Brazil is undergoing an enormous transformation these days. For the last 10-15 it has had an annual growth in GDP of 4 pct. Traveling through the country you see with your own eyes how the country is rising from poverty and transforming into a very modern country. Forget the times with government corruption and destitution. This rich country is getting stronger and wealthier every day.

Webcitizen, a new Brazilian company, aims to create citizen awareness and involvement in government projects, using Web 2.0 technologies.

Web 2.0 refers to what is perceived as a second generation of web development and web design. It is characterized as facilitating communication, information sharing, user-centered design and collaboration on the Web. Examples include social-networking sites, wikis, blogs etc.

We were given the mandate to bring about this citizen mindset change by taking up the case of model state Minas Gerais. The state boarders the state of São Paulo and has the size of France.

We traveled for 30 days through the state of Minas Gerais to document all the new developments within schools, hospitals, infrastructure, constructions. We clocked 6000 km and visited 22 cities – all the while racing against time, as we had only a month to finish this project.

We met and photographed the citizens of Minas Gerais whose lives is undergoing a huge transformation.

This included people from all walks of life, from construction workers, doctors, teachers, and students. At the end of the production, we were granted the privilege of two days with the Governor of the State, Aécio Neves, the man tipped to be the next president of Brazil.

We saw with our own eyes that the Government had indeed kept its promise, exceeded it in some facets, and we visually captured this panorama for a larger audience successfully.