Associativismo, participação e desenvolvimento local: o caso da Associação Comunitária da Linha - ASCOL, Baixa da Linha – Cruz das Almas - Bahia

Abstract

Associativist interactions are consolidated through participation, creating actions that generate local development, promoting the strengthening of social transformation processes through the handling of methodological tools that instrumentalize the subjects to overcome difficulties experienced in the daily life of the communities where they are inserted. The work is a case study having as subject the board of the Associação Comunitária da Linha – ASCOL, in Cruz das Almas – BA, where factors that weakened associations and participation were investigated. The use of participatory methodologies subsidized the identification and development of tools to strengthen associations and encourage the participation of members. Data collection took place through the Focal Group qualitative research technique, semi-structured interview, questionnaire, problem prioritization matrix and community action plans with the ASCOL board and/or collective of members of the Linha community. The research made it possible to diagnose that most participants recognize the importance of the association as an instrument of community empowerment. As a result of this work, the ASCOL board organized a joint effort to fence off and plant an area of six hectares, currently cultivated by 17 members of the community, and a joint effort to build a day care center that will serve the community's children. Through analysis of the data obtained in the diagnosis and actions that are in progress, it is concluded that the community action elaborated, organized and managed by the community itself, via the board of ASCOL, is revitalizing the associativism and the participation, rescuing the self-esteem of the members and the credibility of Associação Comunitária da Linha – ASCOL, as an entity formed to defend the interests of the community.