Projeto de integração do Rio São Francisco: avaliação da governança e do capital social como instrumentos para a promoção de uma gestão pública sustentável

Abstract

The Brazilian semi-arid region, which is highly susceptible to periodic droughts, alternatives should be sought in relation to the availability of water resources so that social and economic development can be maintained and / or expanded. For this purpose, in the last decade, the federal government started to execute the proposal of the Integration of the São Francisco River that was proposed initially in the nineteenth century. Because it is a work of great social expectation, it is necessary to create a new management platform for the environmental resource that is more heavily guided in the search of broadening the channels of communication between public-political decisions and society, since many of the serious problems arising from the use of natural resources and management stem from the lack of recognition that ecosystems and social systems are dependent. In view of this context, the objective is to analyze how the concepts of social capital and governance are implemented in the network of agents involved in the São Francisco River Integration project using methodologies: social networks and content analysis. The data obtained in the research were of primary and secondary origin by the Snowball sampling method. Network analysis showed that there are few entities interacting in the São Francisco River Integration Project in the state of Ceará, only eight were identified as the most active. The context of the social networks between the entities in search of the most diverse interests and working relations between public power and stakeholders, for the Integration of the São Francisco River, becomes something complex in terms of public management, because when there is a low connection between the agents that make up a network mean that there is less room for discussion of priorities and competencies and therefore less likelihood of conflict resolution. It is also emphasized the possibility of overlapping of functions and negligent behavior on the part of the entities. This study verified that the Integration Project of the São Francisco River for the state of Ceará is inserted in a network of unconnected agents that operates in an environment characterized by low levels of implementation of the principles of good governance and low levels of social capital. Another aspect observed is the lack of belonging and connection between the institutions due to the fact that the management of the São Francisco River Integration Project is now centralized only in the Company of Development of the São Francisco and Parnaíba Valley, that is, there is not yet a more collaborative forms of management between entities representing the public authorities interested in integration and the beneficiary communities.