About AJA

AJA - Associação do Jovem Aprendiz

AJA (The Young Apprentice's Association) is a small but an award-winning, independent, non-religious, non-profit, licensed-non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in 1995 with its headquarters in Brazil. AJA in Portuguese means act! do it! go for it!

AJA fosters education, social development, health, human rights, capacity building and income generation for the poor, including people with disabilities, youth and women.

Most of AJA's programs are promoted in partnership with other NGOs, as well as with the development agencies, such as UNESCO.

AJA's International Volunteers Program - IVP is an idependent initiative which keeps us functioning in the context of longer-term sustainability. AJA IVP programs focus on capacity building and empowering local communities.

AJA was chosen as the best national experiment in professional education, honored with the Paulo Freire Prize in 1998, in the area of Technology and Communication, promoted by the Labor Ministry, the Industrial Social Service (SESI), and the Roberto Marinho Foundation.

AJA's job bank for disabled persons in the Internet, was recognized as new social technology by the Fundação Banco do Brasil in 2001.

In 2002 because of its outstanding work, AJA was selected internationally by the World Bank as finalist among more than 2,600 worldwide projects presented at the Development Marketplace, Washington, DC.