Social Networks strengthen the community

Establishing transparent dialogue with the communities and contributing towards community development are the main objectives of the Social Network Formation Program. With this thought in mind, the company decided to expand the project, which had been initiated in Guaratinga, União Baiana and Mascote. Seven months after startup of the program, and due to the success obtained in the first initiatives, Veracel has decided to extend the proposal to three new locations. A series of meetings in Barrolândia, Ponto Central and Salto da Divisa has led to a new phase of the project.

The meetings between the communities, Veracel and the Social Investment development Institute (IDIS), which is responsible for implementing the networks, are interactive. The persons involved take advantage of the opportunity to ask questions and present their own ideas about a wide variety of topics. Within this climate of democratic debate, the team that is responsible for initiating actions presents a proposal to the group and the community chooses its representatives in the network program.

The network is responsible for sharing ideas with people who have common interests as well as value that should be shared. Thus, a group discussion is comprised of individuals who have similar identities. That is why, before the meetings, the first step is to conduct in social inventory and hold interviews with local leaders, who identify with it and want to participate in the networks.

In communities such as Mascote and União Baiana, where social networks are fully functioning, it is possible to perceive the important role of the meetings, workshops and training sessions in terms of community development at each location. The groups learn to think together and discuss concept that are essential for citizenship, such as communication, democracy, mobilization and social organization.

How the networks function

A Social Network is an organizational system that is capable of bringing people and organizations together in a democratic and participatory manner around common objectives. The networks are designed to provoke social transformation through agreements with the sectors that make up society. The networks spring up based on the identification of people with similar participation profiles, forming a group of community representatives that undergo a learning process.

Through these already operating social networks, the dialogue relationship containing company and the community has improved, become more transparent. The networks have become mature, able to analyze their reality and propose consequential actions. This is the primordial function of the networks: to train citizens who are capable of working together for the well being of their communities. By understanding their realities in-depth and evaluating the main requirements, each community is beginning to develop projects for its own benefit.

For example, in Mascote the group that makes up the network identified the lack of income generation opportunities as the main problem in the district. As a solution, it has developed a project to encourage craft artists and local handicrafts. The idea, supported by Veracel, already has brought about positive results. In União Baiana, the network identified family agriculture as the main focus of action and developed projects in this field.

Testimonials to success

For Fábio Souza Pereira, an education worker in Mascote, the network served to bring him into closer proximity with the people in his community. "At the beginning, it was difficult; we were not able to understand each other or think along the same lines. But now it is different. We had a network that people who did not speak to each other. Now ot no longer is that way. They learned that by talking, everybody comes to an understanding and in order for our community to grow, is necessary to work together."

Jackson Santos Guimarães, director of a school in União Baiana, discovered in the network a chance to find himself. "Through the network, we discovered the potential that we had inside of us. We learned that having an immediate outlook didn't lead anywhere, that it was necessary to plan and to understand our community in order to be able to help. A united society strengthens itself."

After participating in his first meeting and getting the know network, José Carlos, a resident of Ponto Central, understood the meaning of community spirit: "Thinking as a group is the light at the end of the tunnel."

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