Interview: our work in Brazil

Brazil is the largest country in South America, and has the world’s 5th largest population. It’s renowned for its vibrant carnivals, the Amazon river and a wealth of natural resources. Brazil's currency recently hit a nine-year-high against the dollar, inflation is under control and millions of Brazilians are being propelled towards a new middle class.

So why is International Service committed to working there?

In this interview, Luca Sinesi – our Field Director in Brazil – talks about the enormous gulf between rich and poor, and the challenges that still need to be overcome in the fight for equal rights in Brazil.

Tell us more about the inequalities faced by people in Brazil

"In the last 10 years, inequality has significantly reduced - mainly thanks to the economic and social policies of President Lula’s Government. However, wealth is not distributed equally across the country, and the huge gap between rich and poor creates social and economic inequality and exclusion.

More than 35 million Brazilians still live below the poverty line, 71% of whom are African descendants. Only 30% of black people have a primary school diploma. There is a higher concentration of people living in poverty in the north and northeast of the country, which is exactly where we work."

Do people in rural and urban areas face different sorts of challenges?

"Yes, definitely. Urban poverty is concentrated in the favelas - suburbs and shanty towns - that foster higher use of drugs, criminal activities, domestic violence, homicides, and sexually transmitted diseases. There is also a strong ethnic association with urban poverty. In the northeast, for each white victim of homicide, there are 10 black people killed.

Whereas, rural poverty is concentrated mainly in the semi-arid region of the northeast and in the depths of the Amazon Rainforest. Whilst urban poverty is associated with violence, crime and use of drugs, the main problems in rural areas are related to isolation, lack of public services - health, education, water - and scarce opportunities for making a living."

Tell us more about what International Service is doing to overcome inequality and secure equal rights for all

"In the urban areas of the northeast and in 6 municipalities in the middle of Amazon Rainforest, we are working to promote access to public services in the area of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS. To achieve this we are working with local NGOs and the State and Municipal Governments.

At a national level, we are working in the field of sexual health and disability. This successfully resulted in the first-ever National Forum on HIV/AIDS and Disability in 2008, and the publication of the first-ever federal policy document on the sexual and reproductive health rights of disabled people in 2009. This will benefit around 24 million disabled Brazilians.

In the depth of the semi-arid northeast, we are working in 7 municipalities to support people working in agriculture to build sustainable livelihoods. This work is based on producing organic food and produce, which increases people’s food security and enables them to generate an income from the sale of surplus produce."

Is it working? What differences have you seen in the past few years?

"I believe it is working well. In the Amazon, we produced and distributed around 500,000 copies of education materials on HIV, AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. Today we estimate that 141,000 women and men and 50,000 young people have improved their access to health services and information on sexual health. As a result, we have seen a decrease of 32% in the number of cases of AIDS in the municipalities where we work.

In the northeast, our work has seen small-scale farmers expand their markets, with a 53% increase in customers at the local organic markets."

What are the next steps for International Service’s work?

"The results we are achieving encourage us to strengthen our work with our Brazilian partners. In a country like Brazil – a continent more than a country! - it is very important to focus our work in specific areas so we can achieve more impact. It is important that we work with both governmental and non-governmental partners. We found that Government is very open to working with civil society.

The 8th Millennium Development Goal is: “Develop a global partnership for development.” This reminds us that the fight for equal rights should see as many people as possible working together."

What do you think are the next steps for Brazil as a whole?

"Many important steps have already been undertaken. For sure we still have a long way to go, but I believe that we are on the right way. Brazil is starting to develop significant programmes with a huge number of African countries. These new initiatives are very exciting from the perspective of a new democratic world, where all the people and the states have the same voice, rights and power to decide."