The Institute for Local Integrated Development Casa do Jardim was the dream of a sociologist and a capoeirista after attending the 2005 World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. Founded on the concepts of social responsibility, asset-based community development, and the educational philosophy of capoeira angola, Casa do Jardim was founded in April 2007.

Casa do Jardim was created out of a necessity to increase access to quality education, culture and sport for children and adolescents in developing communities in Brazil, as a means to reduce social inequalities and contribute to the country’s economic development.

Through a process of co-construction between the founders, partners, educators and families in the community of Jardim Canada, the project was developed because:

1. Research confirmed the initial theory about difficulties for children and adolescents to access quality education, cultural and sport activities;
2. There were structural and organizational limitations in the local public school system;
3. Several factors were compromising the quality and impact of existing local initiatives such as:

• Supply was less than demand,
• Lack of free transportation for extracurricular activities,
• Lack of continuity and consistency on the part of administrators, educators, participants and their families,
• Insufficient and unreliable resources for the professionalization, planning and development of projects.