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Projeto Oficina-Escola de Artes e Ofícios de Santana de Parnaíba
Prefeitura Municipal de Santana de Parnaíba
Brazil

The Problem

We are referring to a 427-year-old Historic Center with 209 listed buildings and protected surroundings with over 200 buildings, in addition to alleys, streets and squares. The governmental organ responsible for listing the whole complex is CONDEPHAAT-SP (Council for the Defense of the Historic, Artistic, Archeological and Tourist Heritage of the State of Sao Paulo), but there is also some listing of isolated buildings by IPHAN (Institute of National Historic and Artistic Heritage).
Santana do Parnaíba is a town of 85 thousand inhabitants with twenty five slums and 14 luxury condominiums. It is located within Great Sao Paulo, 40 km from Congonhas Airport.
Before the implementation of the Projeto Oficina Escola de Artes e Ofícios de Santana de Parnaíba (POEAO-SP - Arts and Crafts School Project), this city had lost all cultural identity and lived the conflict of having to preserve this “Historic Center”, all damaged and covered with graffiti. Among the problems there was the lack of tourism and leisure equipment such as restaurants, bars and galleries; regardless of their economical power, the population (most of whom from the northeast of the country) had little interest in this old complex. It was considered as just a “dormitory” for out-of-town workers and business people; the lack of specialized labor for the restoration of the buildings and the small offer of cultural activities and work for the impoverished youths.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
- Restoration, Revitalization and Reconversion of the Historic Center and its surroundings;
- Insertion of 86% of the youths graduated at POEAO in the job market, thus reducing poverty and criminality (60% of these youths were already doing socio-educational sentences or beginning criminal lives);
- 3% of these ex-students entered universities in the region;
- Minimization of social and cultural barriers as the Historic Center is nowadays a point of convergence for all the population, rich or poor, northeastern or otherwise;
- Cultural emancipation of the youths who, through a differentiated educational proposal, take part in the evaluation of their peers and of all the POEAO-SP´s team, learning how to think and question their own learning.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
A group of citizens residing in the Historic Center, together with the Town Council and the Town Hall’s political will were responsible for proposing and contributing to the installation of the POEAO in Santana do Parnaiba.
These people feared for the total loss of the town’s memory and identity and knew that, without an identity between the people and the place, there would never be appropriation and responsibility in dealing with the local problems. This would surely affect the development, which could just not occur or not be sustainable.
The POEAO was implemented and has been maintained with resources and dedication of the Town Hall, which saw in the POEAO a chance of growth for the society with job generation, labor qualification, cultural sophistication, democratization of the access to cultural assets, in addition to the development of related areas such as education, environment, social insertion, etc.

(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.
First, it was necessary to insert the youths with psycho-social difficulties into the town and the society, as well as to recover the Historic Center and its importance for the general population and, along with this sustainable and democratic process, to strengthen the “parnaibano” pride. So the POEAO and the Heritage Maintenance were installed, with courses of Restoration and Conservation of Furniture and Properties for the aforementioned youths.

The main strategy was to make the population believe in these youths so as to insert them through the restoration of the beauty of the old mansions of the Historic Center. It was then essential to display the richness of that restored heritage, of the lives of these reinserted youths and of the city as a whole through regional and national media, which spontaneously used the POEAO as a positive reference for social or preservationist projects.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
At first, POEAO’s focus is on the elaboration of a quality project to be approved by the listing organs and the Council of Culture. It is clear that there are some difficulties in the approval of a project of this kind: the restoration of cultural assets by youths with psycho-social difficulties.
Once this step is over, there comes the selection of the youths, which is not easy considering the great number of impoverished people. The criteria is then based on the views of the town’s Social Assistance Service, the Tutelage Council, the Public Ministry, the Judiciary system, Neighborhood Associations and Service Clubs.
Next comes the ‘getting to know’ step. The youths arrive at the PEOAO with many traumas and bad experiences, in addition to being many times from rival gangs. It is then necessary to learn about their history, concepts, health and hygiene conditions and how much sexual education they have had in order to re-socialize them by the sophisticated means of the restoration of the town’s cultural heritage.
In this way, the POEAO makes the restoration craft less elitist. And the youth can canalize their energies into outdoing themselves and reaching the goals, as in revenge, trying to be the best ‘professionals’ ever.
Now the youths have already had their theoretical classes and psycho-social assistance. They are at the work site admiring the results of the restoration and getting compliments from the community and the press.
All the activities at the POEAO approach transversely themes like citizenship, rights, quality, ethics, environmental education, hygiene, etc. These once outcast youths then become the tools for the integration of the whole community, and instead of depredating the Cultural Heritage, they become essential preservation agents.
Thus, the community, the political leaders and the private sector take over the POEAO and help it as it leads to the reduction of the social gaps and makes the restoration 35% less expensive.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
A big obstacle in the beginning was the difficulty the listed property owners had in accepting and believing that those youths from the outskirts, many of them ex-offenders, could restore the town’s cultural heritage – depredated by its own population, including many of these same youths who used their graffiti on the walls.
Another difficulty was the approval of this innovative proposal by the listing organ. In order to overcome the obstacles with the population, all that was needed was to begin the works and present the first results with quality and speed. For that to happen, the public organs gave their support by submitting their buildings as the first labs/work sites for the youths.
As for the acceptance by the organs responsible for protecting the historic heritage, it was necessary the elaboration of a project of unquestionable technical quality, some meetings and the approval of the State Cultural Council.

(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
For the next 12 months, a budget of R$373.000,00 (three hundred and seventy three thousand reais) has been elaborated to be distributed as follows: R$ 113.000,00 for aid-scholarships for the apprentices, R$ 82.000,00 for daily transport fares for the POEAO’s youths, R$ 14.000,00 for life insurance for the apprentices, R$ 22.000,00 for their uniforms/EPIs, R$ 49.000,00 for teaching and consume material and R$ 93.000,00 for the technical teaching team.
Three masters and one pedagogical coordinator are full-time dedicated to POEAO, and the other 5 professionals are Town Hall employees who are involved with the POEAO and with other activities of the town’s historic heritage curatorship (engineer, secretaries and teachers).

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
Yes. As for sustainability, POEAO is an experience of education and restoration that aims at the preservation of cultural heritage as well as at the social insertion of needy youths. POEAO’s activities are efficient and non-expensive. The cost of these works is reduced in at least 35% through the site-school system in which, after the theoretical teaching, the students go to the work sites to learn by doing. As they get aid-scholarships (not salaries) besides meals, transport tickets, health insurance and equipment for individual protection, the gains for them are many and the costs for the Oficina-Escola are few.
The experience is fully transferable. It has even been passed on to many Brazilian towns through partnerships, thus assisting over 5,000 youths all over the country. The states and town to which POEAO has passed the know-how are the following: State of Ceará - Sobral, Fortaleza, Aquiraz, Maranguape, Fortim and Aracatiaçú; Bahia – Porto Seguro and Trancoso;
Minas Gerais – Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Mariana, Lavras Novas and Cachoeira do Campo; Espírito Santo – Marataizes, Venda Nova do Imigrante, Fundão, Santa Leopoldina, Vitória, Vila Velha, Itapemirim, Castelo, Cachoeiro do Itapemirim and São Pedro de Itapuama;
São Paulo – São Luiz do Paraitinga, Jacareí, Guarulhos, Jundiaí, Jandira, Itapevi, Pirapora do Bom Jesus, São Paulo-capital, São Sebastião, Iporanga, Rio Grande da Serra, Paranapiacaba, Barueri, Rio Grande da Serra, Iperó, Iguape, Osasco and Itu.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The more the population benefits, the more it feels motivated to protect its cultural heritage and support the proposed activities for social development. Each segment of society feels involved and motivated, and a specific part of the population becomes responsible for the preservation of its identity – the youths who used to be looked down on.
Nowadays, Santana de Parnaíba has become a reference center and, therefore, an exporting market of professionals qualified in restoration. So there has been and there still is constant learning and qualification of student-apprentices, once outcasts, enabling them to act in the work market as shown.
It is necessary to minimize the social barriers and inequalities, to respect not only the cultural heritage but everyone who is daily involved in building culture. There are many people who only need a chance to become qualified, to be educated and take part in the construction of better places to live.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Prefeitura Municipal de Santana de Parnaíba
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Júlio César Victória Barros
Title:   Chefe de Gabinete  
Telephone/ Fax:   (11) 4154.6248
Institution's / Project's Website:   (11) 41516760
E-mail:   juliovbarros@hotmail.com  
Address:   Largo São Bento, 80, Centro
Postal Code:   06500-000
City:   Santana de Parnaíba
State/Province:   São Paulo
Country:   Brazil

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