Summary
Since March 2020, the community of São José da Mata, in the municipality of Campina Grande, Paraíba, which has approximately 20,000 inhabitants, has been facing serious problems with public transport, causing problems in travelling to work, healthcare, education, banking services and leisure activities. After the participation of AJURCC in CESE's Mobilising Support course, they formed a working group of 12 young people who identified the problem, developed strategies and made a plan of action that resulted in the project "Youth for the Right to the City and the Defence of Quality Public Transport". Their (and the community's) activities resulted in the resumption of public transport in the district of São José da Mata and in Campina Grande on weekends and at night, as well as in the end of the limits imposed on student passes.
Link with activities and itinerary: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uu1cC8dZ6b99of1Dd7kVoq3eULr2oclE?usp=sharing
Problem analysis
Since March 2020, the community of São José da Mata, in the Municipality of Campina Grande, Paraíba, which has approximately 20 thousand inhabitants, has been experiencing serious problems with public transport: a lack of regular transport; hour-long intervals between buses; transport only operating until 19:00; an absence of buses on Sundays and public holidays; difficulty purchasing half fares for students; limits to the time integration system, preventing residents from accessing the city centre.
These issues have created problems in travelling to work, healthcare, education, banking services and leisure activities, further exacerbating unemployment, reducing access to education and isolating the poorest in the community, depriving residents of the right to the city.
Solution analysis
After the AJURCC participated in CESE’s Mobilising Support course, they constructed a working group made up of 12 young people who identified the problem, constructed strategies and made an action plan that resulted on the ‘Young People for the Right to the City and the Defence of Quality Public Transport’ project.
This emerged with the aim of constructing mobilisation, coordination and training – with priority given to young people from the São José da Mata district – in how to mobilise support, focused on the defence of quality public transport for the community, promoting coordination with groups and collectives for young people, women and workers in the defence of quality public transport.
Stakeholder analysis
Which stakeholders (NGO’s, government, private sector) did you identify as allies and how did you involve them?
• Residents
Physical petition – at strategic points (community squares and schools) and online. Aim: to mobilise and inform the public about the public transport situation in the community; to invite people to request an immediate solution from the municipal authorities in order to normalise public transport and meet the needs of municipality residents.
• Young people
The 'Young People and the Right to the City' course was aimed at 35 young men and women aged between 15 and 29, in the São José da Mata district, neighbourhoods and communities on the outskirts of Campina Grande so that, with the AJURCC, they can support the fight for public transport and the construction of a fairer and more egalitarian world for everyone, starting with the community and our city.
• Leaders, groups and social organisations from the São José da Mata district
Support from the Front for the Right to the City (Frente pelo Direito à Cidade), Landless Rural Workers' Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra: MST), National Union of Tax Auditors of Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service (Sindicato Nacional dos Auditores-Fiscais da Receita Federal do Brasil: SINDIFISCO), Popular Youth Uprising (Levante Popular das Juventudes: LPJ), the Labour Union (Sindicato dos Comerciários), Campina Grande Union of Social Teams (União Campinense das Equipes Sociais: UCES), Pro Campina Forum (Fórum Pró Campina).
• Volunteers - 8.
Which stakeholders did you identify as neutral and how did you mobilise them?
People who do not use public transport, do not go to work by bus, as well as employers.
The AJURCC, in partnership with the Labour Union, sought contact with the Campina Grande Transport Employers' Union, which wrote a letter to the Mayor and Municipal Chamber, presented in a public hearing.
Which stakeholders did you identify as opponents and why were they opposed?
The company owners, the municipal executive authorities (transport department) and the councillors from the mayor’s support base. The companies claimed to have incurred losses through the public transport concession, the executive claimed to have no resources to subsidise the companies and the local councillors were defending the mayor's interests.
How did you involve your beneficiaries in the stakeholder analysis/campaign?
The AJURCC sought to involve everyone in project preparation and management. Working groups and youth coalitions were created, as well as WhatsApp groups to divide up tasks. However, only 40% of the beneficiaries actively participated.
Short description of the organisation implementing the action/campaign
The AJURCC is a non-profit organisation, founded in 2004, whose mission is to stimulate youth protagonism through educational activities of a socio-political and artistic-cultural nature, with an emphasis on popular culture and education, encouraging participation in the formulation of public policies for young people in order to support the training and autonomy of impoverished youth in periphery neighbourhoods.
The AJURCC is not simply an organisation made up of young people, but its composition must constitute a majority of young people, aged up to 29 years. In this way, it has a board and youth coordinating team made up of adults and young people, all of whom are impoverished, black people; gender parity is also ensured.
Currently, the AJURCC runs the House of Culture and Citizenship project, which serves 250 young people through cultural, sports, leisure and educational activities. Every day, these young people are motivated to participate in training activities, which encourage protagonism and political participation.
Action period
2021
Objectives
1. Mobilise the São José da Mata community and other residents of the city of Campina Grande to improve the public transport conditions in the district.
2. Training young people from the district of São José da Mata in how to mobilise support, with a focus on defending quality public transport for the community.
3. Construction of a front of grassroots organisations to defend the right to public transport in Campina Grande.
Action results
Objective 1:
1. Resumption of public transport in the district of São José da Mata and in Campina Grande on weekends and at night, as well as the end to limits put on the student pass.
2. Holding at least 3 public hearings with municipal authorities.
3. Community informed about the public transport situation in Campina Grande.
Objective 2:
1. 35 young leaders from São José da Mata and a further 5 neighbourhoods in Campina Grande participating in a training course about how to mobilise support.
2. Twelve grassroots organisations linked up for training.
Objective 3:
1. Creation of a municipal forum in defence of public transport.
2. Petition signed by 3000 people from the district.
Description of preparatory activities
1. Planning board meeting.
2. Meeting with young coordinators.
3. Mobilisation – the São José da Mata Community is also Campina Grande!!!
4. Training leaders from São José da Mata in the Right to the City.
5. Direct Mobilising Support Actions - Young People for the Right to Decide.
Description of implementation
1. The AJURCC board and the project's coordination team met at the association's offices to plan how the activities would be conducted in a collective and participatory manner. A meeting was then scheduled with the Youth Working Group to build strategies in order to implement the mobilising activities.
2. The association invited the 12 young people who participated in CESE’s mobilising support courses, and tasks were divided up according to the plan, starting with mobilisation, and focused on mobilising support training courses for youth leaders.
3. The mobilisation process initially started with the need to mobilise the community around the public transport agenda and the group decided that young people should be mobilised first; young people were therefore invited to participate in the course and the petition was created. In this mobilisation process, the AJURCC identified that, not only São José da Mata, but all neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city were experiencing the same problem. The AJURCC therefore invited young people from 8 other neighbourhoods in Campina Grande to become involved.
4. The leadership training course was attended by 25 young people from São José da Mata and 10 from other organisations (MST, LPJ). There were 5 stages, with a total duration of 40 hours, training young people to mobilise, coordinate the courses and hold a seminar on Public Transport in Campina Grande/Paraíba.
5. Meetings were held with representatives of the executive power, young people lobbied for and participated in a public hearing about transport in the municipality, they coordinated with and mobilised organisations and supporters to send to send letters requesting the executive power to solve the transport problems of Campina Grande.
Description of time investmen
8 months, 150 hours
Costs
All the activities required funds to the total of BRL 12,400.00.
CESE supported a project of BRL 14,887.00 for these activities.
| Item |
Unit |
Amount |
Quantity |
BRL Total |
| Food |
Meals |
20 |
200 |
3.700,00 |
| Educational material |
Unit |
35,89 |
40 |
1.100,00 |
| Mobilising Support advisor |
Hour |
60 |
48 |
1.200,00 |
| Transport of youth |
Tickets |
9,85 |
200 |
1.770,00 |
| Radio spot |
Unit |
180 |
3 |
600,00 |
| Communication |
Unit |
300 |
8 |
2.060,00 |
| Banner |
Unit |
70 |
3 |
348,00 |
| Fuel |
Litres |
200 |
6,1 |
1.330,00 |
| Advertising placards |
Metres |
16 |
12 |
292,00 |
| TOTAL |
|
|
|
12.400,00 |
Follow up
An extended evaluation meeting was held every week following activities.
