Capital social e empoderamento no desenvolvimento de uma associação de agricultores familiares

Abstract

The study was carried out at the Association of Family Coffee Growers of Santo Antônio do Amparo (Afasa) located in the municipality of Santo Antônio do Amparo. The main objective was to analyze the existence of Social Capital and the empowerment of the members of this organization. For this purpose, we sought to identify the existence of participation or involvement, cooperation or collective action and trust of the associates, which are important variables of social capital. In addition, the study also enabled an analysis of the perception of Empowerment by these associates. It was hypothesized that the search for common goals in a relationship constituted by participation, mutual help and trust, provide the empowerment of social actors. The research was carried out using the qualitative and quantitative approaches and some steps were established that enabled the search of the proposed objectives. These steps involved visiting and interviewing the study organization, collecting information related to the universe of research, drawing up a script of interviews that generated a semi-structured questionnaire, applying the interviews to 16 members of a universe composed of 61 members and content analysis. It was verified that the members participate in the assemblies and events to better understand the subjects related to their activity in the day to day. The absence of conflicts proved to be a positive factor because it interfered negatively in the participation of people in the groups. A preponderant factor of participation was also expressed by the trust in being better informed in the association or with the members through social networks, emphasizing that the participation tends to be more comprehensive when there is a greater rapprochement among the members. It was also verified that the associates always help themselves and this help refers mainly to the exchange of information made possible by the available social networks emphasizing in the aggregation of knowledge. A primary confidence factor was portrayed by the "transparency" among the members and this reflected in encouraging others to join. Empowerment was evidenced by the joint work and the achievements, provided by the aggregation of value to the product, access to infrastructure and inclusion in the coffee market, including the external market. Empowerment was evidenced in the interviews when the interviewees stressed the situation of helplessness that they had previously experienced and which was resolved by their insertion into the association, becoming more influential individuals.