Brazil

For many years, Rio de Janeiro has held the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s most beautiful cities, and at the same time, one of the most dangerous. This... Show More + report is the story of Rio’s attempt to break with history and establish a new kind of state presence in its favelas. This report documents how life in the favelas is changing as a result of the Police Pacification Unit (UPP) pacification effort, as seen through the eyes of favela residents themselves. This study used a qualitative, case-study approach and consisted of observations, focus groups, and key informant interviews in four favelas. The study fits into the broader territorial approach to urban and social development that the World Bank has been supporting in both the state and city of Rio de Janeiro, and for which the historical alliance between federal, state and municipal governments in Rio has been crucial. These projects have focused on strengthening planning and management of urban growth in the metropolitan region, promoting the provision of affordable housing with access to infrastructure and service, and supporting the implementation of a targeted, comprehensive social development program for the urban poor. Under the social development agenda, the Bank has been providing support to Social UPP since its design stage, in 2010, through technical assistance services to strengthen social governance and territorially-based monitoring and evaluation. Show Less -

The present study focuses on gender while analyzing the effects of the Rural Poverty Reduction Project (RPRP) on the use of time and income generation as well as on... Show More + cultural and social capital aspects. The study was based on a pilot project in Rio Grande do Norte designed to reinforce actions of the RPRP's focus on gender. The study should be viewed only as an exploratory evaluation that can be indicative of project effects, since the sample used was small and the time span between the subproject's implementation and the collection of impact data was short (only one year). However, other measures in the methodology guarantee a satisfactory minimum level of rigorousness in the evaluation, such as the comparison to a control group taken from a pipeline population of potential beneficiaries and a before-and-after approach to the analysis. The integration of gender concerns into World Bank poverty-reducing programs has been implemented by promoting inclusive development, ensuring that both women and men have a voice in the development of their community and benefit from new development opportunities. Part of this strategy is to advance women's economic empowerment by enhancing their ability to participate in land, labor, financial, and product markets. The current study was conducted simultaneously with the pilot project in order to document its results and, when possible, draw lessons that could be helpful in new operations. The study estimates, on a preliminary basis, how community investments that save women's time in household activities by themselves or combined with investments in production create the enabling environment for women's economic empowerment and, eventually, help reduce poverty. Show Less -

The city of Sao Paulo is the capital of the state of Sao Paulo and the seat of metropolitan Sao Paulo, which in turn is composed of 39 municipalities. It is Brazil's... Show More + most populous city; the 10,879,619 residents represent 6 percent of the country's total population. It is also the most significant city in terms of the production of wealth; Sao Paulo alone is responsible for about 9 percent of Brazil's national gross domestic product (GDP). The economic dynamism of the city is reflected in a landscape that is in a state of constant transformation. The main housing option for this population proved to be the purchase of a lot in the informal land subdivisions that were opening up on the fringes of the consolidated urban fabric, leading to consolidation with neighboring municipalities in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Region (MRSP). The problems in transportation, housing, and sanitation that resulted from this extensive urbanization assumed metropolitan dimensions, which led to the creation of the MRSP and the related government agencies responsible for integrated management of these problems in the late 1960s. In the past 30 years, the services sector has assumed leadership of the city's economic production, overtaking the historic primacy of the industrial sector. Growth is most significant in fields associated with information technology, the production of knowledge, and culture. These economic transformations have repercussions for the urban landscape and land use. Show Less -

The objective of the Ceara Regional Economic Development Project for Brazil is to promote economic development, improve urban infrastructure, and enhance regional management... Show More + capacity in the Central Cariri Region of Ceará, which includes municipalities of Barbalha, Caririaçu, Crato, Farias Brito, Jardim, Juazeiro do Norte, Missao Velha, Nova Olinda, and Santana do Cariri. This environmental assessment / plano de gestao socio-ambiental do Cariri Central, evaluated impacts and includes recommendation and mitigation measures in areas of influence of the project, as follows : local employment generation; surface water contamination; loss of vegetation; erosion; urban public parks; municipal and state of Ceara institutional capacity; natural and storm water drainage network; urban solid waste disposal; aesthetics and landscaping; child labor and domestic violence; shoe industry workers health and working conditions; opportunities for cultural and eco-tourism; inter-institutional coordination among Federal, state and municipal agencies to promote civil society's participation; and finally, existing municipal, state and federal legislation for the protection of the environment. Show Less -

The objective of the Sao Luis Enhancing Municipal Governance and Quality of Life Project is to improve public service in the Bacanga Basin of Sao Luis municipality,... Show More + and enhance the capacity of the city government in promoting local economic development and municipal management. The studies and surveys that have been conducted on the island demonstrate that the local water bodies are grossly affected by different sources of pollution caused by irregular land use and human occupancy The main sources of pollution have been identified as: (i) the disposal of domestic sewage in open-air ditches; (ii) untreated sewage flowing directly into the water courses; (iii) the precarious standards of individual sewage disposal, mainly involving the use of pits; and (iv) the inexistence of systemic and overarching methods for collecting and treating wastewaters generated in the area. To mitigates these issues some of the measures consider in the following areas are as follows: (i) the recovery of the structures of the Bacanga dam and its floodgate system and the implementation of new operating rules; (ii) the establishment of infrastructure in poor areas through the provision of proper sanitation (sewerage facilities, water supply, and urban cleaning), urban drainage, flood control, local access streets, surfacing and other complementary urban civil works; (iii) the removal of people living at present in flood risk areas, involving the resettlement of households potentially affected by flood hazards, developing appropriate resettlement alternatives and finding a socially useful purpose for the previously occupied areas in order to avoid further invasions; (iv) the promotion of land tenure regularization to benefit the households remaining in the intervention areas; (v) to increase the capacity of the local municipal government in land use supervision and supervision/inspection in order to avoid new invasions and further illegal parceling of urban land; (vi) to provide training for local people at present working in the informal job market with a view to their joining the formal market, and to help them to qualify for alternative employment and income generating activities; and(vii) improvement of the competitive capacity of the local municipal government through actions targeted at institutional strengthening. Show Less -

From 1988 to 1996, the Low Income Sanitation Technical Assistance Project (PROSANEAR) supported the scaling up of a new approach to delivering water supply and sanitation... Show More + services to the urban poor in Brazil. The approach combined cost effective technologies with community participation. The project provided one million poor people with piped water supply and sanitation. It also contributed to building stronger communities and showed how water supply and sanitation (WSS) can be an integral part of local area development plans. Show Less -