Samarco produced iron ore pellets used for making steel. In 2003, the company had a 17% share of the global market of the product. At the time it had 1,286 employees, split between its units in Germano, in the State of Minas Gerais, and Ponta de Ubu, in the State of Espírito Santo.The two units were linked by an ore conveyor 396 km long, with a maximum carrying capacity of 15.5 million tons a year. The company's mission was "to be a Brazilian supplier of high quality iron for the global steel industry, creating value for all its stakeholders". In line with this guideline, between 1997 and 2003, Samarco coordinated and financed the Bento Rodrigues Popular Environmental Education program. The aim was to contribute to the development of the community living in the Bento Rodrigues district, by gaining the commitment of the residents for identifying community problems and seeking solutions that might increase local development. In spite of the reach of concrete results, after the end of the direct intervention undertaken by the company, a decline in the participation of the community was perceived, along with the discontinuity of the actions begun. In 2003, the need to build a second ore conveyor provided Samarco with a new opportunity for interacting with the communities. Its prior experience with the Bento Rodrigues Popular Environmental Education Program caused the Environment Manager to propose a new social project concept for the company, called the Social Responsibility Education and Communication Program - PROECOS. This program, to be implemented in partnership with GAIA (Group for Interdisciplinary Application to Learning) had broad objectives: to improve the company's image; to involve the communities in the preparation of sustainable social-environmental projects and to build a network of partners for meeting local demands and proceeding with development actions after the end of the company's involvement in the Program.

Describes Corrente Viva, a network formed by 30 civil society organizations (CSOs) that develop social service activities in several regions of the Greater Sao Paulo area. Established in 2000, the network aims at strengthening its member organizations through the exchange of experiences and reflection among their representatives in a regional link structure--geographical subdivisions. It also seeks to accomplish projects that serve the shared needs of the participant CSOs through workgroup activities. Challenges include modeling a new institutional and governance shape for the network, avoiding shocks to the principles of shared responsibilities, controls, and decisions that originally led to its creation, along with the adoption of participative decision processes, and aiming to shun the centralization of power and the concentration of resources.