives, selected in the second phase of the EDP Solidária - Covid-19 call for proposals, will benefit around 20 thousand people. In total, the call for proposals donated approximately R$ 2.5 million to projects to combat the pandemic in needy and indigenous communities, favoring 40,000 people.

The new projects selected will use the resources for various purposes, such as water supply, promotion of personal hygiene, acquisition of personal protective equipment, recovery and maintenance of respirators and decontamination of hospital supplies, in addition to income generation.

“In this new stage, we contemplate projects that will provide better conditions for groups at risk, such as the elderly, health professionals, communities with low purchasing power and homeless population. This resource comes when Brazil is approaching the peak of the epidemic and will be of great relevance for the communities served,”says Luís Carlos Gouveia, director of the EDP Institute.

In just over ten days, the EDP Solidária - Covid-19 call received over 600 applications from all Brazilian states. The selection process, which is audited by EY, was attended by an external committee formed by doctors Esper Kallas, professor at USP's School of Medicine and coordinator of the Clinical Research Center at Hospital das Clínicas, USP; Álvaro Costa, infectious disease specialist at Hospital das Clínicas of USP and member of the research unit of the STD/AIDS Reference and Training Center; and Wanderley Resende, orthopedist and consultant in Health Management; in addition to Marcelo Nakagawa, professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Insper.

Meet the first selected projects:

Água para Todos (CE) - supports the supply and supply of water to the community of Acende Candeia, in São Gonçalo do Amarante;

Alinhavos de Esperança (SP) - manufacture of fabric masks by community entrepreneurs in order to prevent Covid-19 in Caraguatatuba and São Sebastião, in addition to generating income for producers;

Banho pra Geral (SP) - provides basic hygiene to homeless people in the city of São Paulo;

Com energia nosso Lar vai vencer a pandemia (SP) - carries out preventive, protective and awareness-raising measures for the elderly at Lar Madre Regina, in Guarulhos

COVID 19 - EPI (ES) - operates in the acquisition of Personal Protective Equipment for health professionals at the Casa da Misericórdia Hospital in Vitória;

CTQ Contra Covid (SP) - provides personal protective equipment to professionals in care units for people with burns in the city of São Paulo;

Heróis de Máscara (ES) - generates local income with the production of protective masks and free donation to vulnerable people in the city of Serra.

Indústria do Bem (ES) - will carry out the recovery of hospital equipment, with a focus on respirators and maintenance of stretchers and wheelchairs;

Rastreia COVID (TO) - implementation of an application to monitor suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Paraná, Peixe and São Salvador do Tocantins;

Rede de Proteção contra o COVID-19 nas Instituições de Longa Permanência de Idosos (AP, ES e TO) [Protection Network against COVID-19 in Long Term Care Institutions for the Elderly - provides a tool that provides information to act at the first sign of COVID-19 among the elderly in the institutions served;

Smart Society Living Lab (SP) - prevention of Covid-19 with the production of protective equipment and actions to reduce the economic impact and social support in the Paraiba Valley;

Ultracif Project (SP) - performs the decontamination of masks and other medical-hospital supplies through ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (IUVG).

About IEDP

Since it was founded in 2009, the Instituto EDP has invested more than R$ 100 million in social cultural projects, which have benefited about 3 million people, in about 400 programs throughout the country. Only in 2019, the initiatives supported by the organization favored 82,000 residents of the communities surrounding the Company's areas of operation. The Instituto EDP is responsible for structuring EDP's investments and social initiatives on fronts related to the valorization of the Portuguese Language, education, local development with income generation, entrepreneurship and volunteering, by means of sports, culture and health.

About EDP in Brazil

With over 20 years of experience, EDP is one of the largest private companies in the electricity sector operating throughout the value chain. The Company, which has over 10,000 direct and outsourced employees, operates in Transmission, Trading and Energy Services and has six hydroelectric generation units and one thermal power station. In Distribution, it serves about 3.5 million customers in São Paulo and Espírito Santo, in addition to being the main shareholder of Celesc, in Santa Catarina. In Brazil, it is a reference in areas such as Innovation, Governance and Sustainability, having been in the B3´s Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) for 14 consecutive years.