Database Details Social Projects in Brazil's Amazon
7/16/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Database Details Social Projects in Brazil's Amazon
Source: BIPSAM, Amazonian Interactive Database of Social Projects
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: July 16, 1999
We would like to summarize briefly a project that is being conducted
in the Brazilian Amazon. The main goals of the project BIPSAM
(Amazonian Interactive Database of Social Projects) are:
a.. to develop and make available a Database of Social Projects
that take place in the Brazilian Legal Amazon and that focus on the
sustainable development and the reduction of poverty and social
exclusion
a.. to stimulate the constitution of a network of institutions
that conduct social projects in the region. This network will allow
institutions to share information and improve their performance,
constituting an effective information system.
This project is an initiative of SUDAM (Superintendence for the
Development of the Amazon Region), within the context of the
UNDP/SUDAM-BRA/96/025 Agreement. Its coordination is under the
responsibility of a team of consultants of FIA/FEA/USP (Sao Paulo
University Institute of Administration).
The many activities of the project have been developed through the
integration of a multitude of social actors, such as civil society
organizations (grass-roots organizations, cooperatives, NGOs,
foundations and financing organizations), public and multilateral
agencies. By working together those organizations have been able to
constitute a network of actors willing to share the common goal of
promoting the social development of the Amazon.
BACKGROUND
The BIPSAM project results from the desire of SUDAM to get to know
and develop partnership with government and civil society
organizations that promote the social development and combat poverty
and exclusion in the Brazilian Amazon region.
As a first step SUDAM supported two research projects which aimed at
learning about the work of civil society organizations that conducted
social projects in the region.
The researches "Social Exclusion in the Legal Amazon and Professional
Formation in the Legal Amazon" identified 470 organizations and 823
projects and counted on the participation of innumerous civil society
organizations in both its elaboration and dissemination. Both
researches indicated a lack of systematized information about
organizations that led social projects and the need for a greater
coordination among the many initiatives, improving their performance
toward the reduction of the social deficit of the region.
Although the publication of the research reports and the data about
the organizations was an important advance toward a stronger
integration, it was necessary to assure the availability of the
updated information.
Characteristics of the project
To overcome the lack of both information about social projects and
coordination among the organizations, the BIPSAM project is being
implemented following the below listed activities:
O identification of both organizations and social projects being now
conducted in the Brazilian Legal Amazon
O development of an interactive database, Internet accessible
O constitution of a network of institutions that creates a flow of
information promotes permanent updating and stimulates the exchange
of methodologies and experiences.
The project is being developed with the articulation of state-based
Steering Committees, which act as "nodes" of the network. Those
Committees, constituted of social actors from each of the nine
states, act in a decentralized way. They are responsible for
collecting information and disseminating the main ideas regarding the
project and the database.
Strengthening those Committees has showed to be of great importance
to assure the sustainability of the BIPSAM, which is expected to
become an effective toll to support organizations that perform social
actions. Among the many outcomes of the project are:
O the dissemination of information about social project and
innovative methodologies
O the exchange of experiences among the components of the network and
the dissemination of best practices
O basis to the establishment of partnerships
O the accomplishment of accountability and the development of
parameters to evaluate social projects.
O information to the elaboration of public policies
O the democratization of the management of public policies and the
fostering of citizenship
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Get in touch
BIPSAM (Amazonian Interactive Database of Social Projects) is an
initiative of SUDAM (Superintendence for the Development of the
Amazon Region), within the context of the UNDP/SUDAM-BRA/96/025
Agreement. Its coordination is under the responsibility of a team of
consultants of FIA/FEA/USP (Sao Paulo University Institute of
Administration).
FIA/FEA/USP: Rosa Maria Fischer e Dalberto Adulis.
E-mail: bipsam@fischerdutra.com.br, phones: (5511)268-7618/268-9279.
SUDAM/PNUD: Eliene Jacques Rodrigues e Joana de O. Scerne.
E-mail: joscerne@sudam.gov.br, phones: (5591)210-5436/210-5437.
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