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Digital Democracy

What does the future hold for CDI?

One of the ideas for our network is to get all our schools hooked up to the internet (41% of the schools are currently connected to broadband). We want to integrate all our schools’ networks to construct a virtual space in which the students can share their experiences. We also want to bring in educational specialists. But in order to make this technological and pedagogical upgrade work, we need R$30 thousand per year, which works out to about £8 thousand.

How do the CDIs work outside of Brasil?

Our methodology is the same across the board. The main thing is flexibility; that’s what assures the adaptation of the school to the host culture. The challenges are local, but the focus is the same. Today, we work in Indigenous villages, rural communities, Amazonian islands, penitentiaries, psychiatric hospitals. We have a flexible methodology that can adapt to all these teaching centres.

How does the third sector in Brasil compare to the one in England?

It’s an interesting comparison. Social inequality in the UK is nothing compared to that in Brasil. Our poverty is a lot more severe. But that’s why we’ve got more social entrepreneurs than in Europe. Brasil, India and the US are the three countries with the highest rates of social enterprise. Because of a general apathy regarding politics, young people turn to NGOs to make a difference. In Brasil there are over 275 thousand NGOs in all. However, getting funding and support is easier in the UK than in Brasil because the whole phenomenon is a lot more recent here.

What’s your relationship like with the Lula administration?

It’s the same as that of any Brasilian; I admire him for being the first ever President to offer the general population a better form of government. But hope has begun to give way to disappointment. The social sector in Brasil is in a critical situation. When I had the opportunity to speak to the president face to face, I told him that he was the first governor to champion digital inclusion, but that the Federal Government’s initiatives needed to be better coordinated. A lot of energy and financial resources are being wasted. It was an interesting conversation, and since then many things have changed for the better. But in general there’s a tendency to give short-term assistance to those in need rather than give them the resources to provide for themselves. Unfortunately, there’s been no
easy solution.

Critics have said that the work of the CDIs is very limited, because they only teach peopleIT skills, not working on bringing in and organizing the community more.What do you have to say on the matter?

CDI has never just been only about IT. It’s always IT and citizenship. People from the local community work in the school. The heart of the work is its political and pedagogical aims. In Rio Grande do Norte the students came up with a challenge: they wanted to convince the population to stop throwing rubbish into a local river. So they used a text editor to create leaflets that could be used for a campaign and, after four months, 100% of the local community had stopped polluting the river. We do much more than hand out fish: we teach people to fish for themselves.

You’ve been selected by CNN to take part in the 2006 edition of the Principal Voices project. What does this represent for CDI?

At CDI we’ve received over 37 personal and institutional awards. They’re important for opening doors. They make us happy for about a week and then everything goes back to normal. Our sense of fulfi llment comes from the day-to-day running of the schools, that constant joy that lights up your eyes. But this prize in particular is very important to us because of the opportunity it gives us to promote our cause. We want to wave our flag on the round table and say that digital inclusion can promote social inclusion. We believe that through technology we can change lives and transform society.


By Fernanda Zambrotti