All that glitters is not gold : unexpected lessons from a slum upgrading program in Brazil

Abstract

This paper looks at the Ribeira Azul Slum Upgrading Program in Salvador de Bahia Brazil, implemented by the development agency of the state of Bahia, CONDER, and the Italian NGO Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internationale (AVSI), which is recognized by the World Bank and Cities Alliance as an exemplary project. The paper aims at understanding the areas in which it was successful, and illustrate how - despite important shortcomings - the project has become to be considered exemplary. The paper first shows that the project is not as participatory as international donors believe. Moreover, it illustrates that project's sustainability is at risk because inter-governmental political competition between the state and municipal government and party politics prevented the inclusion of the Municipality- institution responsible for maintenance - in project planning and implementation. If the project did not succeed at eliciting community participation - at least in so far as influence on project design and decision making - and is likely not to be sustained, what is this project successful at? And how do we explain that it became well known as exemplary? I argue that the Ribeira Azul project has been successful in the following three respects: (1) Delivering infrastructure improvements and housing; (2) Securing financial resources; and (3) Marketing its accomplishments. The paper explains how, in spite of the limited community participation at least is so far as project design and decision making - which are typically considered necessary for successful implementation of these projects - the project built houses and infrastructure. Furthermore, the paper shows how the close connection between AVSI and the Italian Government, and between the project and the World Bank Task Manager, played a major role in securing sufficient financial resources not only to complete the Ribeira Azul project, but to increase its scale to the state-wide level. Further, the paper illustrates how AVSI's marketing strategy has been fundamentally important to increase high level officials and workers' commitment to the project and to make the project well known among international donors. Finally, this paper argues that marketing as well as the performance indicators used by the World Bank and Cities Alliance explain why this project is considered exemplary.