Brazilian regional development – Pulling in the same direction
Successful development programmes require genuine co-operation. Extractive companies in Brazil are preparing to discover what that means in practice
Ethical Corporation Interview, September 2007
Sustainable development is high on the agenda in Espirito Santo. Everyone in the oil-rich Brazilian state is at it, from local community organisations and aid agencies to government agencies and private companies. The problem is that they are not at it together.
Pro-Natura International hopes to change that. The Paris-based development charity is embarking on a three-year, multi-stakeholder initiative to create what it is calling an Atlantic Rainforest Corridor. Its tool of choice is an “inclusive, equitable decision-making vehicle”. Or, in less theoretical terms, a regional development agency.
The plan might sound like a convoluted non-starter, but Pro-Natura has already road-tested it with considerable success, most notably in Nigeria. These development agencies – usually set up as non-profits or subsumed within existing organisations – plan and finance joint local projects. The difference with other development organisations is that no-one decides what those projects should be: everyone does.
“The idea is to create something in which everyone participates in the decision-making power,” says Martyn Collins, chief executive of Pro-Natura for the Americas.
Seed funding for the agency will come from extractive sector partners in Espirito Santo. Pro-Natura has already received a grant from UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office to get the process up and running.
But funding, Collins argues, is not the main limiting factor when it comes to sustainable development. It is getting the governance model right. In addition to participation, that means full transparency in the agency’s decision-making and financing.
Sponsorship from Shell Brazil has already enabled Pro-Natura to engage almost 100 separate stakeholder groups in nine municipalities in southern Espirito Santo. The list includes the Brazilian Petroleum Institute and leading extractive companies working in the region, such as Rio Tinto, Chevron and Statoil. If all goes to plan, a regional development agency will be established in late 2007 or early 2008.
Its success rests on several factors. The first is give-and-take. Stakeholders need to leave their own agendas and think “holistically”. The second is patience. A recent survey by Pro-Natura reveals an impressive collection of development initiatives already under way among the extractive companies in Espirito Santo. It would be easier for them to take the lead, admits Collins, but doing so would simply undermine the notion of joint ownership and, in the long run, the agency’s impact.
Which leads to a third issue: capacity-building. Local stakeholders will require training on areas such as participative dialogue and strategy planning if they are to have an equal place at the table. The stakeholder engagement skills of the extractive companies, meanwhile, could do with some honing too.