IS in Brazil
IS co-funded Projects in Brazil
IS Partners in Brazil
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IS Jobs in Brazil
IS Anniversary Appeal for Brazil
Brazil is the world’s fifth largest country, extending over half the landmass of South America. Its national economy is one of the most powerful, but its wealth is highly unevenly distributed amongst the population of over 160 million. Brazil comes second only to Bangladesh in the unevenness of its wealth distribution.
Whilst some of the most advanced technology in fields such as medicine and
engineering has been developed in the country, the majority of people are denied
access to their basic rights and the benefits and income generated remain
concentrated in the hands of the elite.
Despite its significant levels of agricultural, mineral and industrial
production, 60% of the population live in poverty. 32 million people are
estimated to go hungry daily, while 20,000 have been found to be working in
conditions that approximate to slavery.
Partly as a consequence of this skewed income distribution and lack of services, many of the rural poor have migrated to the favelas (slum areas) of the huge cities, where they feed a pool of cheap labour or join the informal economy. This extreme inequality rather invalidates any national indicators of human development (as can be seen by life expectancy of indigenous peoples in the Amazon).
The country’s population is a mixed one. About 50% of the people are descendants of African slaves (slavery was only abolished in Brazil in 1888), while most of the remainder are of European or mixed origin. The number of indigenous people has been reduced since colonisation from an estimated 5 million to 300,000 by violence, destruction of their environment and previously unknown diseases imported to the region by colonisers.
Human Development Report, UNDP 2002
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Indicators |
Brazil |
UK |
| Life expectancy (years) | 67.7 | 77.7 |
| Under 5 year mortality rate (per 1000) | 38 | 6 |
| Maternal Mortality (per 100.000) | 160 | 7 |
| Births per woman | 2.3 | 1.7 |
| Adult male literacy (%) | 85.1 | ... |
| Adult female literacy (%) | 85.4 | ... |
| Urban Population (% of total) | 81.2 | 89.5 |
| People under poverty limit 1$/day (% of total) | 11.6 | ... |
| Undernourished People (% of total) | 10 | ... |
| Annual per capita GDP (US$) | 7,625 | 23,509 |
| Human Development Index (of 173) | 73 | 13 |
After 25 years of dictatorship, Brazil again adopted a formal democratic system, but one that up until now has been dominated by the traditional ruling class. It has a federal system of government and is composed of 26 states, which are themselves further divided into municipalities, and a Federal District. At the end of 2002 Brazil voted in its first left wing President in over 40 years. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Lula) is an ex-metal worker and union representative who after three failed attempts, was successful in winning the presidential election for the Worker’s Party. There is much optimism within Brazil about the social improvements that Lula will be able to bring about. However, it is still not clear to what extent the political alliances that will need to be made may impact on Lula’s objectives.
Civil society has a strong tradition within Brazil. During the dictatorship
this was focused within the Catholic Church, which continues to play a
significant role.
However, with the "democratisation" of the country a number of non-governmental
organisations and community groups have emerged which are battling to address
the problems facing the population and their environment.
International Service has been active in Brazil for more than 20 years and we
usually have between 14-18 Development Workers (DWs) in post. The DWs are
attached to local partner organisations based throughout the North (The Amazon
Region) and North-East of the country.
The North and North-East are the two regions of the country with the highest
levels of poverty and the worst on social indicators. The two also share many of
the same problems, principally poor access to health care, sanitation, clean
water and education. However, there are also many differences.
The North is a region faced with serious issues of accessibility and low
population density. However, the people here have one key advantage over their
neighbours in the North-East, the availability of a free, if not always easily
accessible, food supply, including fish, some prey, and native fruits from the
forest and more importantly water.
The Northeast has faced many years of drought. This has lead to severely
inadequate levels of nutrition for the poorer sectors of society in the interior
of the region.
In Brazil, IS works in the thematic areas of health, sustainable livelihoods and
social development. All of our work aims to increase the participation of local
people in the decision-making that affects them. Many of our partner
organisations work closely with the local populations to protect the
environment.
Postal Address: Unais, Serviço
Internaçional, Rua Caio
Pereira, no.100 Rosarinho 52041-010 RECIFE-PE, Brazil
Tel: 00 55 81 3244 6391
Mobile +55 81 9607 2463
Fax: 00 55 81 3243 2381
Email: info@isbrasil.org.br
IS Brazil
website (in Portuguese):
www.isbrasil.org.br
Field Director: Luca Sinesi
Email: Luca@isbrasil.org.br
Programme Officer: Sue Sargent
Email: Sue@isbrasil.org.br
Administrator: Odete Borba
Email: odete@isbrasil.org.br
IS-Irish Aid Project Manager – STD/HIV/AIDS: Susannah Pritchard
Email: Susannah@isbrasil.org.br
IS-EU Project Manager – Sustainable Livelihoods: Cristiano Cardoso
Email:
cristiano@isbrasil.org.br
www.parceriasagroecologioas.org.br
IS-BLF Proj. Manager – STD/HIV/AIDS: George Truckenbrod
Email: george@isbrasil.org.br
www.aidsamazonas.org.br
IS Co-funded Projects in Brazil
Promoting Organic Family Agriculture in Pernambuco
Co-ordinated by IS Brazil and co-financed by the European Union
Family agriculture, agroecology, healthy food production, growing
organic foods without agrochemicals, community self-management and fair trading
– more than just words, these are key actions needed for the sustainable
development of the Semi-Arid area(s) of Brazil.
With the objective of meeting these needs, International Service is
coordinating a project in the interior of Pernambuco in partnership with 4 local
NGOs (CHAPADA, CECOR, CNMP and AQCC - see below).
www.parceriasagroecologicas.org.br/eng/
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Associação Quilombola de Conceição das Crioulas (AQCC) Associação dos Amigos e Pais de Pessoas
Especias (AAPPE) |
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Amazona – Association for the prevention of AIDS ((AMOR (love) + ZONA (red light district) or AMOR à ZONA - Love the Red light district) works throughout the state of Paraiba on STI/HIV/Aids prevention and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The focus is on political and organizational strengthening of popular social organisations in 13 low income communities. This work aimed specifically at adolescents and young people, women and their families. IS will be working with Amazona in the area of organizational development focusing on monitoring and evaluation. www.amazona.org.br Amazonas State STI/HIV/Aids programme |
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Canto Jovem Canto Jovem promotes Social, Cultural and Political participation of adolescents and Young people in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil through art education activities. Their focus is on human rights and in particular sexual and reproductive rights. IS is supporting the Canto Jovem team in the area of organizational development focusing on monitoring and evaluation. www.cantojovem.org.br |
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Centro Nordestino de Medicina Popular (CNMP) Has worked for many years with community groups in the municipalities of the Pernambuco state in the north-east of the country. CNMP works mainly to: Raise awareness of and use of medicinal plants, and to increase the population’s awareness of the health politics and how they can have their say. IS currently has an agronomist working with the CNMP team in the Zona da Matta region of Pernambuco. www.cnmp.org.br |
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Conselho Nacional dos Seringueiros (CNS) Is the rubber tappers' union, which was set up to help the rubber tappers and other extractavist communities defend their rights and the environment. IS is working with the women’s secretariat based in Belem, Para supporting their communication and fundraising team. www.cnsnet.org.br |
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Centro de Educação Communitaria
Rural (CECOR)
Works with over 30 rural communities in the municipality of Serra Talhada and neighbouring municipalities of Pernambuco state in the Semi-Arid North East of Brazil. CECOR started in 1980 as a community education project run by the Catholic Church. In 1992, supported by local rural union groups, CECOR was formally recognised as an NGO. CECOR’s mission is to contribute to improving the living conditions of rural communities in the semi-arid regions of Brazil. They aim to do this through enabling communities to pursue their legal rights and providing technical training and support. IS is supporting CECOR to develop and improve access to local agroecological markets. |
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The Centro de Habilitação e Apoio ao Pequeno Agricultor do Araripe
(CHAPADA) was founded in 1994 to increase the sustainability of
the livelihoods of rural communities in the area of Araripe and
surrounding areas in the Semi-Arid North-East of Brazil. CHAPADA works
with over 30 communities and the organisations mission is to ‘provide
services which contribute towards the recuperation and preservation of
the environment and for the social and economic development of local
family agriculture. IS is supporting CHAPADA to develop organic production and increase access to local agro-ecological markets. www.chapadararipe.org.br |
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National Federation for the Education and Integration of the Deaf (FENEIS)
as established in Recife in 2002 with the goal of guaranteeing access of deaf people to education, work, health and social services, and communication through articulating deaf people’s rights in partnership with governmental and non-governmental entities. FENEIS-PE develops courses in LIBRAS for deaf and non deaf people, participates and promotes social and cultural activities, trains instructors and interpreters, and carries out research on LIBRAS and the situation of the deaf population. IS will be working with FENEIS in two areas: Human Rights and Training and Special Education www.feneis.org.br |
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GTP+ – Group for Posithive Prevention Activities |
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PRINCESINHA Project The project was set up in 1998, in Manacaparu, Amazonas State, out of concern that a planned expansion of eco-tourism would increase the incidence of Sexually Transmitted Infections in the region. The project was originally set up to represent the vulnerabilities and needs of sex workers and their clients. The project, which is located in the local government council, has subsequently given rise to two additional projects, representing different vulnerable populations (adolescents; and men who have sex with men). The projects works through peer educators from these groups aiming to reduce the spread of the disease, to reduce stigma, and increase understanding of the rights of people living with HID/AIDS. In addition to educational activities the project also distributes condoms to all target groups and provides access to clinical examinations. www.dfid.gov.uk/casestudies/files/south-america/brazil-hiv.asp |
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Saúde e Alegria (PSA) Works with riverside communities in the interior of the state of Pará. PSA uses innovative forms of expression, including theatre and circus, to help raise the awareness of the communities, and more particularly, of the local monitors of health and environmental issues amongst others. IS currently has a Development Worker working with PSA's Health in the Forest projects. www.saudeealegria.org.br |
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National Federation for the Education and
Integration of the Deaf (FENEIS) The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) |
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