PAST PROJECTS
RESOURCE CENTRE FOR COMMUNITY ACTION
AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN SALVADOR, BAHIA, BRAZIL
Partner: United Group
for Black Awareness (GRUCON)
http://www.colorado.edu/StudentGroups/CapoeiraAngola/grucon.html
In Brazil, black people
face racial and cultural discrimination regularly and suffer disproportionately
from poverty and unemployment. GRUCON is a community based, grassroots
NGO in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil that works to empower black communities.
They offer after-school programs for children and youth to give
them a positive cultural identity. They also work to organize
and mobilize community members to take action for their rights.
Change for Children Association
(CFCA) will help build a community centre in Bahia that will house
GRUCON programs.
Partner: The Free Association of the People of Mangueira (ALMM)
The Associação Livre de Moradores
de Mangueira (ALMM) was founded in November 1979 to support formative
and cultural education in the barrio of Mangueira, Bahia, in northeastern
Brazil. The ALMM's activities include: a literacy and education
program (school) called Educate to Liberate; African history and
cultural awareness programs; a variety of income-generating initiatives
including artisan cooperatives, a community snack bar and luncheonette;
a street vendors program for young children; a food-buying cooperative;
apprenticeship programs; and a community health post.
Since 1986, CFCA has supported four successful
projects with ALMM in the area: the establishment of the Educate
to Liberate school; the Little Entrepreneurs program, a street
vendors support program for young children; and an initiative
to expand the ALMM community programs and increase community participation.
CFCA's most recent project with ALMM has continued this expansion
by supporting projects to educate people about their role in community
development.
Partner: Alagoas State Federation of Small Agriculturalists (CEAPA)
The Central Estadual das Associações
dos Assentados e de Pequenos Agricultores de Alagoas (CEAPA) is
a land reform movement which represents approximately 15 000 peasants
from 30 communities in the state of Alagoas. The movement is made
up of both freeholders of small parcels of productive land and
actual agrarian reform settlements. The peasants in Alagoas have
been subject to forced removals from the land that they inherited.
CEAPA, formerly part of Sem Terra, a national movement which secures
land for dispossessed peasants, has raised a strong united voice
in the state and has succeeded in securing land titles for several
communities.
CFCA has helped CEAPA develop its institutional base and has supported
several development initiatives in the settlements.
Partner: Our Lady of Conception Community Centre
The Centro Comunitario Nossa Senhora da
Conceicao (Our Lady of Conception Community Centre) is based in
the community of Bebedouro in the city of Maceio, Alagoas, Brazil.
Their mandate is the recovery of citizenship and self-esteem of
children, youth and women in the communities of Cha de Bebedouro
and Cha de Jaquiera.
In 1993, CFCA supported a project to develop
and implement literacy programs in these communities. In 1997,
we supported the Street Children Outreach project. This project
was part of a larger initiative entitled the Children's Development
Project. This project helped establish vocational training workshops
and it expanded the cultural, recreational, and artistic activities
of the Centre. Our most recent project with the Centre enhanced
the activities in the area and helped to solidify the long term
stability and financial viability of the Community Centre.
Fundo de Pasto (CAFP)
The Central das Associações
de Fundo e Fecho de Pasto (CAFP) is an umbrella group of 60 member
associations formed to acquire stronger bargaining power, especially
in pressuring for collective land titles and government investment
in production. This mandate has been expanded to include protection
and promotion of the land rights for small producers and to promote
sustainable development in general. CAFP is a legally incorporated
and registered civic organization as per the laws of the state
of Bahia. Fundo de Pasto refers to the traditional system of land
administration in the state, whereby a limited number of families
use common grazing areas for goat, sheep, and, on a lesser scale,
mixed blood cattle. In addition to the 60 current member organizations,
CAFP offers support to some 30 to 40 other associations in various
phases of the process of organization and incorporation.
Since 1992, CFCA supported a project for
the development of bee-keeper and traditional healer networks
in Bahia, as well as goat herder training. Through this initiative,
CFCA came into contact with the concept of Fundo de Pasto and
the CAFP and have endorsed and supported their projects with St.
Joseph's Save the Children Club. When St. Joseph's Club was unable
to continue the partnership, CFCA offered to take their place.
In 1997, CFCA supported CAFP in the land
titling process for a number of new associations. CFCA facilitated
economic development, herd enhancement, and they helped to dig
200 shallow wells. CFCA's most recent initiative followed up on
the successes of previous projects by supporting capacity-building
of the organizations in the areas of management and administration.
Zumbi Centre for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents
Established in 1991 in the state of Alagoas
in northeast Brazil, The Centro de Defesa dos Direitos da Criança
e do Adolescente Zumbi dos Palmares (Zumbi Centre) is a group
of professionals who promote the rights of children and ensure
that various levels of government comply with Brazil's Statute
on the Rights of Children and Adolescents (adopted in 1990).
From 1992 to 1995, CFCA assisted in the
"Alternative Project for Support of Street Boys and Girls".
This project provided support for the Zumbi Centre in its early
activities, and helped them establish their reputation in the
community. Since that time, the Centre has updated us on their
activities by sending us regular reports and publications. Additionally,
children and workers from other CFCA partner projects in the area
have used the services of the Zumbi Centre in cases of abuse,
prosecution, and, on at least two occasions, the murder of street
children.
The Association of the Child and Adolescent of Cha de Bebedouro
In Maceio, the Association of the Child
and Adolescent of Cha de Bebedouro works to empower children,
youth and women in the very poor communities of Cha de Bebedouro
and Cha de Jaquiera. CFCA supported these initiatives which provide
community members with vocational training workshops and provide
children and youth with cultural, recreational, and artistic activities.
Fundanor
CFCA supported a project to provide shelter
and refuge to abandoned children in Palmeria dos Indios, Alagoas.
The shelter housed approximately 100 boys and 40 girls. The project
offered carpentry, farming, jewelry-making and crochet stitching
classes.
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