"MMJBODF volume 1 humber z lune zc1c XXXBMMJBODFNBHB[JOFPSH
Q inIeracI wiIh local auIhoriIies in order Io gain access Io basic social services Ior members and Iheir Iamilies. However, Ihough iI comprises over oo associaIions and cooperaIives, MNCR reaches only a liIIle over - per cenI oI Brazil's IoIal wasIe pickers' populaIion, which is esIimaIed aI 8oo,ooo. More widely, sIudies indicaIe IhaI less Ihan ao per cenI oI wasIe pickers in IaIin America are organized in cooperaIives or oIher Iorms oI associaIion. Working wiIh Ihe wasIe pickers' move- menI Io increase Ihe proporIion who are organized and sIrengIhen Ihose organizaIions Ihus represenIs a huge opporIuniIy Ior achieving large-scale social change among a populaIion oI Ihe very pooresI. 5IFDIBMMFOHFTPGXPSLJOHXJUIBTPDJBMNPWFNFOU Seeing Ihe poIenIial oI Ihis emerging movemenI Io ad- dress poverIy, in :oo AvINA esIablished iIs SolidariIy in SusIainable Recycling iniIiaIive. In addiIion Io po- IenIial, however, Ihere were challenges. SupporIing a social movemenI is quiIe diIIerenI Irom Lnancing an NCO or a projecI. Social movemenIs are much more dynamic and encompass greaIer Iension and diversiIy oI leaders and leadership sIyles. We soon realized IhaI readiness Io Iake risks is crucial Ior Ihe developmenI oI Ihis sorI oI sIraIegy: wiIhouI iI no in- novaIion will happen. jusI as imporIanI is exibiliIy: by adapIing inIernal procedures Io Ihe dynamics oI social change and invesIing in areas|iniIiaIives IhaI oIher organizaIions will noI invesI in such as advocacy| lobbying, neIworking|dialogue building, new business models, seed|angel capiIal, AvINA can make Ihe besI use oI iIs resources while allowing Ior new paIhs|solu- Iions Io emerge. AI Ihe same Iime, iI is imporIanI Io keep Iocus. 1he dynamic naIure oI Ihe process means you have Io sIrike a diILculI balance beIween adhering Io Ioo rigid a view oI Ihe concepI on Ihe one hand and losing sighI oI Ihe underlying aims on Ihe oIher. Finally, we Iound IhaI iI was criIical Io develop rela- Iionships based on IrusI and muIual respecI which recognized Ihe diIIerenI sIrengIhs IhaI each parIner brings Io Ihe Iable in order Io advance Iowards a com- mon goal. 5IFSPMFPG"7*/" While Ihere was greaI poIenIial Ior scaling up Ihe im- pacI oI Ihe movemenI, iI lacked Ihe means Io do so wiIhouI speciLc Iypes oI supporI. In order Io respond eIIecIively, AvINA's key roles have included IosIering dialogue among diverse acIors and secIors, promoI- ing Ihe building oI common acIion agendas, invesIing and leveraging new resources, building bridges and 5IFQPUFOUJBMGPSTPDJBMDIBOHF 1he Brazilian NaIional MovemenI oI WasIe Pickers |MNCR) was Iormally esIablished in :ooa, on Ihree Iounding principles: eradicaIion oI wasIe dumps and child labour in Ihem; paymenI Ior wasIe pickers' services; and invesImenI in Ihe developmenI oI Iheir enIerprises. Beside represenIing iIs members and car- rying ouI advocacy acIiviIies, MNCR also organizes local producIive clusIers. 1hese share Iechnical assisI- ance and services and creaIe joinI commercial ouIleIs Ior recyclable maIerials, Ihus reducing cosIs, increas- ing producIiviIy and scale, and obIaining beIIer prices by selling direcIly Io Ihe indusIry. 1hese clusIers also 1BSUOFSJOHXJUIB TPDJBMNPWFNFOUBT BTUSBUFHZGPSTDBMF 'PSNJMMJPOTPGQFPQMFXBTUFQJDLJOHSFQSFTFOUTUIFMBTU EFTQFSBUFPQUJPOGPSTVSWJWJOHCZXPSLJOHOPUCFHHJOH-JWJOH PGGQFPQMFTHBSCBHFXBTUFQJDLFSTBSFPGUFOTFFOBTHBSCBHF UIFNTFMWFTFYDMVEFETPDJBMMZBOEFYQMPJUFEFDPOPNJDBMMZ:FU QBSBEPYJDBMMZUIFZNBLFBHSFBUDPOUSJCVUJPOUPPVSTPDJFUJFT*G UIFXPSMEJTUPNPWFUPXBSETBTVTUBJOBCMFNPEFMPGEFWFMPQNFOU SFDZDMJOHXBTUFXJMMCFDPNFPOFPGJUTDSJUJDBMCVJMEJOHCMPDLT 4VQQPSUJOHUIFEFWFMPQNFOUPGXBTUFQJDLFSTPSHBOJ[BUJPOTUIVT QSFTFOUTBHSFBUPQQPSUVOJUZUPHIUQPWFSUZBOEJNQSPWFUIFMJWFT PGBOJODSFBTJOHMZMBSHFBOEJNQPSUBOUHSPVQPGXPSLFST 0TDBS'FSHVU[ is a proeramme ofcer at Fundacion AvIhA. Email 0scar. Fereutz@avina.net 0TDBS'FSHVU[ Municipalities in the third world spend between c and c per cent of their operational budeet in waste manaeement; yet they only collect between c and 8c per cent of the refuse. waste pickers account for an estimated 16c,ccc informal workers in Chile and rouehly 1cc,ccc in Areentina. 8uenos Aires alone buries 1,ccc tons of waste every day. In 8razil, approximately 8cc,ccc workers survive or complement their income by collectine and selline recyclable materials, as estimated by MhCk (hational Movement of waste Pickers. It is estimated that, takine into account only three towns near Mexico City-0F, the business of informal collection eenerates uS$1o million annually. The recycline sector in 8razil eenerates over 8kL 8 million a year and is expandine. 8razil holds the world record for recycline aluminium cans and is a elobal leader in recycline PET. "MMJBODF volume 1 humber z lune zc1c XXXBMMJBODFNBHB[JOFPSH alliances wiIh global acIors, and promoIing shared knowledge Io supporI learning and innovaIion. AvINA saw empowering Ihe wasIe pickers, and creaI- ing Ihe condiIions Ior Ihem Io occupy Ihe leading role in a process oI broadening Ihe discussions Io areas such as indusIry and economic aIIairs, as Ihe only way Io creaIe scalable, lasIing change. /FXNPNFOUVN In March :oo8, IogeIher wiIh oIher organizaIions, AvINA supporIed Ihe asI World Congress oI WasIe Pickers. HosIed by Ihe IaIin American NeIwork oI WasIe Pickers, Ihe evenI was held in BogoIa, Colombia, and broughI IogeIher represenIaIives oI wasIe pickers Irom : counIries. 1his gave Ihe issue a global perspec- Iive and helped share lessons and experiences across conIinenIs. II also broughI iI greaIer visibiliIy, aIIracIing new and key supporIers. In OcIober :oo8, AvINA and Ihe Bill and Melinda CaIes FoundaIion esIablished a Lve-year co-Iunding alliance in Ihe amounI oI USSb million Io help Ihe developmenI oI Ihree main sIraIegies: sIrengIhening Ihe neIwork iIselI, Ihrough Ihe creaIion oI a secreIariaI Ieam and Iunds Ior exchanging knowledge, supporIing naIional movemenIs and innovaIion; sIrengIhening Ihe Brazilian movemenI as an organizaIional and economic model Ior Ihe region; developing and implemenIing meIhods oI paymenI Ior Ihe services provided by wasIe pickers Io socieIy, including innovaIion relaIed Io emerging susIainable markeIs. Also in :oo8, AvINA and MNCR signed a USS;. mil- lion agreemenI wiIh Ihe InIer-American DevelopmenI Bank's MulIilaIeral InvesImenI Fund, ICCO, Coca-Cola and Ihe Brazilian governmenI Ior Ihe Socioeconomic InIegraIion oI CollecIors oI Recyclable MaIerials pro- gramme - dubbed CaIa Ao. 1he parIners will work Ior Ihe developmenI oI wasIe pickers' cooperaIives and Iheir communiIies in Lve ciIies in Brazil over Ihe nexI Iour years. AvINA and Ihe IDB are also designing a plaI- Iorm Io connecI Iheir eIIorIs in Ihis Leld in Ihe region as well as Io coordinaIe wiIh oIher parIners. .FBTVSJOHJNQBDU One oI Ihe unanswered quesIions relaIes Io measuring impacI. InvesImenI by Ihe Brazilian governmenI via Ihe NaIional Bank Ior Fconomic and Social DevelopmenI |BNDFS) and Banco do Brasil or Ihe developmenI oI elec- Iric carIs Io make wasIe pickers' work less hard seem Io be clear evidence IhaI a loI has changed. 1he growing numbers oI municipaliIies IhaI are IormulaIing Iheir wasIe managemenI programmes and policies IogeIher wiIh wasIe pickers seems Io be anoIher good indicaIor. BuI hundreds oI people made redundanI by oIher sec- Iors conIinue Io Iurn Io wasIe picking, and Ihis makes Ihe siIuaIion so uid - and inIormal - IhaI measuring how many people's lives are aIIecIed by one's invesI- menIs|eIIorIs is a challenging goal indeed. 40-*%"3*5:*/4645"*/"#-&3&$:$-*/( This is the reeional initiative throueh which Fundacion AvIhA works in this area in the countries where it operates. Toeether with waste pickers and other strateeic partners, it works for the inclusion of millions of waste pickers in a sustainable manaeement of waste. This vision includes: strenethened waste pickers' oreanizations; expanded national and international networks; inteeration of waste pickers in the recycline industry value chain; inclusion of waste pickers in public waste manaeement systems; participation of waste pickers in new ereen markets; inclusive public policies AvIhA also supports waste pickers in buildine a vision for the future and in the presentation and validation of their proposals to a wide ranee of audiences. It has invested approximately uS$.z million since zcc. www.avina.net 'PSNPSFJOGPSNBUJPO koberto Laureano da kocha has been worklne as a waste plcker for the past zo years, slnce the aee of 16. he ls now a member of the natlonal commlttee of MhCk.