Oral history as an instrument for research on public security policies

Abstract

This study employs oral history methods in evaluating the effectiveness of a police reform initiative in Brazil, PRONASCI. This method is particularly appropriate for giving voice to low-level program staff members and their prospective clients, who live and work in areas of extreme poverty and social exclusion. This analysis focused on the implementers of one intervention, Women of Peace, and young men. They were assigned to recruit and mentor in a citizenship-rights program. While the specific project in which they were enrolled emphasized citizenship education through participation in formal courses, the young men struggled to find its relevance to their needs, living as they did in a world significantly dominated by violence and drug trafficking, and individually being in desperate need of a job. The personal and almost maternal support provided to them by the Women of Peace operatives responsible for client recruitment and mentoring provided what was seemingly, the only hope of keeping them involved in the initiative, given its limited fit with their immediate needs.