Comunidade Solidária: the proposal to an another model for social policies

Abstract

This article analyses the governmental program “Comunidade Solidária”, created in the President Cardoso’s first mandate (1995-1998) to provide social policies. This governmental program had a proposal of overcoming the long enduring political order of Patrimonialism in the behavior of the State by launching initiatives that merge the private sector and the NGO’s. The “Comunidade Solidária’s” conception and intentions are analysed by the Constitution of 1988, specially concerned with the social services (LOAS). The article concludes by “Alfabetização Solidária”, a sub-program aimed at the reduction of illiteracy, that the model of social policy proposed by “Comunidade Solidária” might be an advance towards higher levels of democratization in the relationship between State and Society in Brazil. Key words: Comunidade Solidária; Democracy; Fernando Henrique Cardoso; NGO’s; Social Policies.