Message-ID: <9504170106.AA16961@cr-df.rnp.br> Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 22:06:54 EST From: Companheiros das Americas <mailto:poa-bsb@CR-DF.RNP.BR> Subject: social banking in Brasilia, Brazil To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L
Dear Sirs,
The Brasilia DF / Washington DC Committee of the Partners of the
Americas is involved in a coalition with other local NGOs to promote
the socioeconomic development of the population of the poorest areas
of the Federal District.
Recently, the new Governor asked us (our coalition for the development
of citizenship) to work with the Secretaries of Health, Social Development,
Education, Labor and Agriculture, in very integrated way (never seen),
starting by a very poor "satellite city" nearby Brasilia, named Santa Maria.
The main objective of the project is to fight against hunger and misery
prevailing among these population, besides unemployment, violence,
poor health conditions and cultural poverty.
The most peculiar issue in our project involves some kind of social
banking, as follows:
Accordingly the availability of resources, the project will organize groups
formed by a thousand families each, chosen among the poorest of Santa
Maria, to receive, during the next two years, the basic food supply to
feed them. But not for free. They will pay 40% of the costs, and give
(each family) 16 working hours weekly to help with community jobs
decided by the group. The money collected will fund a social bank to
help the people to settle professional initiatives.
To prevent people starving to death, the Government and other institutions,
as the Catholic Church, use to give basic baskets to many families
(the poorest); the novel idea, here, it to sell the food, use the money to
leverage local income generation and job availability, and promote
community organization.
We are organizing the first group (one thousand families in Santa Maria),
because, now, we dispose of money enough to buy one thousand food
baskets (US$ 40 each), monthly, during two years. As soon as more
money become available, we will organize other groups. We don't intend
to solve all the Brazilian social issue with this initiative, but we think that
it will offer an important contribution, especially by promoting and
demonstrating the power of the community organization.
One detail about our project. We will buy 1,000 x $ 40, each month =
$ 40,000. But we will sell them by 40% ($16 each), collecting $ 16,000
monthly. This money will be divided in three parts. The first (10% =
$ 1,600) for administrative and operational expenditures. The second
(40% = $ 6,400) to pay 64 people to perform works decided by the
community as very necessary. They will work at the community nursery
and vegetable gardens, help to build a better sanitation system, etc...
And the third part (50% = 8,000 monthly) will be lent to the local
entrepreneurs, familiar business, cooperatives and any other productive
initiative needing some money to start.
As the months pass by, the rate will change: less direct job payment,
and more money to fund the Social Bank; so, after two years, no one
will be directly depending of the project money, and, the Social Bank
will dispose of around $ 200,000 turning through the community and
fertilizing its productivity.
So, we need collect more information about Social Banking, its
procedure, the kind of productive initiatives they use to fund, the better
succeeded, the rate of failures, the warranty system, and so forth. We
have been informed that your organization deals with similar projects,
so we are demanding your kind collaboration sending us the pertinent
information.
Joaquim Moura [A
[A___________________ j Joaquim Moura, Youth and Citizenship Co Committee, ____________________ Partners of the Americas - Washington DC / Brasilia