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by Brazil Justice Net
Number 592 June 25, 2008
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In this week's News from Brazil:
Women
organize in search of greater representation
In Quixabeira, 300 km from Salvador , female rural producers decided to
fight against the prejudice that exists in their own houses and to seek
greater representation in the local public institutions and
powers. With this objective, nearly 200 producers were
planning on meeting on June 14 to form the Movement of Women Workers of
Quixabeira (MMTQ). On this occasion, they planned to approve
the entity statutes and to elect the executive coordinators of the
movement.
Through base community meetings, the young women of the
Formation Project of Young Feminine Leadership—promoted by
the Community Organization Movement (MOC) in partnership with the Union
of Rural Workers of Quixabeira—visited the communities in the
municipality with the purpose of discussing the formation of an entity
composed of women from the region.
Edsônia Moreira, one of the young women leaders, believes
that, with the Movement, the women can achieve a greater role and
participation in associations, unions, cooperatives, municipal
councils, even political representation in the legislative power of the
Municipality. In this way, they can write their own projects
in order to gain resources that will sustain the work of the entity.
They begin to realize that they do not need to depend on their husbands
for everything, that they can go by themselves to get loans from the
institutions,” affirms Edsônia. In
relation to this, they are already looking for greater flexibility in
the loans. “We began to discuss with the directors
of the Rural Credit Cooperative the possibility of lengthening the
grace period for interest on the loans which, currently, is only one
month. With this time period, the women are not able to
obtain the financial return for making the payment,” she
emphasizes.
In this town, the women face diverse barriers to their economic and
social development. In spite of the prejudices of their sons
and husbands, they hope to transform the mentality of how they are
viewed by the local public power, which does not show itself to be very
open to female participation. Their activities consist
primarily of agricultural products, cultivated in the family
agricultural model. Some women differentiate themselves by
producing regional culinary products, like crackers made from manioc
gum.
In accordance with the Movement’s constitution, the
entity’s decisions will be made through Assemblies.
In this way, Edsônia believes that there will be greater
participation by the women in the decision-making processes.
Another objective of the movement is to guarantee representation in the
discussions at the local, state, and federal levels on issues of public
policy that guarantee the development of women. “We
are not placing ourselves against men. What we want is to
construct a society together, and in this way it will be easier to
attain these objectives,” she concludes.
Source: Adital - June 13, 2008
Banco
Verde Vida invests in environmental consciousness
Plastic, paper, cooking oil, metal and glass all gained a
new usefulness in the neighborhood of Ataíde, in the city of
Vila Velha in the state of Espírito Santo. The
recyclable material is used as currency in the Solidário
Supermarket, an initiative of Banco Verde Vida, inaugurated on May 8th
of this year. The desire to raise the community’s
awareness about the pollution of the Aribiri River , which runs through
the neighborhood, led to the creation of the bank.
Since there are no resources yet to implement a revitalization of the
river, the Bank saw in the environmental awareness-raising a way to
develop the region. According to João Manoel
Ribeiro, an agent of Brasil Local and coordinator of the project, the
greatest objective is to rescue the self-esteem of the community,
conduct the work of environmental education, and also offer training
for those who live there in craftwork and culinary arts.
The NGO Movive provides technical assistance to the bank, helping to
gain products for the Solidário Supermarket. In
the supermarket, a resident of the Basin Region of the Aribiri River
can trade its solid or liquid residue for an equivalent social
currency, which can then be traded for products from the Supermarket or
services in the Region which have agreed to receive this social
currency. Informative materials on how to separate garbage
and prepare it for exchange are already being distributed in the
community.
The supermarket is going to motivate the families who receive their
basic food baskets in the form of aid to now do their part for the
community through recycling. The products in a basic food
basket will also cost less in the Verde currency. For
example, 1 kilogram of rice will cost V$1.00 (in Verde currency); in
Brazilian reais the same product is 20 cents more.
In recycling, there will also be an advantage for those who do business
with the Verde. A resident who turns in 70 bottles will
receive V$1.00; in reais, they would only receive 70 cents. The Bank is
also going to offer microcredit in Brazilian reais for those
undertakings that use clean technology and for social-environmental
projects implemented in the region. The loans in official
money will have an interest rate of 0.8% per month.
The institution is managed by the Permanent Forum of the Aribiri Basin
, created in 2004 and constituted of entities from public and private
powers, as well as civil society. The Verde Vida is another creation of
the pioneering initiative of the Banco Palmas of the State of
Ceará . The bank is the 17th financial institution
to become part of the Brazilian Network of Community Banks.
Another two banks of Espírito Santo (Bem and Terra) are also
part of the Network. The innovation of the Verde Vida has to
do with the social currency, which doesn’t have value in the
Brazilian real, but it does have value in procuring basic food
products.
Joao Manoel Ribeiro believes that, in the near future, the bank is
going to help the small entrepreneurs of the community, generating
income for the poorest families. “It is a slow
work, but gratifying. The greatest difficulty is the lack of
resources for carrying out these projects as well as for spreading the
word about the bank,” he affirms. Every Friday,
from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., there is already a small market of handcrafts
and culinary products in the neighborhood, an opportunity for
entrepreneurs to sell their products and another opportunity to
increase the circulation of the social currency.
Source: Adital - June 2, 2008
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