Portf贸lio
In almost 30 years of existence, PACS? main goal is to work for human emancipation - individual and collective -, by means of solidarity and self-managed practices that contribute to the creation of an alternative mode of development, centered on life.
Demonstration organized by the People?s World Cup Committee in 2014. The movement was created in the context of the preparation for that mega event, with the purpose of denouncing public investments made for the Cup with no consultation and no surveillance, and to oppose the rights violations inflicted upon human communities, in particular those regarding the right to housing.
Detail of sticker and T-shirt for the campaign ?Stop TKCSA?, coordinated by PACS since 2003, with the purpose of denouncing human rights violations, pollution and the exhaustion of the natural resources as a consequence of the construction and operation of ThyssenKrupp Atlantic Steel Company, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
>>> PACS was created in 1986 as the Brazilian team of PRIES (Regional Program of Economic and Social Research for the Southern Cone of Latin America). We are a non-profit organization focused on Development and Solidarity, working on socioeconomic research, popular education, advocacy related to the power centers on behalf of social movements, networks and territories affected by mega projects, and women?s organizations, regarding themes such as agroecology, rights and political economic empowerment.
>>>>>> We are partners with the Solidarity Economy movement participating in activities such as the Rio de Janeiro Solidarity Economy Educational Center, solidarity exchange markets, complementary currencies, consultancy to meetings and conferences, collaboration in educational activities about Solidarity Economy of other organizations and networks (in Brazil and abroad), and participation in the creation and construction of a cooperative, environmentally sustainable Ecovillage near Vassouras, RJ. PACS is based in Rio de Janeiro, and entertains collaborative connections nationally and internationally.
March related to the 2002 People?s Plebiscite on ALCA ? Latin America Free Trade Area, - endeavoring to make the theme accessible to public opinion, we organized debates, seminars, film sessions in public and private schools, and other public spaces. PACS was an active part of the mobilization of various movements and networks, including ecumenical and pastoral organizations.
Group work during the I Seminar ?Women and the Economy?, held in Sep 2014, in Teres贸polis, Rio de Janeiro. The activity gathered about 80 women in a three day symposium and celebrated the 15 years of PACS?Course on Women and the Economy, aimed at spreading information and critical understanding on themes such as the economy, public debt and their implications for women?s lives.
Our action ? For another Development PACS? action offers support, subsidies and synergy in the process of empowerment of social actors, so as to become full, conscious and sovereign subjects of their own development as persons and collectives.
We understand economic and technical development as means to make integral human development possible. Development that values life and its evolution can only occur in a movement that goes from the person to the collective, from local to national and continental communities, reaching humankind worldwide on a cooperative, non-competitive basis. We talk about full human development, including the improvement of life quality and heightened happiness. For this purpose,
PACS articulates the local and the global spheres not only conceptually, but also at the level of policies and practices. To achieve this, PACS works on research, critical reflection, sharing information and analysis-synthesis, using a variety of media ? publications, bulletins, videos and radio programs. We elaborate and diffuse alternative proposals and practices, offering consultancy to communities and local governments, teaching and learning, supporting community, cooperative development projects with urban and rural collectives, municipal schools, self-managed cooperatives and workers?associations. We also participate in the construction of local, national and international networks.
>>> Pacs for about 15 years has focused his work on the West side of the city of Rio de Janeiro because it determined that the region would be the next frontier of capital accumulation in the city and stage, so strong environmental conflicts. This picture is confirmed today, when we observe that there is that develop the main conflicts of this nature, so we operate in critical shape and also investing in the construction of alternatives from below.
Closure of the class of activities that concluded the 15th edicação Course Women and Economics in 2014.
Program 1 ? Self-development: self-managed practices based on solidarity and trust Through these we promote dialogue and education stimulating the development of socioeconomic initiatives related to full development. It includes two work fronts:
1.1 Socioeconomic practices of integral
development (networks and forums) Focuses on support to the creation of complementary socioeconomic development activities, to face social inequalities of men with respect to women in people?s production initiatives, and with organizations rooted in territories affected by the current development model. We work mainly in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. It also encompasses participation in network advocacy activities. This front unfolds in two axes: one, organizational strengthening of networks, and two, public policies wherein civil society is the protagonist agent.
Axis 1: Strengthening organizational networks Axis 2: Public policies with role of civil society
1.2. Women and Socioeconomy ? aims at
>>On the photo: visitors and producers walking about an agroecologic street market in Rio de Janeiro. PACS is a member of the Rio de Janeiro Urban Agriculture Network and support the building and consolidation of solidarity economy and agroecology in urban territories, with the perspective of nutritional sovereignty and security.
stimulating the creation of new, and the strengthening of existing solidarity economy production groups, and the urban family agriculture movement, working from a gender equality perspective and collaborating with networks active in defining and promoting public policies in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro.
Axis 1: Solidarity Economy and gender.
Program 2 ? Eco-Development: For Another Development of Humankind
Photographic panel in the Sepetiba Bay e Santa Cruz District Exhibit ? in search for a legal future. This is another PACS initiative, in collaboration with the permanent Campaign STOP TKCSA. AndrĂŠ Mantelli is the photographer and the pictures are the outcome of a series of visits to affected areas. Besides reinforcing the district dwellers and fishermen resistance, the exhibit shows the beauty, wealth and potential of the region, offering a hopeful glance regarding the future. The exhibit has visited schools, museums, churches and the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Chamber of representatives.
It encompasses the implementation and involvement in concrete action aimed at contributing to the re-creation of the development concept and practice, focusing the empowerment of the subjects of development and the invention of new forms of economic and political practice. The actions of the Program unfold in two fronts:
2.1 Economic Justice and democracy: mega projects, impacts and alternatives. It aims at articulating various social groups directly affected by the mega projects through awareness raising about the impacts of those investments, the rights and the capacity of intervention in public decisions. The idea is to reinforce the effectiveness of articulations resisting the mega projects.
Cover of the 2013 PACS documentary ?From the Margin to the Center?. The video visits the most beautiful, and also the most impacted landscapes of Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro. It denounces the kind of ?progress?that puts various forms of life at risk. Introducing the wisdom of local people, the film shows that another world is possible.
2.2 Innovative power practices (networks, consultancy organizations, webs): The project supports the expansion of the outreach of empowered agents with regard to the mega projects and overindebtedness, and the damages to their territories. It helps consolidate a critical and prospective vision.
District dweller and fisherman in the Santa Cruz district presents photos at the Sepetiba and Santa Cruz Exhibit during its launching at the Santa Cruz Ecomuseum, November 2014.
Our work groups become stronger in the context of networks With the purpose of empowering her transformative action in society, PACS collaborates with other social movements in networks and forums, at the local, regional, national and international spheres. Here are some more permanent partnerships: AARJ ? Agroecology Articulation of the state of Rio de Janeiro AIV ? International Articulation of those Affected by VALE (the mega mining Corporation) ANCOP ? National Articulation of People?s World Cup and Olympic Games Committees APA ? CSA ? Articulation of the population affected by the TKCSA AS-PTA ? on Family agriculture and agroecology. CAPINA ? Cooperation and Support to Alternative-inspired Projects. GAIA Collective Rio de Janeiro People?s World Cup and Olympic Games Committee Social Committee of PAN CRAS Cecília Meirelles (Reference Center in Social Service) Enlazando Alternativas ? European Union?Latin America FCP/ RJ ? Rio de Janeiro People?s Cooperative. FEM ? Fórum to Combat Violence against Women IFHEP ? Institute of Human Training and
Popular Education NEURB / FEUC ? Caucus for Urban Studies. Brazil Network on the Multilateral Financial Institutions RCAU ? Rio Network for Urban Agriculture REPES ? Solidarity Economy Popular Educators Network. Jubilee South Americas and Brazil Networks SEPE?RJ ? Rio de Janeiro Professionals in Education Trade Union Sinpro ? Rio de Janeiro Municipal Teachers?Trade Union Citizens?University/ Federal University of Rio de Janeiro LEMA/ UFRJ GAIA Education Program Agencies Brot für die Welt - Alemanha Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung - Alemanha DKA- Austria Ação Quaresmal FASTENOPFER ? Suíça Medico International ? Alemanha
Our forms of work
Our Institutional Development Program, created in 2002, enables PACS to improve its social and political influence, as well as the development of its internal organization. Our management structure is decentralized, participatory and transparent, developing a non-hierarchical sharing of responsibilities. In order to strengthen the qualitative participation of its members, PACS offers spaces of dialogue and decision-making, which contribute
to self-management and to greater synergy among programs, management and project cadres. Associates Assembly, Directors Council and Fiscal Council make up PACS formal management structure. Its daily affairs are managed by a Management Collective, and projects teams manage PACS?finances on a decentralized manner.
Photo of the current team Pacs taken last strategic planning held in February 2015
pacs.org.br Instituto PolĂticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul - Rua Evaristo da Veiga,47/ 702 Centro, Rio de Janeiro - CEP 20031-040 - Telefone: +55 21 2210-2124 / pacs@pacs.org.br