Agreement between CELPE and Habitat for Humanity Brazil helps inhabitants of Varjada community to reduce their expenses with electrical energy services
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Photo - Habitat para a Humanidade Brasil |
CELPE, the company responsible for electrical energy distribution in the whole State of Pernambuco, is developing several social projects on Varjada community. The performance of CELPE in the community is a result of an alliance established with Habitat for Humanity Brazil to promote the sustainable development of this rural community, by assisting every family living in the region, but prioritizing the ones that participates in the project. The official agreement term between the company and the organization is foreseen to be signed only by the end of November. However, CELPE is already promoting social activities in an articulate way with the organization.
Last October 29, some employees of the company had distributed and installed about 450 fluorescent lamps in substitution to the traditional incandescent ones, in an attempt of minimizing domestic expenses of habitat families by reduction of energy bill. In the same occasion, it was performed a list of families already registered in social programs of Federal Government, as the “Bolsa Família”, and whom, because having this benefit, will have access to the Social Tariff *.
Another form of helping in the electrical energy economy is providing trainings to teach the community about other ways to take better advantage of domestic energy. The company also supplies the labor necessary for installation and/or regularization of whole electrical spinning of the house and, for those in debit with the company, it revaluates the financial situation of family to reactivate their energy use through the bills parceling modality.
The first action of CELPE in the community was to install electrical energy system and, after that eliminate almost all irregular connections. In compensation, Habitat for Humanity Brazil, through its Finance Literacy training, had been calling attention of inhabitants about citizen's obligations, as the energy bill payment for instance and how this service is important to improve the quality of life of their families.
The “Bordados que Brotam”, association of women embroiderers' of Varjada, was also benefited by support of CELPE, that sponsored the print of brochures and business cards used by the artisans for promotion of their work to both old and new customers.
Habitat for Humanity Brazil expects through this alliance to receive a library, with about 7000 titles, for the community's new school, whose construction is foreseen to begin in January of 2008. With this building, it’s foreseen that there will be enough space for this new social equipment. Besides, the partnership foresees negotiations to install a center of digital inclusion in Varjada in the middle of 2008, but this action still depends on other partners to render.
For further information please send an email to claudio@habitatbrasil.org.br
The Social Tariff is a social benefit created by Brazilian Federal Government to facilitate the payment of energy bills by families of low income. The Program, that it is articulated with the “Bolsa Família”, grants discounts of up to 65%, due to the monthly income and the energy consumption rate of the family.
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Habitat for Humanity meets with governmental and Church leaders in Brazil to negotiate partnerships
In February 2006, it was held in Porto Alegre the IX Assembly of the World Council of Churches. This meeting served as catalyst of projects in the south of the country, in particular, of the Lent Build (an initiative of Habitat for Humanity Brazil with important support of Habitat for Humanity International). This project stimulated the desire of many local and international leaders to become partners in the Habitat for Humanity projects in Brazil by means of the building of houses and of spaces for jobs and income generation.
With the objective of strengthening the participation of Churches and Municipalities in the projects, to move forward with the sustainable development in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre and to contribute effectively with the raising of human and financial resources for the projects in the southeast and south of Brazil, Habitat for Humanity Brazil had articulated strategic meetings of its employees in São Paulo and in Rio Grande do Sul States, which are concentrated in the last week of October.
In São Paulo, the meetings were accomplished (i) with members of the Apostolic Armenia Church of Brazil, represented in the occasion by the Priest Yesnig Guzelian but led by the Archbishop Datev Karibian; (ii) with the Southeast District of the Lutheran Church, where were present the Shepherd Frederico Ludwig on behalf of the District Shepherd, Guilherme Lieven; (iii) and, finally, with the head of the Subprefecture of Itaim Paulista, Diógenes Sandim Martins and their assistants. The last activity was a visit to the Itaim community.
In Rio Grande do Sul, the schedule was more hurried up. The first commitment was in the headquarter of the Lutheran Church, with (i) the President of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB), Dr Walter Altmann, (ii) the District Shepherd of the Valley of Sinos River, Enos Heidemann, (iii) the District Shepherd of the Center South Campaign, Waldir NiloTrebien, and (iv) the Assistant of Projects of the Lutheran Foundation of Diaconia, Ana Cristina Kirchheim. Later, the Mayor of São Leopoldo's city, Ary Vanazzi, received the cortege of Habitat in his Cabinet to move forward with the projects in partnership with the housing cooperatives Progresso and Bom fim. The visit finished with the encounters with representatives of some of the partners of Habitat in the south region, as the Hospital Moinhos de Vento and the Rede Sinodal de Educação, besides visits to Vila Pinto's community and the Marinheiros Island, both located in metropolitan region of Porto Alegre.
The cortege of Habitat consisted of the international team, composed by the International Director of Church Relations, Raafat Zaki, the Director of Global Church, José Luis Villasenor and the Bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), Gary Hansen. The national team of the organization was composed by the National Executive Director, Ademar de Oliveira Marques, by the Mobilization of Resources Manager, Antônio José, and by the National Coordinator of Church Relations, Elves Castilho.
One of the main results of that articulation was the interest waived by the Armenia Church in developing projects with Habitat in Brazil and, later, in Armenia. Besides, a cooperation agreement will be signed among ELCA, IECLB and HFH Brazil foreseeing support with human and financial resources for projects held in the south and southeast of the country, above all for the 40 Dias of Solidarity edition 2008, that it will be accomplished in the city of Guarujá, coast of São Paulo State.
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Project for Community Development in Brazilian Northeast aims to meet 41 families who survive on less than 1 minimum wage per month
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Photo - Michael Steiner |
In the city of Horizonte, located in the state of Ceará, 40 km from the capital Fortaleza, 50 families who have family budget of about 1 minimum monthly wage are being met since the month of August for a project of community development that will help directly 231 people to win a place worthy to live. An initiative of Habitat for Humanity Brazil, in partnership with the Cearah Periferia, with the Mayor of the city and the CEF, the project is the construction in system of group effort of 50 solutions housing dignified, comfortable and safe in Dourados community, and has resources of the Fund for Solidarity Revolving Credit Habitat Brazil and the Federal government subsidies to be financially possible.
The decision to act in Horizonte aims to contribute to reducing the high housing deficit (10.63% in a universe of 43,507 inhabitants, according to the IBGE/2005), aggravated due to the accelerated urbanization to the margins of BR-116 without the right planning. The project also is intended to encourage the community to exercise their citizenship and demand their rights and includes families distributed at various locations in the city, with the largest concentration from the neighborhood of Zumbi (34%) and the Center (28%). Among them, only 9 are of natural from Horizonte, and the other from neighboring towns, who migrated in search of jobs in the attractive industrial center of the city, its defining feature of the profile housing.
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Photo - Marcelo Inácio de Sousa |
With the intense rural exodus (83.23% of the population now live in urban areas), these families, in most cases, have no resources to buy a residence itself, unable to pay rent and end up living on a co-housing or under conditions of poor housing, exposing themselves to the social vulnerability and generating a swelling urban uncontrolled. On the socio-economic situation, about 6% of families find themselves below the poverty line (monthly family income of less than 01 minimum wage). More than half of households (82%) have a monthly family income of 01 minimum wage and only 10% have a monthly income of 02 minimum wages. It 60% of households are headed by women and, among its members, 42% have only a basic education incomplete.
To turn this situation, Habitat for Humanity Brazil and its partners will promote the construction of 50 solutions housing in the community of Dourados, encouraging families to participate in all stages of the project to see the house as one of the social factors that impact directly in their quality of life, influencing on issues of health, education, recreation and security, for example. Furthermore, the capabilities are planned for the course of Financial Literacy.
Between August 19 and September 1, 2007, the project has received the help of a group of international volunteers to help in the process of constructive homes, people committed to the cause that traveled for hours to help these families. The group was formed by 18 professional Americans of the most different areas (administration, construction, advertising, accounting, scenic arts, sports, etc.). , Some of them having studied together at Harvard University. While in Brazil involved with this project, the volunteers had the opportunity to learn a different culture and experience one of the most incredible experiences of social coexistence and solidarity. The second group of volunteers, who came to the city on October 14 and stayed for 10 days working on the project, was formed by 8 British officials of technology are of Schroders, a company overall management of funds, investments and resources of others. Both groups showed strong involvement with the project, invested time and resources, and of course collaborated with their important volunteer work.
There were weeks of intense work, divided into various tasks, from load and shift-sand to build bricks, all with the guidance of a qualified technician social by HPH Brazil. The groups were divided into smaller teams to optimize the time, which were composed by local volunteers by international volunteers and by the future owners. In all, were built 3 homes in system of group effort, which only await the hydraulic, electrical, doors and windows installations to be ready.
The houses are 42 m² (2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, bathroom, the service area) and are being constructed with traditional technology predominant in the region. The average cost of a house is $ 14.000,00, already included direct and indirect costs. The CEF subsidizes about 74% of that value and the system of microcredit for Habitat for Humanity Brazil funding the remaining value to the family, who can pay this amount to up to 72 months by, as long as the supply does not exceed 20% of value the monthly family income. The monthly amount received by the organization will be filed again in the Revolving Credit Fund to be used in the construction of new homes and continue given the population that needs a decent house to live. Habitat for Humanity Brazil already operates in the state of Ceará since 1995 and has built 618 houses in the city of Juazeiro do Norte, Milagres and Limoeiro do Norte.
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Photo - Prof. David Hanna |
Project with Graded School involves high school students in volunteering activities
The idea of developing a social work with the students of the Graded School of São Paulo was born from the initiative of the Professor David Hanna, currently teaching History in High School classes of Graded School. His contact with Habitat began about 5 years ago, when he acted as a volunteer in projects of the organization during the time that he lived in Japan. Back to Brazil and already a Graded employee, Mr. Hanna started to emphasize that outstanding experience to the students and to other professors of the institution until finally invite Habitat for Humanity Brazil to perform an informative presentation about its ways of acting in the national territory. That attitude attempts directly to one of the main objectives of the School, which is "to search for, throughout its contents and its most several activities, a solid formation, focused to the development of the ethical and critical spirit of their youths”.
Motivated by the students and teachers’ interest in Habitat Brazil's projects, the representative of the Youth Program of the organization began a negotiation process of what would become a successful partnership with Graded School. So, Habitat Brazil started to align its own objectives, of stimulating the imagination, energy and the youths' hope by involving themselves in a productive and responsible process of building of a decent habitat, with the expectations of the Graded, which possesses in its curricular structure a social project differentiated that integrates the students in dynamic, responsible and solidary social activities. "To act in partnership with Habitat Brazil was an opportunity to favor the learning of new abilities, the exercise of the solidarity, the share and application of knowledge and skills in a concrete project”, says Mr. David Hanna.
In the first stage of the project, the main goal was the involvement of 45 students of the High School in the building of houses solutions voluntarily and together with families in need of the Brazilian northeast. In January of 2007, the first group of students spent one week in the State of Ceará to help 5 families of Limoeiro do Norte city to have an affordable and decent place to live in.
The next phase of the project will be held in the second week of January of 2008. This time, a new team of students is being selected to act in the community of Varjada, rural area of Pernambuco State, and their interference will be a little more daring. There will be about 5 teams with 10 to 15 people each, between specialized professionals, volunteers and served families, whom will act side by side with activities assigned during the whole week of their permanence. For the students, the responsibility is still larger, because they had the initiative of wanting to help in the mobilization of the necessary financial resources not only for the building of 2 houses, but also for 2 watering reservoirs and for the enlargement and reform of the community's school.
This will be the first time Habitat for Humanity Brazil includes a school amongst the components of its project of community development, thanks to the youths' human and financial support and to the involvement of the Graded teachers. The Municipality of Passira city will be the responsible for providing furniture, employees and teachers and also for managing the social equipment. When this level of the project is ended, Habitat Brazil expects to sign an agreement with Graded School for their teacher and students' performance in other Habitat projects during the next three years. In the community, the results will be very positive: two families living in decent shelters, with safety and quality of life; the community's members more motivated with the students' solidarity; five families served by the operation of the watering reservoirs; and the establishment of a quality education pattern in the rural area, that will benefit about 150 children.
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Seminar Best Practices of Social Production of Habitat in Brazil
It will be held on November 12, 13 and 14 in the auditorium of the Center of Applied Social Sciences of the University City of Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, the Seminar: Best Practices of Social Production of Habitat in Brazil.
Initiative for Hábitat para la Humanidad Latin America and promoted by Habitat for Humanity Brazil and the Program for Post-graduate degree in Urban Development at the Federal University of Pernambuco, the seminar's main objective the strengthening and multiplying initiatives for Social Production of Habitat as consolidated strategy of a policy to guarantee the right to decent housing.
On the list, the seminar will include discussions on concept and the foundations of Social Production of Habitat as a legitimate and effective way to ensure the right to housing with dignity and identification of operational strategies, methods and instruments for the promotion and support the actions of Production of the Social Habitat.
There will also be analysis and discussion of recent experience or ongoing Social Production of aiming to identify the challenges that must be balanced and overcome to ensure their quality and multiplication.
The idea is to promote the knowledge and interinstitutional dialogue to facilitate the formation of eventual or permanent partnerships. They will be presented important experiences of popular communities, in the municipalities of the Greater Recife with solid prospects of coming to play processes of Social Production of Habitat, summarizing and linking inter role.
Among the speakers are representatives of both national bodies such as the State of Reform Urban Forum, the CEF, the Pernambuco Secretariat of Municipalities (event supporters), and international, like Habitat International Coalition Latin America and the Universidad Chile / Instituto de la Vivienda.
For more information about the event and how to make the registration please contact conexoesdesaberes@ufpe.br
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“Bordados que Brotam” is selected by Talents of Brazil and the Varjada Project is amongst the semifinalists of the Better Practices Award
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Photo - Habitat para a Humanidade Brasil |
The "Talentos do Brasil" (Talents of Brazil) is a project developed by the Ministry of the Agrarian Development in partnership with the Government Bank, Caixa Econômica Federal, and the Brazilian Service of Support to the Small-Sized Companies (SEBRAE). Servant with the objective of structuring embroiderer groups focused in business processes and self-management, the project intends to provide the strengthening of the local actors, contributing to the communities' sustainable development.
In 2007 and 2008, the execution of the project considers two main spheres: administration, based in the organization of productive groups and making possible the embroiderer’s professional qualification, and commercialization, which has the purpose of implementing a regular communication and marketing plan to try to guarantee the sales of the production. Throughout this governmental project, the women of the community of Varjada, and also of Bordados que Brotam,will receive trainings and specialized consultancies in administration, design and market areas and their courses will be followed by representatives of the Ministry.
In the last fifteen days of October, it was also announced the selection of Varjada's Project amongst the 20 semifinalists (of the total of 185 projects) that compete to the Caixa Best Practices Award. Now, Habitat for Humanity Brazil, the partners of the project and, mainly, the residents of the region are waiting the result with the 10 finalists, foreseen to be announced by the end of this year. The Varjada Project emphasizes 4 action lines simultaneously searching for the community's integral development: water supply, building of social equipments and decent houses, generation of income and community organization, with the methodology of implementing the process of educational formation in all these stages.
For further information about the Project developed in Varjada, please contact claudio@habitatbrasil.org.br
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Habitat for Humanity Brazil develops a pilot project in São Paulo´s coast with the technology of ecological bricks
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Photo - Tijoleco Tijolos Ecológicos |
The conventional brick is the raw material primarily used for civil construction but little by littleit is becoming a dangerous threat for the environment. In times of awareness with the global warming, the size of the dump generated in a building site and, above all, the emission of greenhouse effect gases, generated by the brickworks when firing bricks, call the attention for the consequences of that production process often used in Brazil. Besides, to produce each 1,000 conventional bricks, it’s necessary about 12 trees or 170 liters of oil to supply the ovens. So, as more bricks, more smoke and, consequently, more emission of greenhouse effect gases.
Combining research and creativity, Francisco Casanova, the professor of the Civil Engineering Program of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, who had already researched the soil-cement bricks in Europe, received incentives of Brazilian government of research and development programs to install the first factory of bricks of soil-cement of the country. With current capacity of about 3,000 bricks a day, the production is totally adapted to the peculiarities of the Brazilian soil. The project also had the support of the Municipality of Volta Redonda, State of Rio de Janeiro, where the factory is operating since 2004.
The soil-cement brick is popularly known as ecological brick and it became an option of raw material ecologically correct and sustainable. The ecological brick is named like this because in its production method there is no deforestation either coal or any other fuel burning that may harm the environment or pollute the air. The recipe is very simple: proportional parts (but no equal) of cement, soil, preferably the ones rich in sand and clay, and water. The ingredients are mixed in cement mixers or similar equipments and later pressed, when they acquire their final form. After 1 day protected of the sun, the bricks are wet and they stay one week resting until be tested at laboratory for, finally, they be liberated for the use in the buildings. For comparison effects, the brick conventional delay between 10 and 30 days to be ready, depending on humidity and climate.
The ecological brick dismissal any firing process, reduces the waste in the construction site and it can be produced (in less time) starting from the soil. So, poisonous residues will no more be thrown in the environment, what contributes to the preservation of the planet. The environmental protection is bigger if be chosen the cement made by industrial garbage of chemical, metal, steel, miner, quarries and galvanizer industries, the garbage that pollute the soil and the rivers around their factories.
But there are more advantages of the ecological bricks use.
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Photo - Tijoleco Tijolos Ecológicos |
The cost of a building that uses soil-cement bricks decreases, on average, 30% related to the constructions with ceramic, adobe or concrete bricks. This happens mainly because the socket system facilitates the assembly of the wall and it also speed up the process, dismissing “chapiscos”, “rebocos”, or laying the brick in cement mortar. Besides, the existence of two holes in the brick surface helps in the facilities of electric and hydraulic piping at the same time. So, it wouldn’t be necessary to break the walls to perform this work after all done. The process is entirely based in modular fitting. Because of this, who have a simple orientation by a specialized professional, be a man or a woman, could build a wall in a very easy and safety way. By the way, it’s not necessary qualified labor to perform the building and much more job positions can be generated by the industry of civil construction.
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Photo - Tijoleco Tijolos Ecológicos |
With the building is finished, the fine ending still allows the bricks be displayed, not demanding covering of plaster or mass and not even painting or textures to hide imperfections. The result of the color of the house can be red, beige, yellow or even white, depending on the properties of the soil used in the process of production of the bricks.
That constructive technology has been being adopted along all the national territory. In the Penitentiary of Bangu, for instance, located in the West of Rio de Janeiro State, a factory of ecological bricks was settled up with the objective of generating a productive activity, paid and sustainable for the detainees. With that work, they learn a job, they occupy their time and they can reduce their feathers as reward of the worked hours. The manufactured bricks are used for reforms and enlargements in the own penitentiary and the detainees are the own responsible for the whole labor used in the buildings.
The use of the ecological bricks by Habitat for Humanity Brazil is part of a pilot project for construction of 32 houses in the city of Guarujá, coast of São Paulo State. The houses will be built in a piece of land donated by the Municipality and will serve families that receives up to two minimum wages of monthly income. The main objective is the construction of a decent home with a habitability pattern that can assures the life quality for those families with the lowest cost possible, under a sustainable way and respecting the environment. “"After the implantation of the first phase of the project, in November of this year, it will be made a viability analysis to discover other projects that could adopt the same technology",”, says Andrea Holz Pftüzenreuter, Architect and Projects Coordinator of the organization. Habitat for Humanity Brazil is constantly searching for alternatives that can help in the process of improving “ a world where everyone has a decent place to live” (Global Vision – Habitat for Humanity).
For further information, please send an email to andreapfutzenreuter@habitatbrasil.org.br
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