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Viva Nordeste
Secretaria do Trabalho, Assistência Social e Esporte
Brazil

The Problem

The Ministry for Labor, Social assistance and Sports of the Government of Bahia (Brazil) – SETRAS has the mission to provide access to citizenship rights, specially the social inclusion, through Labor public policies, Social assistance and Sports. To fulfill its mission, it develops actions aiming at reduction of social inequalities, through the employment and income generation, formation of social assistance policies for citizens who need social inclusion, fostering sports and craftwork.

The SETRAS main goal is to take important actions for the development of the State of Bahia in the areas of:
I Labor: Generation of Income and creation of a Solidary Economy; Intermediation of manpower; Professional Qualification, Policies of access to the employment market. II. Social assistance: design and implementation of the State Labor and Social policies in partnership with federal and local governments as well as with NGO’s. III. Attention to children and Youth: fulfillment of social educational measures for young people with social problems: Social/educational actions for children and Youth who are in trouble and require immediate attention. IV. Sports: Promotion and support of sports and leisure activities. V. Craftwork: Promotion and dissemation of the Bahia’s craftwork. VI. Civil defense: Prevention of risk situations; Emergency and recovering assistance in areas affected by calamities.

The following are some of the activities developed by the SETRAS which helps to better to understand its mission:
Program on the Elimination of Child Labor – PETI. A Federal program working for the progressive elimination of child labor throughout the country. Setras coordinates the program in Bahia State.
Project Young Agent of Social and Human Development. Social work program from the federal government for young people between 15 and 17 years old, aiming at promoting their personal, social and communitarian development in accordance with the youth policies.
Sentinela Program. a set of social actions conducted by a interdisciplinary team, directed to children and teenagers victims of sexual violence as well as their families.
Generation of job and income. Appropriate employment opportunities through the concession of credit for entrepreneurship, in the formal as well as informal sector of the economy.
State Program to Attract Investments. densification of the economic base and the generation of job and income in order to accelerate a competitive development with socio-economic inclusion.
Program Viva Nordeste. Convergence to the same area and beneficiaries, the main public social policies, through the integration and construction of strategic alliances to deal with poverty, violence and social inequality.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The Viva Nordeste is a governmental Program that takes place in the Northeast (Nordeste) region of Amaralina which is a neighborhood located in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The area, with a four slum-dwellers, is characterized by poverty, misery and much violence, full of young people and organized gangs and drug trafficking that influence children, young people and adults to illegal behaviors. The weak presence of the public government entities contributes to the degradation of the living condition of this population of around 83.000 people, leading also to the dependence from the gangs.
The program has the objective to promote the improvement of the living conditions of the local community through the introduction of basic policies of social inclusion, looking for changes in the conditions of education, health, living, social communitarian relations, financial-economical and social status of the families, especially those in situation of higher social risk.
The main characteristic of the Program is to build in a participatory way a Development Plan of Nordeste de Amaralina where public policies from different levels of governments and fields can converge into the same territory and population, in order to strength its power to deal with the social exclusion and high violence that affects the area. By bringing together government, community, non-profit and private sectors, the program seeks to integrate public action in the field of work and income, education, health, public safety, knowledge, sports, justice and human rights, environment, housing and infrastructure, science and technology, social work of the three government entities (state, federal and municipal).
Adopting a UNDP methodology of participatory management, it seeks to "empower" the community to take on its own development and improvement of the living conditions.
With only 2,5 years of existence, this integrated and participatory program has already impacted on the reduction of violence in the region – the murder rate fell from 15 to less than 2 per month, as well as increased the community's self esteem and improved the generation of work and income, the cultural identity and the organization of the community.
This program based on the principles of reciprocity and community participation seek to reorient the government intervention in a territory in order to meet the demands of their citizen. This social technology has revealed itself as an innovatory strategy recommended by the governments – in any level - for dealing with communities in situation of social exclusion combined with high violence. With the integration of public policies and a network government approach, Viva Nordeste is presenting encouraging results, in a short period of time, on behalf of the social inclusion and the establishment of a peaceful environment.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
- May 15, 2004: I Residents' Meeting of the Northeast Region of Amaralina
- July 23, 2004: Official launch of the Program Viva Northeast.
- October 25, 2004: Approval of the Plan of Development of the Northeast Region of Amaralina, in the II meeting of residents (400 people)
- December 14, 2005: 1st Reward SOCIAL TOP 2005 of Social Responsibility with the case “Program Viva Northeast”.
- October 5, 2006: Inception of the Communitarian Bank, managed by the Residents' association (ACODE) to lend money to local companies/businesses.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The context in which the program operates is an area of slum-dwellers in the city of Salvador – so-called Northeast region of Amaralina - with a population of around 83 thousand people, in an area of 203 square miles with simple dwellings, deprived of urban Planing, disorderly occupied along the years. The area shelters today a very poor population mainly black and young people. With a rough topography marked by hills and valleys, narrow streets, alleys, the area is practically deprived of public spaces, squares or gardens and mostly occupied by simple dwellings, small commerce, precarious road surfaces. It is characterized by high demographic density: 408 hab/ha. whereas the nearby neighborhood of Pituba registers 86 hab/ha.
Violence and the drug trafficking are the main problems faced in this region. They are responsible for the existence of streets barriers that obstruct the free movement of the people within the area, the domestic violence, the low level of income as well as the degradation of leisure areas and activities that attract the young people. Historically, this region is marked by the stigma of violence and criminality, affecting the self esteem of the residents. Recent diagnoses points out that the author and the main victim of violence have the same profile: they are young from 15 to 25 years old, black and poor.
When we think of the reasons that favor the region’s inequality and social exclusion, we come to a conclusion that the current indicators are not surprising at all: high rates of violence and criminality (15 murders per month); low rate of manpower (615 of the population live by "side jobs" ); 6 organized gangs of drug trafficking with a strong destructive power, dominating areas and obstructing the freedom to leave and go of its residents, mainly the young population; 71 % of the young people between 15 and 19 years old are out of school, unemployed, without income and therefore in an imminent social risk; population with low schooling: on average 4 years of studying; 30 % of school drop outs and 25 % of grade failure; 9 % of adult illiteracy; insufficient public health centers; precarious living conditions and basic sanitation; irregular urban cleaning; precarious public lighting; few and precarious areas for the practice of sports and leisure; non-existence of spaces for cultural demonstrations; strong presence of street "quarrels" organized by the young people; not enough daycare to shelter and educate 10.332 children from 0 to 6 years old; non-existence of police stations in the region; insufficient and unsuitable military policing. Serious problems in the health sector especially for the children and elderly, teenage pregnancy, drugged youth, malnutrition, precarious service in the health centers; fragile trust between the police and the community.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
With the purpose of motivating the community to change their terrible living conditions, the priorities of the Program Viva Nordeste were established with the participation of the its beneficiaires and from the diagnosis and listening to leaders, grass roots organizations, businesses from the community. In this way, it was defined as priorities:

 The young people and their families: To work with the young people and their families to encourage them to go back to school, educational training, professional capability, withdraw from the criminality;
 Services of support to the community development: To structure all the services to be offered to the community: Infocenters, justice access and citizenship, social and psychological service, dance and music, communitarian library, movie theatre, sports, communitarian bank for lending money to local entrepreneurs, network of solidary economy, circus classes, vocational courses, school of talents, among others;

 generation of work and income (specially the associativism), the improvement of the education and health quality and the strengthening of sport and the culture;

 Special Service and attention to women who are head of the household

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The Program brings a new approach to operating in urban areas with social exclusion, densely populated and with high rates of violence. The main strategies are:

1. Convergence of the existing public policies for the same territory and population in planned periods, involving all levels of governments (state, municipal and federal), community, non-profit and private sectors in order to make possible a new governance strategy.
2. Collective construction of the Local Development plan. The strategic plan for the integrated development of the region was prepared in a participatory way, being based on the necessity of self support and future reach of the community autonomy in the process of development.
3. Creation of strategic alliances with private sector, governments, NGOs, Universities, Schools, Churches, trade unions, volunteers, local Associations, etc forming a network of sustenance for the local development
4. Definition and implementation of actions according to the demands of the community.

The structural actions defined for the Program, according to the demands of the community are:
 Generation of employment and income specially through the establishment of a network of solidary economy and the promotion of associativism;
 Promotion and integration of the youth, looking for their affirmative protagonism in the society, their productive and cultural inclusion and stimulating a peaceful environment;
 Support to women head of the household in their professional capability, giving them access to credit and schooling;
 Support to the enlargement and improvement of the education, the culture, the sport and leisure specially those initiatives conducted by the community;
 Improvement of spaces and urban public utilities managed by the State and Municipal Town hall;
 Improvement of health conditions, revitalization of health centers and introduction of families health program;
 Improvement of the living conditions, recovering or rebuilding the dwellings in situation of risk;
 Improvement of the public safety;
 Special Support for the handicapped favoring his/her social inclusion;
 Constant search for environmental conservation with cross actions in defense of a better life.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Throughout the implementation of the Program and the development of its projects and activities, the community gradually has improved its living conditions, regaining self esteem, hope and trust. In 28 months of activity, the following results are registered:

GENERATION OF WORK AND INCOME
Professional training, Credit and Donation of Fund (Resources), as well as a Technical Assistance

EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE, SPORT AND LEISURE
Capabilities of teachers, young people’s graduation and Support to knowledge

COMMUNITARIAN ORGANIZATION
Formation of communitarian councils, Revitalization of the associations and strengthening the self esteem of the community

PUBLIC SAFETY / HEALTH / INFRASTRUCTURE
Training and integration of the police with the community support to the families and to the infrastructure.

 Reduction of the local violence: the murders fell to less than 2 per month (before the Program, the rate was 15 per month);

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The design of the Program Viva Nordeste started with the data collection of the region main issues. After the reduction of the violence and the promotion of the residents social inclusion were chosen as the main challenge of the region, the Program team started to put together all stakeholders (government, community, local associations, residents, the press, businessmen, NGO's, schools, universities, volunteers, etc), inviting them to build coordinated activities on the territory.

Even though each actor has its own financial resources (either from their own budget or from fund raisings) the activities implemented are very much coordinated and converged.

The initial investment of the state government was R$ 6,742,535. 95, distributed to around 25 different projects and activities. The communitarian bank started its activities with a donation of R$ 23 thousand Reais.


These resources are invested in the activities for social inclusion, violence reduction, capacity building, environmental conservation, improvement of local services, promotion access to public services, etc.

a) Variable for the sustainability

The sustainability is assured by the promotion of strategic alliances with community, government, non-profit organizations and private sector.

All the actors seek to have their own financial resources. Local associations are in constant search for raising external funds; State and local Government secure an allowance budget for the interventions (the budget is participatory and the community begins to make indications and to pressure);

Private companies, NGOs, Universities and other actors conduct as well activities in the Neighborhood with their own resources (examples of that are the School of Communication, Technology and Art, the Communitarian Library, the Center of Cultural and technological Production, the School of Talents, the Circus, the Polysportive Gym Center, the Communitarian Bank, the School of Ballet, the Incubator, among others).

The strategies that the Program adopts assure as well its sustainability:

1. Search of autonomy of the community: The participatory methodology used by the Program induces the community to reach its autonomy and to keep on looking for ways of improving the quality of their living conditions. The idea is that the Community carry on their own development.
2. Continuous convergence of the public policies in the territory such as generation of work and income, education, health, security, housing, knowledge, sport and leisure.
3. institutionalization of local councils and Committees composed of residents and partners, besides the functioning of the Managing Council of the Program with governmental and non-governmental representatives
4. Integrated actions from the government as well as from the business partners and non-profit sector, avoiding superposition.
5. Design of the program was made with the beneficiaries, on a participatory approach which brings mutual trust.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
 The participation of the community in all the decisions is vital for the development of any intervention aiming at transformation;
 Isolated Public Social Policies does not reach the expected results
 The convergence and integration of public policies for the same population, in the same territory and in a planned period increase the individual strength of each one of them and accelerates the reaching of the desired results, offering high rate of return on the investments;
 It is very complex to converge public policies which are designed by different sectors of government. The experience showed that a good strategy is to put together the authorities responsible for each policy and make them take joint decisions. Nevertheless, strong leadership is needed.
 The daily physical presence of the Program team in the area generates more reliability and security in the community. Such presence assures permanent technical support, offers a diversified set of services and helps to mobilize local people to participate in the process;
 To fight against poverty is required to arrange middle and long terms activities, to implement compensatory and structuring actions as well.
 Develop indicators and an appropriate monitoring plan during the design of the Program and not afterwards in order evaluate the impacts of it.
 The community tend to mistrust in government interventions. It is very important to build trust with the community specially avoiding, for instance, partisan electoral activities.
 Violence cannot be eliminated only with the police officers. There has to be concrete actions of generation of work and income, of attention to the health, to the education, of strengthening of the local culture, of sports and leisure, of dwelling, of justice and citizenship. Where the State is present, the criminality tend to decrease.
 For sustainability, it is essential to have partnerships and alliances with different actors and stakeholders and a common objective that moves everyone
 Found difficulties: Moving the whole community: many people are not reached; Knowledge in the community; The assistance and mental model of victimization; Conflicts of interests between the residents themselves; Difficulty of participation (the people have no time); Lack of participation in meetings and other activities; Planning activities within the Government; Convincing the government entities to bring their programs, projects and activities to the area; Find specialists on Community Work; Monitoring; Ideologies of groups in the community, leading to sectarianism; Create a trust bond (distrust in “ government “); Advancements and moving backwards; To reconcile the people's time to meet the urban area needs; Mental model of policemen; To maintain technical team motivated and encouraged facing the cold daily reality in the area. To overcome the difficulties, joint efforts were developed by the team and by the partners. However, some difficulties could not be totally outmoded.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Secretaria do Trabalho, Assistência Social e Esporte
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Cleunice Matos Rehem
Title:   Coordinator  
Telephone/ Fax:   5571 31151643
Institution's / Project's Website:   557131151752
E-mail:   cleunicerehem@uol.com.br  
Address:   4 Avenida, n. 200
Postal Code:   41750-300
City:   Salvador
State/Province:   Bahia
Country:   Brazil

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