South
America
BRAZIL
In Brazil, Strohalm is directly represented by its local
counterpart InStroDI, the Instituto Strohalm de Desenvolvimento
Integral, or Strohalm Institute for Comprehensive Development.
This institution was founded in 2002 as a local non-profit
organization. In 2004, Instrodi has been granted the status
of OSCIP- Organisation of Civil Society of Public Interest.
The
aim of InStroDI is to locally implement the various Monetary
Methods that are developed by Strohalm, and to test
and meliorate
their functioning. Instrodi's activities are currently concentrated in the
southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, with three ongoing projects
and several other active contacts and negotiations with potential
partners in the region.
In addition, the scope of contacts and operation of Instrodi
also includes the state of Ceará, in northeast Brazil,
Paraná, Brasília and São Paulo.
Rio Grande do Sul
In the region of Sarandi, Rio Grande do Sul, Introdi is
working together with small farmers' cooperatives and a local
cooperative bank, CREHNOR, and have created a pilot project
of the C3 methodology.
An internal currency has been created, the "Horizontes" and
brought in circulation in the region. Cooperatives purchase
the Horizontes against a deposit in national currency in
the partner bank and makes use of the local currency to pay
the local rural producers. Local shops also accept the local
currency and so, farmers can use the Horizontes to perform
their purchases. The network can also be expanded and more
and more businesses, producers and consumers of the region
will make use of the local currency in their daily transactions.
The Horizontes in circulation are backed by the money deposited
in the partner bank, that ensures the complete administration
of the system. Each holder of Horizontes is granted the right
to convert his/ hers currency back into money through CREHNOR.
The principle behind the project is simple: it is possible
to liberate a productive chain (and even a region) of its
dependency on money to facilitate payments and transactions
between neighbors. The longer the Horizontes circulate, the
longer the money will stay in the account. This money will
be used by Crehnor to emit low-cost credit to the local farmers.
Until this moment, 300.000 Horizontes have been printed,
with a value of 300.000 Real (the Brazilian currency) which
amounts to approximately 100.000 euros. These Horizontes
will be brought gradually into circulation. Until May 2004,
more than 12000 Horizontes had been issued and a great part
remains still in circulation.
Another large-scale project is the CompRaS-association,
wherein consumers, commerce and producers of Rio Grande do
Sul will
be able to trade in an internal currency that will be administered
through the Internet.
The main goal is to establish the first C3 network, the
C3 Brasil. Contacts are in course with several business
networks
and entrepreneurs associations of the region and of other
states towards a partnership for the realisation of a
potential nation-wide trade and investment network!
Strohalm also conducts a software development project to
support the C3 networks and ensure the transparent and secure
administration of all transactions. A team of Brazilian programmers
has already achieved a preliminary version of the software,
currently under testing (for a demo version of the C3 software,
please consult http://cyclos.momomo.org/cyclos)
Thirdly, Instrodi is executing a project in the community
of Rubem Berta, one of the peripheralypherical neighborhoods
of Porto Alegre, in partnership with the local residents'
association (AMORB) and commerce association (ASCORB).
The project, symbolically named "Mudar a Cara" (Changing
the Face), aims to restore the self- esteem of the inhabitants
of the neighborhood of Rubem Berta, as citizens and as economic
agents and to strengthen the sense of community an solidarity
of the neighborhood as a whole.
The first step of the project has been the mobilization
of all households to contribute to a scheme of collective
savings in order to paint the buildings they live in, in
some cases, in the first time in almost twenty years.
A local market will be organised regularly in the community
where neighbors can trade the goods and services they have
produced and share with others the product of their talents
and skills. A local currency will be introduced, with the
technical guidance of Instrodi, to facilitate the transactions
in this market and, on a second phase, to grant credit to
small purchases and investments, as for example, the painting
of the houses…
The main goal of the Rubem Berta project is to set in motion
a virtuous circle of more local consumption, more local production,
more local employment and income, which further stimulates
local consumption. Also the sense of community in Rubem Berta
is expected to become stronger.
Ceará
In the capital of Ceará, Fortaleza, InStroDI has
successfully implemented the Bonus-methodology, where the
money for the construction of a school was used as backing
for a temporary local currency. 40.000 ‘Palmas’ circulated
during three months in the Palmeira neighborhood.
The local micro-credit fund Banco Palmas, that administrated
this project, is now interested in realizing a permanent
local currency, which will be emitted as local credit.
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