Social project makes sugar mean sweet

The sugar cane industry defines socio-economic conditions in Aracoiaba. It hasn't always made life sweet for local workers, but things are looking up.

Four hundred years ago, the hills and plains by the Capibaribe River in Pernambuco were home to over 60 sugar cane mills, making ‘white gold’ for trade in Europe. It was a rich business, but the Portuguese elite took much of the profit, leaving local workers little to show for their labour.

Time has passed, but the sugar cane industry still defines socio-economic conditions in the small city of Araçoiaba, on the outskirts of Pernambuco’s main industrial zone and commercial centre, Recife. The availability of work, and often the wage, depends on the season and the climate, and a year of drought can mean no work at all.

By 2005, high unemployment and low wages had granted Araçoiaba the lowest Human Development Index rating in the Metropolitan Region of Recife, and an increasingly unreliable climate made for grim prospects. So why, in the few years since, has the city seen a rise in family income, more people in education than ever before, and the inauguration of five new libraries?

It’s largely down to Mais Vida (‘More Life’), a social project that’s encouraging local families to take their health, rights and quality of life into their own hands. Set up by the Unilever Institute in partnership with a number of trade, industry and craft associations in 2005, Mais Vida recruits local residents to raise awareness of new initiatives and drive change in all aspects of their lives, from health and education, to digital inclusion and handicraft. Success stories include a medical check-up for over 4,000 children, combining oral healthcare with diabetes and blood tests, all while promoting leisure activities like the Afro-Brazilian art form, Capoeira. – Anna Simpson

11 March 2010

Anna Simpson