Sindicato dos Trabalhadores no Serviço Público do Município de Gentio de Ouro – SINDSERV
- Location
- Gentio do Ouro, Bahia
- Backed in
- 2008
- Covered areas
- Human Rights and Civic Engagement
Formação Popular Jurídica em Gentio do Ouro
The Union was created to encourage the participation of community members in the Municipality’s public decision making. The project, which received its initial Incentive Award from BrazilFoundation in 2007, trained community leaders to exert political influence in the local public policy making process. The training resulted in greater community participation within local councils. In 2008, with the complementation of the support, leaders of social movements were trained in basic law concepts, in order to address the lack of legal support for the demands of the community and to familiarize local citizens on existing legal mechanisms, mostly unknown to them due to bureaucracy involving lawsuits.
The objective was to prepare the leaders of this small town, already engaged and mobilized, to effectively participate in local governance and social control. The support of BrazilFoundation allowed the organization to hire professionals from other regions and enabled it to develop an institutional methodology. The organization has since expanded its activities and now provides legal advice to the community.