{"id":17532,"date":"2025-03-05T10:31:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T15:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/?p=17532"},"modified":"2025-03-06T11:25:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T16:25:28","slug":"connecting-across-cultures-in-remote-communities-with-the-power-of-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/blog\/connecting-across-cultures-in-remote-communities-with-the-power-of-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting Across Cultures in Remote Communities with the Power of Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Seuss once wrote, \u201cThe more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you\u2019ll go.\u201d For Vaga Lume, a nonprofit organization that sets up community libraries in remote areas of the Amazon Legal<\/a>\u00a0region, which encompasses more than 60% of Brazilian territory, Dr. Seuss\u2019 words are all too true. Families and children in this region struggle to access basic public services like healthcare and education. Many children miss school because of the distance, time, and drought-like conditions they must navigate.<\/p>\n

Empowering children living in these rural remote Amazonian communities, promoting reading and sharing knowledge are all at the forefront of Vaga Lume\u2019s mission. To date, the organization has reached 110,000 youngsters and adults, and distributed 177,000 books. But when Felipe Cincinato began working at Vaga Lume in 2021 as a communications analyst, he quickly realized that his department needed more than his help; it needed a complete reorganization and a team committed specifically to spreading awareness of Vaga Lume\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to instantly become a manager and create a new structure for my department,\u201d said Felipe. \u201cThat included building a successful communications team and gaining the trust of those I would hire. I also realized I needed help.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, the International Coaching Federation contacted nonprofit organizations in Brazil\u2014including Vaga Lume\u2014and offered coaching on a pro-bono basis, and Felipe recognized it as an opportunity to foster his leadership skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had this challenge of understanding my role as a leader of the communications department,\u201d said Felipe. \u201cMy coach understood the field and our challenges. She helped me understand how to balance my role, learn to trust the people that I work with and help the team develop its potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Engaging with a coach became not only a source of light and guidance, but also an inspiration for Cincinato as he moved forward with Vaga Lume\u2019s work and ensured others knew about its positive impact for children in the Amazon Legal region.<\/p>\n

As a Vaga Lume leader, Felipe also found coaching helped him achieve his goals of establishing, empowering and growing a team of trusted and successful communicators dedicated to making a difference in the lives of thousands across the Amazon.<\/p>\n

Today, Vaga Lume\u2019s team comprises 26 people, along with a group of more than 800 volunteers in the Amazon region. Vaga Lume is established in 22 municipalities across the Legal Amazon, fielding 95 community libraries and 5,000 qualified reading mediators. From Felipe\u2019s perspective, coaching was a key element in Vaga Lume\u2019s reaching these milestones, as it provided him with lifelong leadership and communication skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaching process was really important to us as a growing organization. Developing a structured communications department and receiving coaching as a leader helped us strengthen this department, allowing us to better achieve our goals,\u201d said Felipe. \u201cWe work for the children, so having a stronger communication department means we can do more for them. Coaching played a crucial role in making this possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Seuss once wrote, \u201cThe more that you read, the more things…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17536,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"audience-type":[115,118,121,119,123,124,116,120,122,125,117,113,114],"display-option":[],"post-type":[128],"topic":[1325],"_person-tax":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"audience-type-coach-educators","8":"audience-type-experienced-coaches","9":"audience-type-external-coaches","10":"audience-type-hr-organizational-leaders","11":"audience-type-icf-assessors","12":"audience-type-icf-chapter-leaders","13":"audience-type-coach-consumers","14":"audience-type-internal-coaches","15":"audience-type-managers-leaders-using-coaching","16":"audience-type-mentor-coaches","17":"audience-type-new-coaches","18":"audience-type-professional-coaches","19":"audience-type-team-and-group-coaches","20":"post-type-blog","21":"topic-waves-of-change","22":"not-partnership-post","38":"has-featured-image"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17538,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17532\/revisions\/17538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience-type?post=17532"},{"taxonomy":"display-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/display-option?post=17532"},{"taxonomy":"post-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-type?post=17532"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=17532"},{"taxonomy":"_person-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coachingfederation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_person-tax?post=17532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}