Document(s) 10 de 11

A Decentralized, Participatory Study

The Choice Work Dialogue methodology is underpinned by values and concepts that, in their essence, offer a certain kind of setup for conducting research. It enables a diversity of organizations and institutions with different outlooks to take part in forming a rich mosaic of analyses and thinking – what we will call here networked research.

These values and concepts can be grouped into three major, ethico-political and methodological sets. The first set reflects respect for, and valorization of diversities, both socio-cultural (ethnicities, beliefs and values, customs and choices) and regional (natural and acquired attributes and available resources, history, and state of economic, social and political development). The second has to do with democracy, pluralism and social participation in building states and systems of government. It is especially important for establishing social oversight of policy-making and monitoring policy implementation.

^* Sebastião Soares is the technical coordinator of the study Brazilian Youth and Democracy: Participation, Spheres and Public Policies and chairman of Ibase’s Advisory Board.

The third set relates to a methodological issue since public opinion can only form on any issue or subject if information is available and there are spaces and opportunities open where people can interact. This is a collective process of exchanging and sharing ideas. It is a process that involves bringing people’s individual thinking in contrast and interaction with the thinking of others. The thinking involved relates to the participants’ deepest-seated values, is influenced by their emotional reactions, and will finally be formulated by incorporating aspects, portions or slants of the views of various participants in the dialogue.

This methodology helps dialogue participants see themselves as subjects of their own history. It is therefore a research method which brings out and records opinions and perceptions which, at the same time, open up opportunities to shape these people.

In view of these values and concepts and given the characteristics of the study Brazilian Youth and Democracy (described in the Introduction to this book), especially its spread and complexity (the relatively short timeframe and parsimonious budget), the project was decentralized.

This decision was taken after intense discussion and thought by the technical and coordination teams from Ibase and Pólis, with the participation of the Canadian partners (IDRC and CPRN). Basically, decentralization entailed drawing on local organizations and professionals in each of the seven metropolitan regions and the Federal District where the study was carried out and setting up the specific teams that would be responsible for carrying out the study and analyzing the results in the respective region with them.

Right away two major risks were identified in this decision. Firstly, it might produce a ‘patchwork’ of results instead of a study with national scope as intended. Decentralization could lead to the dialogue methodology being applied differently or with uneven emphasis in the various regions. That would mean the results could neither be compared nor aggregated to yield the desired overview of the study population. Secondly, the decentralized research process might progressively lose cohesion - with methods and emphases not being uniformly applied; disparate progress rates leading to irretrievable delays in certain regions; and irregular quality levels in the work done and the results obtained. All of these could disqualify the study as a whole.

Nonetheless, there are numerous, important, albeit latent advantages to this approach. Among the benefits are that the study can be conducted by local groups of professionals who are familiar with regional characteristics and have greater confidence and credibility among the target public regarding the aims of the research. Young participants can realize more quickly and clearly what is being proposed to them, and perceive the legitimacy and ethical integrity of the process and those conducting it.

This approach also makes it possible to comprehensively and naturally grasp the exuberant diversity of the population, both socio-cultural and regional. As mentioned above, it matches fundamental values and concepts of the methodology. As shown by the results obtained in all the studied regions, this gain is very important both in terms of diagnosing deficits and problems, aspirations and opportunities, and also in terms of the conclusions and proposals yielded by the study.

The creation of a network of organizations and institutions attuned to the fundamental values and concepts of the methodology located at the study sites and decentralizing how the methodology was conducted had two major advantages. Firstly, it strengthened the regional organizations. Secondly, it developed institutional leadership capacity in the region which will be useful for future activities on this subject or others.

Providing care is taken to surmount and minimize the risks, decentralization certainly facilitates the work. Setting up a team of professionals located at either of the coordinating organizations (Ibase or Pólis) in Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, which would then have to do the research on an itinerant basis in the various regions, would have resulted in larger budgets and longer timeframes. Brazil is a country of continental proportions, so travel to the regions and the need for the team to familiarize itself with regional situations would certainly have led to the study costing more and taking longer.

Two general observations must be made. Ibase and Pólis have systematically carried out joint work and work in coordination with other leading organizations and individuals on various issues. Ibase has worked in this way since the early days in the 1980s and 90s, during the Agrarian Reform Campaign and Citizens’ Action (Ação da Cidadania). More recently, Ibase’s and Pólis’ activities have centred around networked setups, both in specific policy-implementation studies and other related work. They have also taken this approach when mobilizing and animating social actors to build a more just and egalitarian society (through the World Social Forum, for instance).

Meanwhile using the Choice Work Dialogue methodology IDRC and CPRN have carried out numerous studies in Canada on a wide variety of subjects. In each of these CPRN set up a team of professionals located in Ottawa, which then traveled to the various regions in order to conduct the study. Despite the differences in approaches, the Canadians understood perfectly well the reasons for decentralizing the work in Brazil by organizing a network of partners. They supported, and contributed decisively to, the minor modifications needed in order to apply this methodology under our circumstances. They also attentively accompanied the progress at all stages of the study and in the end, were wholly approving of the results obtained thereby confirming the correctness and merit of the adopted solution.

The logic of the network’s structure and functioning

With a view to promoting North-South relations, building links in solidarity between our peoples, and investing in dialogue, respect for diversity and mutual listening, the first important partnership was struck between the Canadian (IDRC and CPRN) and Brazilian (Ibase and Pólis) organizations.

In Brazil, the basic, preliminary criterion for setting up the network was to find and interlink non-governmental organizations and institutions or groups engaged in academic extension activities. Two further criteria were also observed. The institutions, NGOs and university extension schemes, should be formally established and meet certain minimum requirements regarding knowledge of the issue from previous activities. They should also be recognized as ethically and professionally sound.

It was also desirable that the researchers have prior connection with the partner institutions and they were asked to submit curricula indicating the nature and results of that connection and its affinity with the purposes of the study.

In light of these criteria, the project sought to contact and connect with possible partners. Potential partners were identified through the Brazilian Association of Non-governmental Organizations (Abong) database, and from prior knowledge of Ibase and Pólis leaders, researchers and collaborators.

After reaching the necessary understandings and concluding negotiations between Ibase’s leaders and the local organization, the partnership was formally constituted by contract. The project team members from each region were selected by résumé and, in some cases, through further telephone interviews. The criterion that team members should already be connected with the partner organization was maintained in all but a few cases. Our experience in this study reinforces the appropriateness of this rule, particularly for securing developments from the study in the local region.

Initially, with a view to lower costs and shorter timeframes, the two stages of the study would be carried out differently. The first, quantitative stage (an opinion poll of a sample of 8,000 young people in the seven regions and the Federal District), would be done by a statistics consultancy specialized in conducting nationwide public-opinion polls in Brazil, hired specifically for this purpose. The qualitative stage (40 Dialogue Group meetings in the same regions) would be carried out by teams of professionals set up especially for the purpose and managed by Ibase and Pólis.

As the final project matured and consolidated and the relationship with our Canadian partners did the same, preference shifted to a decentralized arrangement involving the network of partners for the quantitative stage of the study as well. A minor adjustment was also made to the approach of the quantitative study (outsourcing to a specialized firm). A decision was made to also involve the regional teams in the partner network in this stage. They would participate in discussions around and the preparation of the questionnaire used in the interviews of the 8,000 young people. They would also subsequently analyze the data collected, processed and tabulated by the outsourced firm, and draft the actual report on their respective region. This small adjustment proved fundamental to preventing any disconnect between the two stages of the study and to assuring the success of the project as a whole.

A regional team comprised of a supervisor and two research assistants was set up in each region. The supervisors and assistants began their work during the third and seventh month of project execution respectively. They remained active until the 18th month, when research activities practically came to an end and the results were presented at two scheduled events at the World Social Forum in Caracas, Venezuela in January 2006.

During the time when the Dialogue Group meetings were being held – approximately three months during the first half of 2005 – each regional team was reinforced by four intern researchers who participated in moderating the meetings and recording what happened during the various phases of the meetings. In all, 61 professionals took part in the eight regional teams including eight supervisors, 18 research assistants and 35 intern researchers.

Indispensable periodic workshops

The proper management of the sizeable body of researchers working in a decentralized study presented a major challenge. This challenge was successfully met with the aid of certain provisions on the organization and operation of the partner network. Workshops were a prominent component among these provisions. They brought the technical and coordination teams, supervisors and research assistants together in Rio de Janeiro for three days of activities. During the course of the 18 and a half months of the project, four workshops were held. Their timing and aims are described below.

The first took place early in the third month of the project’s execution. Its purpose was to discuss the scope of the study (goals, stages, timeframes and products) in minute detail; to prepare and approve the detailed work schedule (activities, organization and procedures, participants’ responsibilities, bi-weekly timetable, expected results); to start discussing the Dialogue Group (Choice Work Dialogue) methodology; and to discuss and finish preparing the 46-item questionnaire for the opinion poll for the quantitative stage of the study.

The second workshop, at the start of the sixth month of the project’s execution, explored knowledge on the Dialogue Group methodology in greater depth, started the preparation of the tools for the qualitative stage (Facilitator’s Guide, Dialogue Manual), evaluated progress in the early stage of the project and made some minor adjustments to the schedule, especially with a view to incorporating the research assistants into the regional teams.

The third workshop was held during the eighth month of the project’s execution and was particularly important, because it included the participation of both the recently-engaged research assistants and an experienced Canadian consultant from CPRN. The emphasis of this workshop was on methodological issues, including conclusive discussions on the final versions of the tools for the Dialogue Groups. In addition, the preliminary schedule for these groups was set out, and criteria for group formation and participant selection were discussed, as well as procedures for contacting the young people and inviting them to take part. Lastly, the meeting discussed the processed, tabulated results of the opinion poll and the guidelines for reporting on this quantitative stage.

The fourth workshop took place during the 15th month of the project’s execution. It discussed the final versions of the regional reports and the overall study report, with particular focus on the final topics, conclusions and recommendations. It also discussed the strategic plan for providing feedback on the results and publicizing them in the national and regional media. At this workshop, participants also debated extending and continuing the study and adjusting the programme in the final stages, as well as how to broaden the international dissemination of the results at the World Social Forum in Caracas.

The workshops were fundamental for the members of the teams to get to know each other and mesh, and for everyone involved to fully and homogeneously understand the scope of the study and its specific characteristics. They also contributed decisively to reducing the friction that naturally ensues in implementing any endeavour, but especially complex, large-scale ones.

Another essential measure was to ensure that the Dialogue Group methodology was fully absorbed, first by the technical team and then by the regional teams. In the latter case, exhaustive efforts were made to ensure that the regional teams reached a homogeneous understanding of all facets of the methodology. This was done so that the results obtained from this decentralized study would be consistent, as they in fact they were.

Transfer of the methodology first began in Canada when, with the support of CPRN and IDRC, four members of the technical team travelled north at the start of the project make a complete, concentrated study of all of its aspects. The methodology was then transferred to the regional teams - mainly at the workshops - with indispensable technical support from the Canadians.

Collective construction

The method followed from the outset was for the work tools to be constructed collectively by all the professionals involved. Final drafting of the opinion-poll questionnaire and the guidelines for the various reports, as well as preparation of the Facilitator’s Guide, the Dialogue Manual, the Pre- and Post-Dialogue Forms, the banners and the CD-ROM (developed for the Dialogue Groups) were all jointly developed, discussed, adjusted until reaching their final form. This form may not have corresponded to what many considered ideal, but it was of a quality sufficient for their intended purposes. Once accepted, they were immediately appropriated and used by all who had collaborated in moulding them.

This collective construction method of the work tools greatly contributed to avoiding the risks inherent in conducting the study through a network of regional partners. The continuous planning and programming of the research activities, careful monitoring and periodic review of progress by all teams and, above all, the minimization of alterations to what had already been decided, especially the execution timeframes for the various stages, helped eliminate the risk of losing cohesion during the course of the study.

In fact, the arrangement adopted for the study was for the execution to be decentralized, but for the planning to be centralized although intensely participatory. These methods account largely for the project’s success.

This planning and supervision effort was anchored in the technical and coordination teams, but was always performed with frequent, intense consultation and discussions with all the teams in the partner network. This was done through the periodic workshops, by telephone, and mostly through the e-forum and other specific announcements and messages over the Internet.

The e-forum was accessible and available to all project participants including the coordinating organizations, the network of partner organizations and all participating professionals. During the course of the study, the forum rendered outstanding services suited to each stage of project implementation. Thus, in the early days, it played a key role in communicating the project and its – especially methodological – characteristics; circulating and sharing the researchers’ opinions; and generally ‘breaking the ice’ among those professionals engaged in the project.

At the time that the Dialogue Groups were being held, it served as an extensive and diversified framework for sharing the ‘torrent’ of experiences by the various teams. It created a common environment of outstanding solidarity which was frequented by everyone and it was used to draw energy from when facing common difficulties.

In the final stages of the study, it was indispensable in developing the reports, arranging the feedback of results to the young participants and local/regional publics, in implementing the strategic media plan, and in coordinating the teams’ participation in the World Social Forum in Caracas.

All in all, the e-forum established an efficient pattern of real-time communication and constituted a paradigm of transparency among partners and professionals participating in the study on all the subjects and issues relating to it.

The procedures and routines set up at the outset of the project all ensured an effective system of quality control of the work done in each and every region where the study was carried out. These include the clearly assigned responsibilities of all the professionals involved in the study; the collectively-constructed work tools and reporting guidelines; the frequent orientations given by the technical team; the debates and discussions at the workshops and through the e-forum; the effort put into managing the technical teams and coordination; and, above all, the unquestionable and generalized competence and dedication of the regional teams.

The network

In order to help understand the composition of the network set up to perform the research, some general information on the organizations that constituted the network is presented below. This information also includes a summary of the main activities they engage in, as well as information about the professionals – coordinators, consultants, technical staffs, supervisors and research assistants – who made up the overall, national and regional teams.

Overall Project Coordination

Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (Ibase):

• Overall coordinator: Itamar Silva
  
  
• Technical coordinator: Sebastião Soares
  
  
• Technical team: Patrícia Lânes, Eliane Ribeiro, Paulo Carrano
  
  
• Statistics advisors: Marco Antônio Aguiar, Leonardo Méllo, Márcia Tibau
  
  
• Secretaries: Inês Carvalho and Rozi Billo

Ibase is a not-for-profit institution set up in 1981. Its mission is to build democracy by combating inequalities and stimulating citizens’ participation. Its areas of activity include the World Social Forum process, democratic alternatives to globalization, monitoring public policy, democratizing the city, food security, solidarity economy, and social accountability and ethical responsibility in organizations.

Its target publics include social and grassroots movements; community organizations; active citizen leaders, groups and organizations; schools, students and teachers; community radios and alternative communication endeavours; opinion leaders in the mass media; members of parliaments and their advisors; and policy-makers.

Instituto de Estudos, Formação e Assessoria em Políticas Sociais (Pólis):

• Overall deputy coordinator: Anna Luiza Salles Souto

Pólis is a non-governmental organization which has been active at the Brazilian national level since its foundation in 1987. It is closely identified with urban issues and the field of public policy and local development. Citizens’ rights as an achievement of democracy is the central theme by which it organizes its activities, which are directed to ensuring that cities are just, sustainable and democratic.

The Institute’s activities include research, courses and advisory services, and it forms part of citizens’ rights advocacy coalitions and networks. Their specific key areas are participatory citizenship, food and nutritional security, urbanism and the right to the city, public-policy monitoring, urban environment, culture and local economic development.

Technical and financial support

International Development Research Centre (IDRC):

• Coordinator: Federico Burone

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to help developing countries use science and technology to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental problems they face.

Support is directed toward strengthening local capacity in developing countries with a view to furthering the research, policies and technologies needed to build more equitable societies.

In carrying out its mission, IDRC provides funds and expert advice to developing-country researchers working to solve critical development problems. The broad themes addressed are environment and natural resource management; information and communication technologies for development; innovation, policy and science; and social and economic policy.

IDRC organizes partnerships between nations of the South and various kinds of Canadian organizations – universities, trade unions, social movements and so on. IDRC also funds studies and research by academics from Canada and developing countries. Its offices are in Ottawa and it has six regional offices in Montevideo (Uruguay), Dakar (Senegal), Nairobi (Kenya), Cairo (Egypt), New Delhi (India) and Singapore.

Technical and methodological support

Canadian Policy Research Networks (CPRN):

• Coordinator: Mary Pat MacKinnon
  
  
• Consultant: Suzanne Taschereau

Canadian Policy Research Networks is a non-profit organization based in Ottawa. CPRN was founded in 1994 by Judith Maxwell, former Chair of the Economic Council of Canada, at a time when the advance of neoliberalism and international economic crises raised concerns over maintaining social gains in Canada.

CPRN’s mission is to create knowledge and lead public dialogue and debate on social and economic issues to strengthen social rights. CPRN conducts research to provide information and analytical input to policy-making, bringing together NGOs, universities, trade unions, business associations and government. It provides a neutral space where a variety of social stakeholders can dialogue and share their thinking on public policies.

Its priority areas are children and youth; citizen engagement; democracy, governance and citizenship; diversity; education and learning; health, labour market; job quality; and social protection.

CPRN’s website offers free publications in its areas of activity. In 2006, there were approximately 1.9 million downloads of this material.

Partner in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul:
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

Porto Alegre regional team:

• Supervisor: Nilton Bueno Fischer
  
  
• Research assistants: Carmem Zeli Vargas Gil Souza, Nara Vieira Ramos, Nilda Stecanela and Sueli Salva

The Rio Grande do Sul Federal University (UFRGS) is based in Porto Alegre which is the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul. Set up by State Decree No. 5,758 on 28 November 1934 and federalized by Law No. 1,254 on 4 December 1950, it is a self-regulating institution with autonomy in managing its scientific, teaching, administrative and financial and patrimonial affairs.

The main purpose of the UFRGS, its faculty, students and technical and administrative staff is higher education and the production of philosophical, scientific, artistic and technological knowledge through teaching, research and extension.

In that context its postgraduate programme in Education, in addition to offering advanced Master’s and doctoral seminars on the subject of youth, has a faculty that researches the subject from a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. These include media and youth; youth and leadership; youth in situations of risk (boys and girls on the streets and in public shelters); and youth and policy.

Master’s and doctoral students have also researched youth for their theses, ranging from their spatial situation (on the streets and in school), their use of the media and computers (also youth and free time), to a variety of activities under the overall denomination of corporality and youth (dances and performances; capoeira¹ among young people, etc.). Studies  have also been carried out of municipal policies and the management of programmes and actions, both on the initiative of youth movements and in partnership with them.

These studies take in the Porto Alegre metropolitan region, but in some cases also consider the interior of the state (Serra Gaúcha and the coastal region). Institutional studies are also carried out in partnership with other Brazilian institutions, such as in the case of the study Youth, Schooling and Local Power (Juventude, escolarização e poder local) in partnership with Ação Educativa in São Paulo, with funding from Fapesp/CNPq.

Partners in Rio de Janeiro, RJ:
Iser Assessoria: religião, cidadania e democracia
Observatório Jovem do Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro regional team:

• Supervisor: Solange dos Santos Rodrigues
  
  
• Research assistants: Alexandre da Silva Aguiar and Marilena Cunha

Iser Assessoria

Iser Assessoria is a not-for-profit association set up in 1995. Its fundamental commitment is to building a society grounded in freedom, justice and solidarity in Brazil. Brazilian society bears the imprint of profound inequalities, especially in access to information and knowledge, making it difficult for poorer sectors to participate as subjects in the process of consolidating democracy.

To address that situation, Iser promotes the circulation of knowledge in response to demands for capacity-building from individuals connected with social movements, the ecumenical movement and academic institutions. It conducts courses, studies, seminars and debates, and produces publications that circulate widely in Brazil. The central thread connecting these activities is the relationship between religious phenomena and democracy building process, including gender relations and youth as cross-cutting themes.

In recent years, emphasis has been given to participatory democracy, encouraging public participation in policy-making and monitoring policy implementation.

Five years ago, Iser began working specifically on youth and social participation with a view to supporting citizenship-building processes for young Brazilians. It advises on events organized by youth groups and organizations working with young people; gives courses, round tables and debates; does research; prepares input for workshops; conducts specific literature reviews; circulates official information; and dialogues with militants in youth movements, students of these issues and Members of Parliament.

Observatório Jovem do Rio de Janeiro

This Youth Observatory began its activities in 2001, as an outreach project connected with the Faculty of Education at Fluminense Federal University (UFF). In 2003, it became part of the postgraduate programme in Education, as an inter-institutional, multidisciplinary study, research and outreach group. In addition to professors, undergraduates and graduates, it includes faculty from other universities (UERJ, UNIRIO, UFRRJ) and social organizations (Ibase, Iser/Assessoria, Instituto Imagem e Cidadania) among others.

Its main study and research concerns relate to how the ‘youth condition’ has changed over time, the life situations of contemporary youth and their social, cultural and political mobilizations. It also keeps a critical eye on youth-policy developments.

The Observatory produces material of its own in the form of interviews and articles, and also circulates official information from other sources. Its website is intended to be a channel for encouraging dialogue among researchers of youth issues, and between them and society. The site hosts studies and other work by the Observatory and other groups, complete texts on a range of subjects, recommended reading, critical commentary, reviews, interviews, articles and newsletters – all from a scientific journalism standpoint.

Partner in São Paulo, SP:
Ação Educativa

São Paulo regional team:

• Supervisor: Ana Paula de Oliveira Corti
  
  
• Research assistants: Elizabete Regina Baptista de Oliveira and Raquel de Souza Santos.

Ação Educativa was founded in 1994 with the mission of contributing to effective educational and youth rights, with a view to promoting social justice, participatory democracy and sustainable development in Brazil.

It combines a variety of work and action strategies such as: local action and educational experimentation; training and capacity-building for young people, educators and other social agents; setting up and participating in networks and forums at the local and national levels; promotional campaigns; researching and disseminating information and knowledge; promoting debates and exchange; producing educational materials; advising government; lobbying the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches of government, and related advocacy activities.

In relation to youth, Ação Educativa both helps youth groups and forums function and interrelate while also organizing training activities. In addition it supports the structuring and development of youth policies. In its activities with young people, it seeks to strengthen their capacity for collective action. In capacity-building activities, it begins with the interests expressed by young people in order to support them in preparing and implementing the projects.

Ação Educativa gives special attention to establishing dialogue with other civil society actors (community organizations and other NGOs) and with government either by building partnerships or by conveying demands. It does so both in its training activities for young people and when advising youth groups and fostering and supporting networks and forums of youth organizations. Since dialogue is not only difficult for young people, they apply the same idea when carrying out training activities or when providing the advisory services to governments, educators and NGOs.

Partners in Recife, Pernambuco:
Equip
Projeto Redes & Juventudes

Recife regional team:

• Supervisor: Lívia De Tommasi
  
  
• Research assistants: Graça Elenice dos Santos Braga and Marcílio Dantas Brandão

Equip

Founded in July 1988, the Escola de Formação Quilombo dos Palmares (Equip) grew out of the maturity and organization achieved by trade union and grassroots movements in northeast Brazil during the 1970s and 1980s. Its history intertwines with the histories of struggle and resistance by northeastern trade-union and grassroots leaders.

It is a non-governmental organization that invests in training activities and in interchanging and systematically recording grassroots education activities. It proposes the dissemination of grassroots education, placing emphasis to methodological capacity-building for grassroots movements and organizations.

Projeto Redes & Juventude

This group proposes setting up and organizing a network of 25 NGO-run projects with youth, most of which are based in northeastern Brazil. The focus of this network’s activities is youth participation in advocacy. The project is hosted by Save the Children in Recife.

They organize debates and workshops on youth-related issues such as placement in the work market, the solidarity economy, action methodology, and communication. They take part in local and national events to discuss youth policies, such as the National Youth Conference (Conferência Nacional de Juventude), and meetings organized by Projeto Juventude, which is run by the Instituto de Cidadania.

Partner in Brasília, DF:
Inesc

Brasília regional team:

• Supervisor: Ozanira Ferreira da Costa
  
  
• Research assistants: Karina Aparecida Figueiredo and Perla Ribeiro

Set up in 1979, the mission of the Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos (Inesc) is ‘to contribute to strengthening participatory democracy, with a view to ensuring human rights, by monitoring and evaluating public policies, mainly with regard to Brazil’s national Congress’.

For these purposes, it pursues activities that range from drafting and monitoring proposed laws, monitoring budget preparation and execution, and coordinating with other civil-society organizations.

Inesc is active on the following main issues: children and adolescents; agrarian and agricultural policies; indigenous peoples and environment; public spending; and international politics.

Partner in Belo Horizonte, MG:
Observatório da Juventude, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG)

Belo Horizonte regional team:

• Supervisor: Juarez Tarcísio Dayrell
  
  
• Research assistants: Geraldo Magela Pereira and Nilma Lino Gomes

The Youth Observatory is a teaching, research and outreach programme of the Education Faculty at Minas Gerais Federal University supported by the Outreach Department. Since 2002 it has been researching, surveying and distributing information on the situation of youth in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan region. It has also organized capacity-building exercises both for young people and for educators and undergraduates at UFMG interested in youth issues.

The programme forms part of the affirmative-action policy context, and is guided by four key directions that delimit its institutional action: the ‘youth condition’; policies and social actions; cultural practices and collective action by young people in the city; and construction of methodologies for working with young people. The Observatory has conducted youth-related university outreach and research projects.

Partner in Salvador, BA:
Centro de Referência Integral de Adolescentes (Cria)

Salvador regional team:

• Supervisor: Júlia Taís Campos Ribeiro

• Research assistants: Ana Paula Carvalho da Silva and Fernanda Glória França Colaço

The Centro de Referência Integral de Adolescentes (Cria) is an NGO founded in February 1994. Based in the Pelourinho district, the historical centre of Salvador, its aim is to contribute to improving educational, health and cultural policies.

It works in the field of arts and education focussing on theatre staged by adolescents and young people from various areas of the city, especially those youth from poor districts who are studying at public schools. Its training activities for young people include an Education for Citizenship programme focussing on education, health and culture.

The young people and educators at Cria participate in social monitoring structures, such as Salvador’s municipal forum and council on children’s rights (Fórum e Conselho Municipal dos Direitos da Criança e Adolescente), the National Youth Network (Rede Nacional de Juventude) and the Latin and Caribbean Youth Network (Rede Latino-americana e Caribenha de Juventude). It also interlinks with other NGOs to form and animate a state youth forum. In addition, it has actively participated at the government level with the Salvador Youth Coordination Department (Coordenadoria da Juventude).

Partner in Belém, Pará:
Unipop

Belém regional team:

• Supervisor: Lúcia Isabel da Conceição Silva

• Research assistants: Francisca Guiomar Cruz da Silva and Rosely Risuenho Viana

In 1987, a total of 15 institutions in Belém including organizations connected with the grassroots and trade-union movements and religious institutions, founded Unipop. Unipop is a grassroots education NGO whose guiding principle is political, gender, cultural and religious pluralism. It is also an experimental initiative in education for citizenship, building on the socio-political, ecumenical-theological and ludic-theatrical approaches. Their specific work with young people started in 1999 when it was defined as a priority public for its training activities.

Final remarks

Lastly, I would like to emphasize two important points. The work of this network ensured that the study Brazilian Youth and Democracy: Participation, Spheres and Public Policies achieved efficiency (the project kept within its timetable and budget), efficacy (all stages of the study were completed in all the regions, to a high and uniform standard of quality) and effectiveness (reliable results were obtained which really expressed the characteristics of the study population). It also allowed all the project goals to be accomplished in full. There can also be no doubt that, with due regard for diversities, the organizational arrangements and the managerial solutions adopted in this study can be applied in similar undertakings in the future.

It must also be stressed that certain factors significantly contributed to greater equity in how the research network was constructed. These were: the institutions, organizations and professionals involved all had a significant background in research and knowledge on the issues; information circulated constantly; all stages of the research process were discussed (from developing the tools, analyzing the outcomes, through to disseminating the results); the experience and outlook of the NGOs and youth networks was combined with input from universities; and the organizations, institutions and researchers were committed to producing inputs for new public policies, strategies and actions directed to Brazilian youth.

In short, the network can be an important tool for facilitating the production of knowledge, at the same time as it contributes to providing visibility to, and reinforcing, important issues in the struggle for a less unequal world.

Notes

¹ Capoeira is a blend of martial art, game, and dance originating from Brazil, particularly the regions of Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and São Paulo.

Document(s) 10 de 11