Cybele Amado de Oliveira founded the Chapada Project in 1999 and the Chapada Institute for Education and Research in 2005. She is dedicated to improving the quality of education by supporting the continuing education of educators and educational administrators. Oliveira studied Pedagogy at the Bahia Education Faculty and taught elementary school for six years. In the early 1990s she moved to the Chapada region of Brazil to teach, leading her to identify deficiencies in the education system, especially around literacy. She began by working as a volunteer with students but realized that meaningful improvement required action from all stakeholders in students’ education: teachers, parents, administers, and community members.