Jonas de Oliveira Bertucci (University of Brasília)

Roberto Marinho Alves da Silva (National Secretariat of Solidarity Economy)

Valmor Schiochet (University of Blumenau)

Solidarische Oeconomie Kongress ’09 – Wien, Boku 20-22. Februar 2009

SOLIDARITY ECONOMY SYSTEM OF INFORMATION:

VISIBILITY AND STRENGTHENING OF SOLIDARITY ECONOMY IN BRAZIL

Is a pioneering initiative for identification and characterization of Solidarity Economy Enterprises (EES) and support organizations.

This initiative begun in 2003 when the National Secretariat of Solidarity Economy in the Ministry of Labor and Employment (SENAES/MTE) and the Solidarity Economy Brazilian Forum (FBES – an articulation space of civil society), jointly undertaken the task of conducting a mapping of the Solidarity Economy in Brazil.

SIESSIES

• To establish a national database of information on Solidarity Economy;

• To strengthen and integrate the Solidarity Economy Enterprises establishing information networks, registering initiatives and developing catalogs of products and commercialization processes;

• To encourage the visibility of the ES, strengthening its organizational processes and enhancing the support and the participation of society;

• To subsidize public processes of recognition and certification of the initiatives of ES;

• To subsidize the formulating process of public policies and drawing up a legal framework for the ES;

• To facilitate the development of studies and research on the ES, and;

• To build appropriate indexes and indicators for assessing Solidarity Economy reality.

OBJECTIVESOBJECTIVES

Working Group on Mapping for Solidarity Economy (management process and conceptualization)

• Consensus around the minimum concepts required;

• Prerequisite to guide the entire process of collecting and organizing the information;

• No intention to solve or inhibit the discussions on the theoretical and practical understanding of the Solidarity Economy in Brazil;

• Objectivity in the technical concept;

• It was not just a conceptual challenge, but also political.

THE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIESTHE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIES

COOPERATIONCOOPERATION

ECONOMIC ACTIONECONOMIC ACTION

SOLIDARITYSOLIDARITY

SELF-MANAGEMENTSELF-MANAGEMENT

The set of economic activities - production, distribution, consumption, savings and credit - organized and carried out jointly by workers in the form of self-management.

1- Solidarity Economy1- Solidarity Economy

THE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIESTHE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIES

This general concept sets the values and principles of the Solidarity Economy.

Collectives organizations Economic activities Solidarity practices

Cooperatives Associations Informal Groups Solidarity Funds Community Bancs Exchange clubs Cooperation Networks Etc.

Production of goods Provision of services Commercialization Finance and Credit Consumption Trade, etc.

Self-management Fair price Sustainability Community Ecology Etc.

Solidarity Economy dimensionsSolidarity Economy dimensions

THE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIESTHE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIES

2- Solidarity Economy Enterprises (EES)2- Solidarity Economy Enterprises (EES)

Are those organizations:

• Collective - not family organizations, but associations, cooperatives, self-managed enterprises, groups of production, exchange clubs, networks, etc;

• Whose participants or members are workers of urban and rural areas engaged in the management of activities, as well as the allocation of results;

• Permanent, including ventures that are in operation and those which are in the process of implementation, with a group of participants constituted and defined economic activities;

• Which may or not have a legal record; it means that the real existence prevails;

• Which carry out economic activities, be it production of goods, services, funds (credit cooperatives and popular savings), commercialization (purchase, sale and exchange of materials, products and services) and consumption;

THE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIESTHE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIES

2. Productive associations in which the partners work together and with this work they have their living. Although the members of this group of enterprises maybe very poor in their majority these ventures tend to gain greater visibility and importance to the movement.

Typologies of the EESTypologies of the EES

1. Associations of small independent producers, who make their purchases, sales, savings and/or loans collectively. The income derived by the members of the EES is probably complementary to other sources of individual or familiar income. it is necessary to distinguish the EES that work with credit and other forms of solidarity finances, from the other EES that provide commercialization services or improvement of products for the members.

The solidarity economy enterprises are of two kinds:

Are those organizations that develop a diversity of activities of direct support to the solidarity economy enterprises, such as training, advice, incubation, organizational and technical assistance and monitoring.

In the SIES, the EAF are defined not by the organizational characteristics, but by the activities developed by them (advice, assistance, etc.) and by the public involved (solidarity economy enterprises).

3- Solidarity Economy Support Organizations (EAF)3- Solidarity Economy Support Organizations (EAF)

4- Public Policy of Solidarity Economy (PPES)4- Public Policy of Solidarity Economy (PPES)

Under the SIES, public policies for solidarity economy are understood as those actions, projects or programs that are developed or implemented by the authorities of direct and indirect spheres of the State municipal, regional or federal with the objective of strengthening the solidarity economy. In 2009 it will be a new module in the SIES.

THE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIESTHE CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES OF THE SIES

• 27 management state committees was formed in 2004, involving more than 230 entities and over 600 people (coordinators, interviewers, typing staff);

• The active participation of members in the coordination and implementation of activities was required, among the Government, the representations of the state forums (support entities and solidarity economy enterprises), universities and social movements that acted with solidarity economy;

• To ensure quality and reliability of information the entire technical staff (coordinators, supervisors, interviewers, etc.) received training on the content and methodology of mapping.

SIES MANAGEMENT: A PARTICIPATIVE PROCESS SIES MANAGEMENT: A PARTICIPATIVE PROCESS

KNOWLEDGE AND VISIBILITY KNOWLEDGE AND VISIBILITY OF THE SOLIDARITY OF THE SOLIDARITY

ECONOMYECONOMY

21.859 EES21.859 EES

1.687.035 Participants

63% Men

37% Women

Area of Operation:

48% Rural

35% Urban

17% Rural/Urban

2.934 municipalities (52% of the territory)

12221

7413

1561393

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Até 1979 1980 a 1989 1990 a 1999 2000 a 2007

Gradual expansion or high mortality?Gradual expansion or high mortality?

Number of enterprises per year of foundationNumber of enterprises per year of foundation

1 - Alternative to unemployment (46%) 2 - Complementing the income of members (44%)3 - Obtain higher earnings (36%)4 - Possibility of collective activity (27%)5 - Condition for access to credit (25%)Question of multiple answers

REASONS FOR THE CREATION OF EESREASONS FOR THE CREATION OF EES

TYPE OF ORGANIZATIONTYPE OF ORGANIZATION

Associations Informal Cooperatives Others

52% 36,5% 10% 1,5%

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIESECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Type of activities % EES

Agricultural, fishing and extractive activities 42%

Food and beverages 17%

Craft products 14%

Textile and confection 10%

Services (many) 7%

Industrial activities (many) 2%

Collecting and recycling 2%

Healthy, cleaning 2%

Credit and solidarity financing 1%

Others 2%

TOTAL 100%

AVERAGE MONTHLY REMUNERATION

Remuneration Range EES % Average (R$)

To ½ SM 4.117 38 R$ 74,52

+ de ½ a 1 SM 2.657 24 R$ 217,44

+ de 1 a 2 SM 2.812 27 R$ 398,40

+ de 2 a 5 SM 1.043 9 R$ 895,89

+ de 5 SM 243 2 R$ 2.837,00

TOTAL 10.872 100% R$ 333,76

Obs. 1: Between all the 21,859 enterprises, 59% achieve to remunerate its members, indicating the value.

Obs. 2: 10987 EES filled R$ 0,00 or did not answered the question. Possibly, it’s the type of EES that provide

services to its members.

Obs. 3: It was considered the Brazilian minimal wage from 2007 (R$ 380,00)

SELF-MANAGEMENTSELF-MANAGEMENT

CARACTERÍSTICAS DOS EES %

Everyday decisions 66

Monthly assemblies 62

Accountability is showed in assemblies and meetings 61

Direct elections of directors 60

Question of multiple answers

CHALENGESCHALENGES

ACHIEVEMENTSACHIEVEMENTS

Since its beginning, the SIES has allowed:

• Location of the EES so they can be mobilized to participate in events as the conferences of Solidarity Economy and fairs;

• Data for diagnoses and proposals in public spaces to evaluation and the propositions for public policies by the society;

• Information for public programs (National Campaign of Solidarity Economy, reference to the Brazilian System of Fair Trade and Solidarity, etc.);

• Identification of networks and chains of Solidarity Economy and diagnosis of the main professional and social qualification demands of the EES;

Certainly, the continuity of this process depends on the ability to deal with some challenges:

• Continuity of the process of identifying Solidarity Economy Enterprises and update the existent database. The SIES is not a census of the Solidarity Economy and also not a research based on statistical samples. It must be permanently extended to each period, considering the dynamic process of emergence of new Solidarity Economy Enterprises (and also the breaking up of old ones).

• Development of instruments by the movement to make use of its possibilities, as the “farejador solidário” – geo locator of solidarity enterprises products and services;

CONTINUITY: THERE IS STILL MUCH TO BE DONECONTINUITY: THERE IS STILL MUCH TO BE DONE

Public access to SIES database:

www.sies.mte.gov.br

Solidarity Economy Brazilian forum mapping tool:

www.fbes.org.br/farejador