VIII Extraordinary and Ordinary General Assembly of HFH Brazil

Lílian Mammana – President of Habitat for Humanity Brazil

This year, the annual general assembly of Habitat for Humanity Brazil was held over the weekend of April 14-15 in Recife, Pernambuco State.

Sérgio José Hammes, President of HFH Brazil (management 2005-7), was in charge of the extraordinary meeting. At the opening, Ricardo Gouvêa, Coordinator of Bento Rubião Foundation (Rio de Janeiro - Brazil), promoted the roundtable discussion of the theme “Political, Social and Economic Analysis and its effects in Housing Issues in Brazil”. After that, the participants debated about the advances and challenges when trying to establish the national system of cities and the politics of urban reformation in Brazil, provided this actions can assure the people access ways of having safe property of the land and also decent homes, mainly for those families in situation of social exclusion.

Besides, still during the discussion, it was emphasized the fact we have voice in spaces and mechanisms of democratic participation, as Conferences and Counsels of Cities. But it is important these nets of relationships and political discussion be strengthened. With this purpose, HFH Brazil must show initiative and talk about solutions in order to contribute for this process of social mobilization and also to support the movements and forums of fight for the urban reformation and for the right to the social interest housing.

After that, it was homologated the inclusion of new associates, whom start to integrate the board of members of HFH Brazil Committee: Gilberto Cardoso de Aguiar, Executive Commission – National Movement of Housing Fight – MNLM (Rio Grande do Sul), Suzany de Souza Costa, Coordinator of the Cearah Periferia (Ceará), Researcher – Metropolis Observatory (Pernambuco), Sérgio Silva Bulcão, Coordinator of the National Union for Popular Housing – UNMP (Bahia), Marcos Campos Bicudo, President – AMANCO BRASIL (São Paulo), Bartíria Perpétua Lima da Costa, General Treasurer of the National Confederation of Inhabitants Association – CONAM (São Paulo), Bispa Marisa Coutinho – Methodist Church, Ermínia Maricatto – Teacher – University of São Paulo, Inês Meneguelli Woman Consulate/Multibrás.

On the second day, the ordinary meeting, Rodolfo Ramirez, Director of Housing and Human Settlements to Latin America and Caribbean of Hábitat para la Humanidad, presented the changes the organization is have been establishing concerning to the development of programs and projects, related to the following issues: community development, building of houses, advocacy, housing financing, social mobilization and disaster attention.

In an open and transparent way, they were known the candidates nominated to become members of the Executive Committee and the Fiscal Counsel to the management 2007 – 2009 of HFH Brazil. After the election process, it were swon into office: Lilian Mammana - President, Demóstenes Moraes - Vice-president, José Carlos Aguilera – Secretary and Janice Fernandes – Treasurer (see other members at the table below).

Finally, Ademar Marques, Executive Director of HFH Brazil, promoted, on behalf of the organization, an homage session of recognition and gratefulness to the members of the Counsels - management 2005-7.

Photo - Habitat para a Humanidade Brasil

HFH Brazil helps the building of a Public Center of Solidary Economy in Recife city

Since the end of February, HFH Brazil has been acting in partnership with the City Hall of Recife city to the project “Job Operation”. This project from the local government is looking for the union of several aspects that could contribute in theoretical and practical ways with the professional graduation of 25 young people from the communities of Caranguejo and Tabaiares, both located in an area of mangrove in Recife city that compose a Special Zone of Social Interest.

Campo Tabaiares Community, with 3,433 inhabitants, and Caranguejo Community, with 1,547, have an area marked for the streets without pavement, and of circulation that is almost of restricted use of the residents. Many people live in palafittes and their water supply is precarious. Being at boarder of Capibaribe River, the communities suffer with the overflows caused by the influence of the tides and aggravated by the absence of basic sanitation.

The badly health conditions and the environmental damages caused by this situation have been harming the main activity of subsistence of the region: the aquiculture and, consequently, the feeding of the families and the commerce of shellfishes, fishes, crabs and, over all, shrimps, the main product of the local economy. Therefore, it becomes much more increasing the number of men working as garbage collectors and women working as domestic household.

In these two neighboring communities it had been identified difficulties and potentialities that had fomented diverse proposals of improvement in the region, as: development of the citizenship and social inclusion; urban development and agrarian regularization; economic and environmental sustainability.

So, by means the Project “Job Operation”, HFH Brazil and the City Hall of Recife had selected 25 members of the community, between 18 and 40 years, unemployed and in situation of extreme social exclusion to act in a collective and solidary way in programs of income and job generation.

To function as incubator of these opportunities of business, the organization and the government are promoting the building of the Public Center of Solidary Economy. With this, they expect to stimulate the job and income generation in the region, besides to motivate the feeling of self-esteem and the citizenship development. Each student will receive a monthly workship of USD$ 140 during six months and, besides being graded, they will act as multiplyers of the solidary economy in the community.

HFH Brazil, besides being one of the promotional entities, is also a member of the project’s management group, that consists of communitarian leaderships of Caranguejo and Tabaiares Union of Inhabitants, representatives of the City Hall of Recife, Josué de Castro Research and Study Center, ETAPAS, Municipal Direction of Solidary Economy and City Hall of Nantes (France), this last being one of the main financial supporter of the project.

The project is developed following an activities plan that integrates the learning at two levels: specific knowledge about civil construction and lessons including several issues, like: citizenship, job, gender, maths and Portuguese language, that will happen in the improvised classrooms in the staff of the Union of Inhabitants of the Communities, which was modified with this purpose.

The practical classrooms are in the worksite, involving all steps of a building process: base, improvement of the land, bricks, hydraulic, electric and finishing. This month, we are about to finish the improvement of the land, bases and preparation of irons for starting the walls elevation. The product generated in the practical classes will be the own Center of Economy.

We already can receive volunteers, both national and international, that could help us a lot in the next phases of the building. All students (25 when they are together and 13 when divided into practical and theoretical classes) are not enough to finish the building in a small time. So, we expect to have at least 10 volunteers working in this project that will collaborate to the development of the local communities. It is foreseen the project will be finished by the end of July, 2007.

To support this project, be a volunteer or ask for further information, please contact us at: partners@habitatbrasil.org.br

Photo - Habitat para a Humanidade Brasil

Project “Embroidering with Art, Weaving the Life”

Habitat for Humanity Brazil, in partnership with Caixa Econômica Federal, the Brazilian Government Bank, and World Vision, is developing a project for income generation in the rural community of Varjada, in Passira city, countryside of Pernambuco State. The main goal is the social and economic inclusion of all economically active women of the region throughout the development of the handicraft (embroidering of Passira) that they have been producing. Aiming to reach positive results, it will be offered professional development, educative and financial courses, also in away of just and solidary commerce.

In Varjada community, women face a very hard reality because they have low income, live in a rural area, are illiterates in its majority and must, at the same time, to take care of the family and also work in agriculture and water supply.

The economy of Passira is largely based on subsistence farming and animal husbandry, as well as small scale commerce. With 90% of women population involved in embroidering to try to increase the precarious monthly income of the family which, most of the time, does not reach the equivalent of one minimum wage per month.

For this reason, these women see embroidering as a hard activity, because “the payment for one piece richly embroidered doesn’t pay the time dedicated on its production”, says Ms. da Paz, member of Varjada’s Embroiderer Association. “The reason for the low valorization  of the work made in Varjada its related with a presence of  middlemen who use to sale the products 3 or 4 times more expensive out of here”, says Ms. Antônia Paraíso, another associated embroiderer.

Facing such situation, HFH Brazil, that has been already acting in the region by building houses and watering holes started to search alternatives to promote the women as both citizen and handicraftswoman, offering ways to the improvement of their craft and commercialization and, with this, the improvement in their life conditions. The role of our organization is to support embroidering women in an associative production group based on solidarity economy principles, inserting them in a fair market process as a way of guaranteeing the real price be paid for its pieces. Besides, HFH Brazil intends to make possible the constant development of the potentialities and abilities of the women keep being the access to their citizenship and literacy rights be extended in a partnership with National Confederation of Brazilian Women.

Looking for that goals, we are involving the women in informative workshops about affectivity, health care, civil and labor rights, income generation, business management techniques, production, market opening and drawing. All the courses will be in charge of very qualified social technician of HFHB whom will adopt the methodology based on processes of Popular Education processes, which is when the practical knowledge is more valued for the individual and collective knowing production.

To support us in this mission, we account on the asesorship of World Vision which the ultimate goal is the social and economic promotion, strengthening and development of entrepreneur that owns small-sized companies in the northeast of Brazil and their families. The association will have the role of training the embroiderers in their business management, in a way of solidarity and associative economy. Moreover, World Vision will try to create commercialization chains searching selling all the production.

The project will be financially supported with resources of the United Nations Program for Development - the PNUD, in accordance with the alliance between HPH Brazil and CAIXA. Its duration is foreseen about 12 months.

If you want to support this project or request further information, contact us at: partners@habitatbrasil.org.br

Jon Bon Jovi leads advocacy effort as Ambassador of Habitat for Humanity Photo - STEFFAN HACKER The newly created Habitat for Humanity Ambassadors Program is an advocacy initiative that is a joint effort between Habitat for Humanity International and the entertainment-industry-support organization, Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity. Its goal is to engage celebrities and entertainment industry leaders that can bring heightened awareness to the worldwide-housing crisis and to Habitat’s effort in providing safe, decent and affordable shelter. Rock icon and philanthropist Jon Bon Jovi has been named the first Founding Ambassador of the Habitat for Humanity Ambassador program as part of the international-nonprofit organization’s new advocacy outreach initiative. Musician, singer, songwriter and actor, Jon Bon Jovi is most recognizable as the voice for the band Bon Jovi. Since the group’s formation in the early 1980s, Bon Jovi has sold more than 120 million records worldwide and at more than 2,700 shows in over 50 countries, more than 32 million fans have seen Bon Jovi in concert. Jon Bon Jovi, a Philadelphia-area resident known for his community involvement, approached Habitat in June 2005 with a proposal for a local build. He provided the funds to build six homes in Philadelphia and worked to build the homes with the homeowner families and members of his Philly Soul team. Bon Jovi’s philanthropic works focus on the issue of homelessness and include the creation of the Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation and a sustained partnership with Habitat for Humanity.   Last October, Bon Jovi, Habitat, Philadelphia Soul team members, local volunteers and families, and corporate sponsors (Comcast, SAP, Sprint, and The Strober Organization) gathered on a build site in Philadelphia to formally announce a partnership to build two duplexes consisting of four homes. The site also served as the location for Bon Jovi’s music video, “Who Says You Can’t Go Home,” which highlights the efforts of Habitat families and local volunteers to build simple, decent homes. The video emphasizes the band’s support for Habitat for Humanity and its core mission of eliminating poverty housing. “Who Says You Can’t Go Home” was performed live at the Country Music Awards in New York in November in 2005 and soon were on the top of the lists of the main radios on the region. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, the songwriting team responsible for some of the most recognizable rock and pop hits of the past 20-plus years. "Who Says You Can’t Go Home" is the second single from the band’s ninth studio album, “Have a Nice Day,” which was released in September 2005 and has currently sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Click here to see the video. Later, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Jon Bon Jovi surprised Oprah Winfrey with a check from his band for $1million. Bon Jovi, Habitat, and Oprah’s Angel Network built 28 homes in Houma, La., with low-income families previously displaced by the natural disaster. Then, in October 2006, Jon announced a unique partnership he brokered between Project H.O.M.E., Habitat for Humanity, the Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation and Saturn to renovate 15 row houses in one of Philadelphia’s most poverty-ridden neighbourhoods. Jon's most recent efforts for Habitat for Humanity include funding four homes in Brooklyn, NY as well as raising funds for the Desmond Tutu Community Build in late May, being held just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. Including those latest homes, Jon is currently a motivating force behind a total of over 55 homes being built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity's low-income families. “From their relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, to the thousands of houses they construct around the world, Habitat for Humanity builds homes, lives, and dreams,” says Jon Bon Jovi. “I’ve worked with Habitat in partnerships with my football team, The Philadelphia Soul and with my band over the past year. Handing over the keys to the families who have worked to earn them has afforded me some of the proudest, most uplifting moments of my life. As a Habitat For Humanity Ambassador, I now have the opportunity to help this work continue and I encourage others to become involved and share in the rebuilding of their communities as well.” Ambassadors are chosen to recognize the work that they are already doing on behalf of Habitat for Humanity, and because of their active interest in poverty housing issues and their willingness to serve as influential advocates for affordable and decent housing. Ambassador work may include building with local Habitat affiliates in the United States or in one of the more than 90 countries where Habitat for Humanity builds worldwide. Duties also may include participating in targeted public service announcements and campaigns, using their high visibility and profile to raise funds and awareness for the organization and mobilizing volunteers globally. “We couldn’t be more pleased that Jon Bon Jovi has agreed to become the first Habitat for Humanity Ambassador,” said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. “Jon’s shining example of advocating on behalf of people around the world who lack decent housing will help call others to action in this effort to eliminate substandard housing. Jon exemplifies qualities that we all aspire to emulate…he is a leader… compassionate, articulate and credible. His commitment to our mission is both appreciated and inspiring. As a result of Jon’s kindness and generosity, numerous families now have a warm and safe place to call home.” If you want to know more about our ambassadors program contact us at: partners@habitatbrasil.org.br