The Women’s Group of Suruacá, Brazil
by Alicia Craven

In her 70 years of life, Dona Martinha, a matriarch in the small Brazilian village of Suruacá, has had time to come to her own conclusions about development strategies in her community.

“We are the guinea pigs,” she says in Portuguese with a weary, good-natured sigh. “In reality, everything that we have here is through projects—the kitchen, our house for women—all resulted from projects.”

CEN is working to change this entrenched dependent, paternalistic approach to development. Doña Martinha and her Suruacá Women’s Group are partners in shaping this change.

Suruacá is a small community of about 100 families on the banks of the Tapajós River in northeastern Brazil. It is accessible to the nearest city of Santarém by twice-weekly, six-hour boat journeys. Change comes slowly. Life requires patience.

Projecto Saude e Alegria (PSA), a Brazilian NGO and development organization, first began working with this isolated community in 1987. In addition to health programs and basic infrastructure projects such as installing clean drinking water systems, PSA also helped set up the Women’s Group.

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By Nick Tichy

One of the biggest obstacles facing the communities CEN assists is a lack of economic opportunity. Because of this, one of CEN’s main priorities is to help the communities where we work create new income generation projects. This is complicated by the communities’ inexperience managing businesses and the few role models available to them.

One of the few bright spot enterprises in the community of Maguary is the ecological "leather" bag-producing business Couro Ecológico . This is an association of roughly 20 members who work a few hours a week in the business and share proceeds. Using an abundant and sustainable resource, natural rubber, this business has been making bags to sell to retailers in Brazil, the USA and Europe. While the enterprise shows promise, of the group's minimal business management experience results in underperformance. Finding a way to successfully manage, market, and sustain Couro Ecológico is a high priority for the community of Maguary. In support of this, CEN recently organized a group of MBA students from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, to travel to Maguary to evaluate Couro Ecológico and provide consulting to improve the business.

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by Nicholas Tichy

Community development in areas such as the Brazilian Amazon does not happen overnight. There are many problems that restrict the economic growth of these communities, and they are not easily overcome. Instead, development and empowerment happens bit by bit and is measured by small victories. One such victory is the story of Magarete Lima’s bakery business.

The business began a number of years ago as a very small stand, and experienced a hiatus for a period of three years. However, it would return due to the most fundamental element for any business - demand. Residents of the community of Suruacá, a small community of 100 families, about 5 hours by boat from the nearest city, missed smelling the scent of fresh bread drift from the bakery.  Since bread from the nearest city is often stale by the time it makes its infrequent journey to Suruacá, many residents kept asking about the bakery and finally Magarete reopened it.

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New Business Off the Top of Their Heads
An Interview with Ronilson Valente Melo
Young Entrepreneur in Suruacá, Pará State, Brazil

By Nicholas Tichy

Development and empowerment in rural communities such as Suruacá requires a number of elements. One essential skill that needs to be promoted is entrepreneurship. Inroads have been made in helping the community develop business opportunities for themselves, but many obstacles still remain. However, one youth in Suruacá, Ronilson Valente Melo, is an excellent example of the spirit of empowerment and drive that CEN attempts to foster. Recently, CEN's founder and Director Bob Bortner had the opportunity to speak with this young man and find out a bit more about his experiences attempting to create his own business.

Ronilson, 23 years old, grew up in Suruacá with his five brothers and five sisters. Like so many other youths in Suruacá and elsewhere, there were few opportunities in the community. "I finished basic school, but they didn't have high school," says Ronilson. "I had to leave home to study in Santarém," the nearest large town. Though he spent three years living in Santarém, there was much about the place that made him long to return home. "Here [in Suruacá], we are able to walk around without fear. But in town, we had to be at home earlier, because if you don't it gets dangerous."

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by Sunny Peter

Located about 500 km (310 miles) from the city of Manaus, is a place called Xixuau - a naturalist delight: 182,000 hectares (450,000 acres) of virgin forest. It is a favorite jaunt for researchers, film- makers and eco-tourists that come from all over the world because of the area's abundance and visibility of fauna that is unique to the Amazon. Situated almost exactly on the equator, the seasons in the region are defined by high water during the months of March to September and low water from October to February. During the high water season, the area is characterized by vast tracts of igapo (flooded forest), and the low water season presents immense sandy beaches and extreme concentrations of aquatic life. Travel to this reserve site is done by regional boat, in which outboards are used along the main river and at the entrance to the reserve. All movements inside the reserve are by paddle canoe and on foot through the forest.

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