At the national level, the COEP members include banks, foundations, development and research entities for technology, agriculture and public health, power utilities, public services and universities. The State networks include local entities, government authorities and universities, both private and public.

Mission

To mobilize its member entities, so that their organizational culture absorbs the importance of involvement in combating hunger and poverty, while fostering citizenship for all Brazilians, networking initiatives, actions and partnerships that underpin projects combating poverty and promoting social development, stressing the voluntary participation of their employees as citizens.

Origins

The origins of COEP play a crucial role in its structuring and work methods. COEP was established in 1993 in response to a call put forth by sociologist Herbert de Sousa (Betinho), urging organizations to mobilize and become more involved in the struggle against unacceptable levels of poverty in Brazil. With the support of leaders in Civil Society, companies set up the Committee For Citizenship and Against Social Exclusion. The efforts of the COEP Network focus on fostering citizenship in two different social domains: in the organizations themselves and within communities.

Characteristics

- Nationwide social mobilization network
- Decentralized structure with no hierarchy
- Diversity of agents and social players
- Participation through joining

Structure and Functions

The institutional approach is quite clear in the structuring of the Committee: a Board that hands down the operating guidelines of COEP, consisting of the Directors of its members and an Executive Committee consisting of technical representatives appointed by the Directors.

Backed by the support of the organization, these representatives - employees of the entities - serve as agents for reshaping the culture of their own institutions, encouraging the allocation of resources for social purposes, joint projects and the implementation of programs in communities.

This network is managed by an Executive Secretariat that plans, interlinks and coordinates the actions.

In the States, this structure is repeated, turning COEP into a network of networks requiring consensus management. This is based on annual planning that is consolidated by the Board and implemented at the national and state levels.

Social Workshop

The Social Workshop (www.coepbrasil.org.br/oficinasocial) is the operating arm of COEP. Created in 1998, it provides support and coordination for the activities of the projects underway within the COEP Network. Headquartered at the COPPETEC Foundation, it is linked to the Graduate Engineering Coordination Program at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (COPPE/UFRJ1 ). This university was selected to house the workshop as a way of fostering links between scientific and technological knowledge, teaching and training with specific actions in the field of social development.

The Workshop budget consists of financial contributions and materials donated by eighteen entities affiliated with COEP, managed by a Board and Directors. The Social Workshop has five full-time employees, while the coordinators of the COEP Network and the Directors of the Workshop are employees of COEP member companies.

Jointly with COEP, the Social Workshop serves as an incubator for innovative projects, while offering its members support and training facilities, vocational development and access to information on community development in Brazil and other parts of the world.

1 COPPE/UFRJ - Graduate Engineering Program, Rio de Janeiro Federal University, with several lines of research, including social engineering.

Achievements

1. Mobilization Activities

Working along two main lines of action, mobilization activities are undertaken by member organizations and society as a whole.

The entities are encouraged to extend their culture to include engagement in combating exclusion, while strengthening their social commitment through: encouraging voluntary activities by their employees; inclusion in their administrative practices of new mechanisms supporting small and micro-enterprises, as well as grassroots cooperatives; direct implementation of outreach projects and actions; publication of their Social Balance Sheets; use of surplus resources and donations of unusable assets; transferring financing to Official Funds and others. They are also encouraged to become involved in supportive activities in emergency situations - such as droughts and floods - in many different parts of Brazil.

In order to mobilize society in general over issues linked to hunger and poverty, major events are organized nationwide, such as the Christmas Without Hunger Campaign, World Food Day and the National Mobilization For Life Week, when activities run all over Brazil prompt reflection on social inequalities - lectures, cultural events, essay competitions in schools, films, discussions and seminars - in parallel to specific mobilization activities - campaigns calling for donations of food and unusable assets, distribution of food baskets, across-the-board actions and events in communities, and other activities.

The strategies deployed include prizes and awards, research projects, surveys, seminars, etc.

2. Project Development

There are three strategies used by the COEP/Social Workshop Network to introduce outreach projects designed to foster community development while combating poverty.

The first consists of encouraging entities to develop their own projects and initiatives, generally targeting communities close to the areas where their enterprises operate.

Another strategy underpins joint project development by more than one entity. At the Discussion Forum set up by the members of the COEP Network, partnerships are set up to run projects combating social exclusion, with each partner acting in accordance with its corporate logic and administrative practices. It is important to stress that functioning in accordance with the specific mission of each member allows these activities to supplement each other, expanding the scope of these projects.

Following this strategy, a number of different projects have been implemented, including the presentation of public health programs developed by an entity specializing in this field, broadcast nationwide by satellite, thanks to the entity in charge of telecommunications in Brazil.

Another example was the offer of the infrastructure used to build a hydro-power plant in Northeast Brazil - including houses, recreation clubs, hotels and out-patient clinics - to establish a research center on matters linked to Brazil's semi-arid drylands, working closely with research centers, universities and other COEP members.

Other operations supported by this Network involve setting up reference projects. Serving as a project incubator, the Social Workshop finances and coordinates the development of innovative projects designed to upgrade the quality of life of low-income communities in rural or urban areas.

The success of this project led to the development of a benchmark project whose outreach action technology and methodology are systematized for replication and/or extension to other places and communities.

As the next step, the Social Workshop is building up new partnerships among the COEP members that will help multiply this experience.

These projects open up fresh horizons for communities, offering new opportunities for social, economic and cultural activities. The COEP Network then works through its State offices to bring in new partners, paving the way for different types of development.

Good examples include the establishment of a National Incubator Program for Grassroots Cooperatives. Based on setting up a cooperative in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, a Grassroots Cooperatives Incubator was established at the local Federal University. With the success of this initiative, other partnerships were set up under the aegis of COEP to replicate this experience at other Brazilian universities. This resulted in the establishment of the National Program, with incubators established at a further five Brazilian universities.

Another example is the transfer of new agricultural techniques and cotton-growing technologies to boost the incomes of small family farms in Northeast Brazil. This began with a small community of settlers in upstate Paraíba that benefited some sixty families. Working closely with this community, a farmers' cooperative was established that more than doubled their incomes by selling their output directly to the mill. Based on this encouraging outcome, new partnerships were then set up within the COEP Network and this project is now being expanded to include some 500 families in five States in Northeast Brazil: Alagoas, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte.

3. Training

The COEP/Social Workshop Network has demonstrated the feasibility of various Network integration activities and training facilities for its participants through initiatives designed to fine-tune social practices, enhancing the efficacy of these actions while strengthening links among members of the Network.

This is achieved through training activities, such as courses on: how to prepare, plan and assess outreach projects; cooperativism; local development and community development techniques; as well as a seminar on youth-focused projects; workshops; and other activities.

This Network also runs nationwide teleconferences where guest speakers present a wide variety of topics, such as: Human Development Indexes in Brazil, the Brazil Entrepreneur Program, Food Security, Corporate Citizenship, International Partnerships, and others.

4. Dissemination of Information and Expertise

Striving to meet its objective of multiplying initiatives designed to even out social inequalities throughout Brazil, COEP disseminates expertise, methodologies and technologies in the social area through the Social Workshop, in addition to practices that promote citizenship through a wide variety of tools.

Publications
Ways to Change Brazil
Launched in 1998, this 400-page book presents 44 social project case studies by COEP member entities (www.coepbrasil.org.br/oficinasocial/caminhos). This publication describes the initiatives undertaken by enterprises that firm up their social commitments. The projects presented include water supplies and irrigation, senior citizen services, donation campaigns, vocational training, cooperativism, rural development, education, generation of work and income, food security and others. Well aware of the importance of multiplying and fine-tuning these actions in other parts of Brazil, these reports provide information on the methodologies used, backed by interviews with beneficiaries and statements by their managers.

Social Workshop Notebooks
Launched in 1999, (www.coepbrasil.org.br/cadernos) this series stresses the importance of developing and fine-tuning practices designed to upgrade the quality of life of the Brazilian populace. So far, nine Notebooks (Cadernos) have been published in Portuguese in this series:
Notebook 1
Social Commitment: a new challenge for all organizations / Compromisso Social: um novo desafio para as organizações
Notebook 2
Innovative programs run by the Social Workshop / Projetos inovadores da oficina social
Notebook 3
Local development / Desenvolvimento local
Notebook 4
Mobilization awards - special edition / Prêmio mobilização - edição especial
Notebook 5
Local development: innovative practices / Desenvolvimento local: práticas inovadoras
Notebook 6
Constructing citizenship in low-income communities: from idea to action / Construindo cidadania em comunidades de baixa renda: da idéia a ação
Notebook 7
Family farms and the challenge of sustainability / Agricultura familiar e o desafio da sustentabilidade
Notebook 8
Multiplicatory agents for citizenship in communities / Multiplicadores comunitários de cidadania
Notebook 9
Planning outreach projects: hints, techniques and methodologies /Planejamento de projetos sociais: dicas, técnicas e metodologias

Notebook 2 - Also available in English: The Social Workshop Collections

Social Workshop Videos (www.coepbrasil.org.br/imagens)
Launched in 1999, this series of videos supplements the process of disseminating expertise, experiences and operating methodologies in the social field. It also portrays specific examples of outreach projects and initiatives implemented under the aegis of COEP. So far, 28 videos have been launched, all in Portuguese.

Outreach Projects Bank - Mobilization (www.coepbrasil.org.br/mobilizacao)
The Mobilization Projects Bank is linked to the COEP website, providing information on projects undertaken by its members and the State branches of COEP in many different parts of Brazil, through actions in the following areas: cooperativism, education, healthcare, generation of work and income, local development, indigenous communities and clandestine runaway slave settlements (quilombos), micro-loans, social mobilization, the environment, children, young people and many others. This data-base can handle many different types of queries, allowing searches with cross-referenced data, depending on consultation requirements. At the moment, it includes over 500 outreach projects, posting an average of 400 consultations a month.

National Social Mobilization Network Portal - COEP (www.coepbrasil.org.br)
This is one of the ways of entering into contact with the Network through the Discussion Forum, with agendas and informative bulletins constituting its main channel of communication with the public, posting an average of 700 visitors a month. It features interviews and an op-ed section for issues combating social inequalities, with links to the web-pages of COEP, the Social Workshop and the Mobilization Projects Bank.