The impact of solidarity economy on poverty: The case of public centres of solidarity economy in Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Poverty reduction lies at the heart of development discourse and practice. Despite significant achievements in the early 2000s, poverty remains a pervasive problem in Brazil. This has prompted the emergence of alternative development strategies such as solidarity economy, a movement which provides economic opportunities for workers in collective production and empowers them through participation.This paper analyses the impact of solidarity economy policies on poverty, looking at the pioneer policy of the public centres of solidarity economy (CESOLs) in the Brazilian state of Bahia, which provide technical assistance to solidarity economy enterprises such as cooperatives. The research focuses on the impact of the CESOLs on three dimensions of poverty: poverty as lack of income, poverty as exclusion, and poverty as power imbalance. This constitutes the first empirical study of the impact of the CESOL policy on poverty, using a qualitative approach to compare the case studies of two CESOLs, based on interviews with beneficiaries and CESOL employees.This paper finds that the CESOLs interact with the three dimensions of poverty, as beneficiaries describe improvements in basic material necessities, better inclusion into the market and socio-political empowerment. The comparison of the two CESOLs however shows that the success of solidarity economy enterprises hinges on an institutional framework, including adequate technical assistance and access to investment.The findings serve as an indication of solidarity economy’s potential as poverty alleviation strategy, especially as empirical study of solidarity economy policies – the CESOLs being one example – is in its relative infancy. This paper should motivate further theory-building research into this relatively unexplored field, especially once more meaningful data becomes available.