"#$%&'(%) )($* Marcelo Henrique Da Costa,

former Special Secretary for Inclusive Economic Development (SEDES)

City of Rio de Janeiro Brazil
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- In the field -

Local authorities all over the world are launching community and complementary currencies.
Rio de Janeiro, the city with a thousand favelas, has experimented with them in the famous City of
God. Or how to provide communities with the resources they need to develop and regain their
identity?
An interview with Marcelo Henrique Da Costa, former Special Secretary for Inclusive Economic
Development (SEDES) of the City of Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

Interview by Carlos de Freitas, Institut Palmas Europe - FMDV

More information on community currencies, see FMDVs brief note on http://tinyurl.com/fmdvcc


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How did you come to support the dynamics of a community currency in the City of God
(COG) favela?
Following the film City of God (1) and the series made from it, both of which were screened
internationally, the community felt traumatised by the image that these two fictional artefacts gave of
the reality of their daily life. Consequently, the community reacted by setting up a Local Development
Agency, which aims to facilitate the implementation of concerted community enhancement and
development programmes.
The Community Development Banks (CDBs) operating in Brazil on the basis of the historical model
of Banco Palmas (2) appeared to us the city and the community the best way to move forward
and organise the economic and inclusive regeneration of the neighbourhood, which was tentatively
included in the development plan finalised by the Agency and approved by the community.
In February 2009, I went to Institut Palmas, I discussed the dynamics of this system with the
community and together, the city and the community, I stress this point decided to take up the
challenge.
The City of God bank was inaugurated in September 2011. It is managed by the Agency itself and the
city only holds a seat on the management board, which brings together 40 organisations and public
figures from the neighbourhood.
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According to you, what are the benefits of integrating community currencies into an
enclave territory?

CDBs and community and complementary currencies are a creative and powerful instrument for
local development. They are inexpensive compared with their results and in a very concrete fashion,
via an emblematic currency, make the solidarity focus the cornerstone of the mechanism to create
and share local wealth and also to keep this wealth in the territory so that it works for the
development of the community itself.
The City of God, through a sense of belonging to a community of interest and culture, a greater sense
of popular identity, capacity for self-management and self-esteem of communities, sees itself as a
pioneering and proud favela. (3)


What difficulties did you have in launching the community currency?

First of all, the preconceived ideas on the possible misappropriation of community currency towards
money laundering and drugs.
Then there was the issue of time and resources. The project must be part of a long process to allow it
to reach maturity if communities are to really take ownership of the tool and in order to ensure that it
continues to exist above and beyond changes in political leadership.
We need to explain, convince, dispel doubts, remove the perplexed look from peoples faces, both
with elected officials, administrations and residents and retailers.
Establishing a community bank requires a culture of building and working together, which is by no
means self-evident among stakeholders who have been set against each other over time and with the
urban violence. The efforts made by SEDES focused on including a participatory process in the public
policy: to ensure that the city accepts that it is not the only father of the child when it comes to the
joint design of the tool.
Finally, there was a problem that we had not planned on: the price of success, i.e. the many requests
from other communities to have the same opportunity!


What are the achievements and what are your plans for the future?

First of all, an incredible community mobilisation and media coverage, at both the local and
international levels! Just over a year after the launch of the CDD, it is estimated that 20% of the
community uses the currency, nearly 200 retailers out of 1,000 accept payments in CDDs, some
120,000 CDDs are already in circulation (approx. EUR 45,000) (4).
An association of traders has been created with the aim of forming a production centre in order to
open up to the outside world. There is a solidarity market every fortnight and there has been a
marked increase in handicraft production and trade.
All this helps give the community greater self-esteem, which is invaluable and rebalances power
relations with economic agents that are exogenous to the community.
The next stage is implementing a new CDB in the Complexo do Alemo (another of Rios favelas)
with 4 local branches to receive some 200,000 residents.




1. City of God, by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund was released in France on 12
th
March 2003.
2. Altermondes made a report on Institut Palmas in its special edition n 14 Currencies and indicators: what
if we reinvented wealth? supported by FMDV.
3. Many delegations from all over the world visited the City of God Community Bank during the Rio+20
Summit in June 2012.
4. To get an idea of the order of magnitude, the minimum salary in Brazil stands at EUR 250.