Recife: "The City of Contrasts"

Recife is the capital of the north-eastern state of Pernambuco with a city population of about 1.5 million. Known as the "City of Contrasts" a multi-million pound tourism industry complete with thousands of high rise, secure apartment blocks for the middle classes sits cheek by jowl with some of the poorest favelas in the country. There is a common expression in Recife that you are never more than "1km from a slum". Even when lounging on the never ending  beach at Boa Viagem, some 400 favelas sit only a few blocks behind the central promenade. The favelas are dispersed across the city, some perched on hill-sides at risk of sudden landslides and some on low-lying land at risk of floods - being a sub tropical environment both of these occurrences are common. Several favelas spent much of last week under water, not helped by a hugely inadequate sanitation system resulting in gallons of raw sewerage pouring onto the streets.

Much of my time in Recife has been spent understanding the context of life here, speaking to organisations working on various civil society programmes and engaging in part of community life (most notably those involving food). I have also collected a range of literature, photographs and charts (mainly in Portuguese) to help map out the PB process and the role of civil society organisations across the city. My Portuguese has had to improve rapidly as very little English is spoken in the city. I also benefited from some support with some of the interviews with a local interpreter- Leonardo.

I felt a very slight sense of de ja vu yesterday as I visited a youth programme "A juventude e Ação Política" aimed at increasing political awareness and civic literacy for 15-30 year olds. Colleagues in Great Yarmouth will recall our hugely successful "Take Part" programme- dealing with many of the same issues. Whilst the contextual issues for young people in these communities are different- the notion that in both countries this age group is the most disengaged from political processes highlights some of the challenges we face in ensuring democratic processes evolve to meet the needs of future generations. What is certainly clear in both the Brazilian and British context- is that programmes such as these provide the gateway into more formalised processes such as participatory budgeting.

Participatory Budgeting emerged in a different context in Recife compared to Porto Alegre. The PT did not take control of Recife until 2000 and the blue print model of PB was not implemented in Recife until that time. Recife did however, already have a very strong culture of participation and community mobilisation through an existing capacity building programme which brought together forms of PB within a wider programme of civil society. Unfortunately it seems this programme was disregarded by the new PT administration who wanted to implement a high profile PB process- which would attract thousands of participants and demonstrate the "participatory" nature to the new regime. And true to it's word the PT administration has continued to run PB (although it is not a legal requirement in Recife like it is in Porto Alegre, meaning it could be withdrawn should there be a change of leadership). Over 120,000 residents engaged in PB in 2009- a phenomenally high figure, similar to the turn out in Porto Alegre. I have spent some time today with 2 NGO's: Etapas and Fase probing more about the evidently high levels of engagement in civil society.
From both these and the Porto Alegre interviews some observations are becoming clear:

1. PB seems to be one of the only vehicles through which funds are allocated to poor neighbourhoods - therefore there seems to be a real sense that "if we don't participate we will miss out" on things like having a decent sanitation system on our street, having a road without pot holes, accessing basic education, leisure and healthcare etc.
2. PB has its risks - Brazilian political culture is still fraught with corruption and manipulation- PB is often used as a vehicle by politicians to deliver pet projects and programmes. There is also a sense that PB doesn't always allow a strategic dialogue- often people don't know why they are participating- just that if they don't they will miss out. This inevitably puts communities at odds with one another and in competition for scarce resources. Unsurprisingly there is not an equal distribution of resource across neighbourhoods. As seems to be clear in the Recife example, those communities with the most complex and compounded problems are the ones with the greatest challenges in terms of community mobilisation. The dealing of crack has become the lifeblood of some of these communities with children as young as 5 dealing in order to survive. These are the communities which often miss out through the PB process.
3. PB does provide a democratic model of resource allocation- of particular significance given the historical and political context of Brazil and this had resulted in a number of improvements. Unlike the UK- people tend to know how they can participate and the structures of participation are open and well promoted.
4. Whilst PB appears to be successful because it is part of a wider process of administration, with neighbourhood councils in Porto Alegre and the Mayor's City Hall in the Neighbourhood Programme in Recife participatory approaches don't appear to have encompassed all aspects of public administration. Recife also struggles with approaches to urban planning and the resettlement of the poor and has struggled with attempts to consolidate the role of the private sector and big corporations.
5. Whilst structures can be created by respective local governments- communities must be given the resources to mobilise and address their own concerns - this requires support, capacity building and investment. In Brazil much of this support comes from NGO's often funded by international aid agencies.

Both organisations I have spoken to today are having funds cut by international aid agencies because Brazil is no longer recognised as a "developing" nation. They were both resolute in their response to this - "to say the country has benefitted from economic development does not mean to say there has been an automatic reduction in inequality". The challenges will certainly remain in Recife - participatory budgeting appears to be one way of addressing these- although community mobilisation will be essential to make this work for the people who need it the most.

I hope to upload some pictures of the Recife experience soon. I head to Brasilia in the early hours of tomorrow morning where I will be meeting Professor Rebecca Abers - a leading academic light in participatory politics in Brazil...

NB: Pics from Recife Below: