A atuação do terceiro setor no saneamento rural no Brasil: o caso da ONG Global WaSH na Escola Municipal Padre Caetano no Distrito de Monte Verde de Minas (MG)

Abstract

Human rights to water and sanitation, while assured by federal law in Brazil, are not available to the entire Brazilian population, and when it comes to rural areas, numbers tend to become worse. In the absence of the State, third sector organizations take action to plan strategies for community engagement in the theme and, depending on the context, to search for alternative solutions together with local actors, by discussing and pressuring public power in order to advance in the resolution of the problem. This study aimed to analyze how the management of a project for social mobilization for the right to sanitation works and what were the tools in use in the pilot project in Monte Verde de Minas, a district of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, including the actions of the Global WaSH NGO. It is field research in which the author took part as a voluntary worker, besides as a researcher. For the discussions and results, the following methodological tools were used: field report, formalization of activities and interviews. Research contemplated the moment in which the NGO received an active search for its action; its entrance into the territory; articulation with local actors; the search for partnership for the realization of the project; planning of activities with the topic of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH), mainly at the Padre Caetano Municipal School, with the participation of and teachers and students; the creation of a popular committee for water management; and the planning and execution of the technology of a slow filter as a sanitary barrier to better the quality of the water available at the school. Both successful proposals and those that did not meet expected results were identified. At the end of the study, suggestions for best practices for NGOs in tackling sanitation in rural areas are presented