STRATEGIES FOR ACTION

CESE was a pioneer in prioritizing one-off support for small projects, favouring grassroots movements at strategic moments in their organization, enabling the community to govern the planning and execution of their own activities and motivating the search for autonomy.  The same is true of the support provided to the churches’ diaconal activities.

The Small Projects Programme supports initiatives from grassroots rural and urban organizations, representatives of the various sectors that constitute Brazilian society, for example indigenous populations, quilombolas and other black populations, traditional communities, family farmers, the landless, those affected by large-scale projects, women, young people, etc.

CESE coordinates and dialogues with social movements, churches, sources of funding and other support, as well as other organizations, in order to commit christian churches and other faith traditions to the cause of human rights from an ecumenical and inter-religious perspective and to better align with the grassroots movements’ agendas for struggle.  This strategy comes about through participation in strategic networks and forums, and by promoting activities involving churches, sources of funding and other support, social movements and other partners.

CESE also supports Ecumenical Dialogue and Relationships.  This strategy places an emphasis on the defence of the secular State, and is understood as an expression of CESE’s identity (particularly in response to the setbacks to ecumenical dialogue and relationships in Brazil), and commitment to the defence of rights.  This includes activities such as campaigns, consultations, seminars, debates, workshops, contributions to publications and participation in the ecumenical movement’s national and international networking arenas in order to strengthen their approach to the defence of rights and to extend inter-religious dialogue.

Communication is understood as strategic, to increase the visibility of the causes defended by the grassroots movements, reassert the importance of human rights and combat the growing criminalization of the grassroots movements, in counterpoint to the hegemonic media and networks.  CESE seeks to raise awareness with its key audiences, the christian churches and other expressions of faith so that they commit to human rights, particularly in a context of growing religious fundamentalism. To this end, it hosts public events to give voice to perspectives from the social movements and is a member of communication collectives in order to enhance its relationship with grassroots communicators. We make pronouncements through public positioning, prepare and participate in campaigns, and produce content for our communication channels, shaped by the defence of rights 

In addition to these methodological strategies, CESE is concerned with its own institutional robustness.  This is partly focused on fundraising, to confront the growing challenge of financial, political and technical sustainability.  We understand that fundraising is also a feature of our role in democratizing access to funding sources for local organizations, expanding opportunities for support, which is why we offer training in fundraising and encourage those from national and international cooperation to join our debates with the grassroots movements. 

Regarding fundraising, in addition to our historical relationships with ecumenical cooperation agencies, ongoing dialogue with other funding sources (including domestic ones), and the pursuit of grant funding and new sources, CESE also works to develop campaigns and promote events, often in partnership with other organizations in the same field. All our fundraising activities are aimed at mobilizing people, resources and support for the diversification of sources, including individual donors and access to public funds based on grant funding and Law 13019/2014, which governs the Regulatory Framework for Civil Society Organizations (Marco Regulatório das Organizações da Sociedade Civil: MROSC).

Training activities are guided by the ecumenical values of justice, peace and the integrity of creation, based on the theoretical framework of Liberation Theology – associated with developments in this theology regarding gender, race and ethnicity – and on the principles of Popular Education, such as shared dialogue and the political view of training as a pathway to strengthen the grassroots fight for social transformation. 

CESE runs training to strengthen the capacities of grassroots organizations in their fight for rights.  This training is provided in various formats, and focuses on a range of topics for a range of audiences from different regions, particularly on our priority regions (North, Northeast and Centre-West).  Gender, race/ethnicity and social classes are structural features of our training processes.  To this end, we have sought to improve activities in order to enhance political and technical quality; established a benchmark consultancy to monitor and guarantee alignment between methodology and topic; and defined indicators for a database that supports monitoring and alignment with the organization’s criteria to benefit priority audiences. 

CESE also works in Ecumenical Dialogue and Relationships.  This strategy places an emphasis on the defence of the secular State, and is understood as an expression of CESE’s identity, particularly given the setbacks in Brazil to ecumenical dialogue and relationships and the country’s commitment to the defence of rights.  Activities include campaigns, consultations, seminars, debates, workshops, contributions to publications and participation in the ecumenical movement’s national and international networking arenas, in order to strengthen their approach to the defence of rights and to extend inter-religious dialogue.

This strategy confirms CESE’s position as an ecumenical organization for the defence of rights at national and international level.  We seek to influence the public debate through activities that express this role, drawing society’s and the State’s attention to serious rights violations. Depending on the context, these activities are undertaken jointly, especially with the ecumenical movement, to involve as many social actors as possible, provide greater visibility and amplify effects.