Headline: The Brazilian State and Civil Society: Young IASS Researcher is Awarded Humboldt Prize 2014

In recent decades, Brazil has made great strides in the fight against poverty and it is now the seventh largest national economy in the world. But this wealth has not yet spread to all parts of the country. The rural parts of north-eastern Brazil, in particular, where periods of drought are ever more frequent due to climate change, have not received much political attention and have yet to see the benefits of Brazil’s boom.

With governance structures based on participation, Brazil could adapt better to the consequences of climate change and embark on a path to sustainable development. This is one conclusion of a Master’s thesis on “Collaborative Institutions” written by IASS fellow Isabelle Bleeser. Bleeser completed her thesis at the IASS as part of the project “Pro-poor Resource Governance under Changing Climates” and submitted it to the Agricultural and Horticultural Faculty of the Humboldt-Universität Berlin. The 29-year-old researcher focussed on the Brazilian State’s cooperation with civil society organisations in the task of supplying poor households in rural areas with rainwater harvesting systems. She was recently awarded the 2014 Humboldt Prize for her thesis. The award ceremony took place on 13 October during the festivities to mark the start of the academic year at Humboldt-Universität.

In her research, Bleeser was able to show that while this kind of cooperation – which is new for Brazil – does give civil society actors more political power, their scope for action is still curtailed by the state. A legal framework tailored to the needs of civil society actors is lacking. As a result, the governance system is very bureaucratic, inflexible, and therefore vulnerable to challenges such as climate change or political upheavals. For Bleeser, the solution lies in more opportunities for participation and joint decision-making for all interested parties and better coordination between the different political levels.

Isabelle Bleeser is currently exploring the issue of securing rights to commons in the IASS project Technical Guide on tenure rights related to Commons.

Photo: © Mark Wagner

23.10.2014