http://ong.portoweb.com.br/ongsolidariedade/default.php?p_secao=13&PHPSESSID=b7662beecd42219ad139dd3ce5f63b47
The volunteer-led organisation developed as a NGO is 2001 to support community mobilisation and participation, particularly in the PB process. Upon finding their premises - a large corrugated iron shed in a residential neighbourhood it was immediately apparent at the grassroots nature of their work. The co-ordinator Sergio talked me through some of their activities ranging from community capacity building workshops to help groups of residents participate in the PB process, to more directive community-based programmes such as training courses and vocational programmes. The organisation also facilitated the publication of a book on the PB process in 2003 told from the viewpoint of participants, outlining levels of involvement for ordinary residents across the city. The book also provided a critique of the PB process at that time.
When asked if he could explain the reason for the evident high turnout at Monday night's assembly Sergio suggested that in his view it was about collective consciousness as a means of asserting community needs- some of which he explained are taken for granted in the UK and Europe, or also indeed across more affluent communities in Brazil. Issues such as sanitation, basic access to healthcare and childcare and education are often priorities for the PB process. For Brazil's working classes PB becomes a vehicle for addressing acute and substantial needs, which may or may not be otherwise addressed by the state.
This is not to say, however, that the PB process delivers the necessary outcomes identified by communities. Solidariedade is still waiting to receive funds to deliver a project, voted for during the 2004 PB process, along with many other projects voted on by local communities. The administration of the PB process appears bureaucratic and fraught with challenges- particularly in terms of appropriate feedback and levels of ongoing dialogue (issues familiar for those involved in community work in the UK). What does appear strong however, is the spirit of participation embedded in the ethos of governance in Porto Alegre. This ethos has passed from the previous Workers Party (PT) administration to the current Workers Democratic Party (TDP), demonstrating the commitment across party politics to a form of co-produced "governance" rather than "government" at a local level in Rio Grand do Sul.
On Thursday afternoon I went to visit "Chocolatao" - the vila due for demolition as part of the redevelopment of the area. Community leaders had been on local radio stations earlier in the day condemning City Hall for undertaking a gentrification programme and moving the poorest communities several miles out of the city, to an area where there was little infrastructure and no work. Many of those living in Chocolatao were "Papaleiros" (rubbish collectors) and depended on the refuse generated across the city centre to survive. The scene was somewhat sorrowful with both federal and military police clearing the site- a neighbouring plot of land already a construction site, and the few remaining residents loading their limited possession onto trucks before being transported to a new life - out of sight. It would be useful to interview the City Hall on its participatory approach to urban planning- but unfortunately I was unable to meet anybody from that department and so it is probably unfair of me to speculate.
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