Very quickly first, I'd like to talk about a few of my personal experiences and how they led me to take actions that influenced public policies.
I think first it's important that we have feasible ideas—ideas that can become actions and change that is truly transforming. You all know the difficulties that we encounter daily to turn our ideas into something that can really transform society.
There is a general belief that things need to change before things can change, and I'm sure that most of you here are not very happy with what we have today in terms of public policies. Personally, for me it has always been important to have ideas. New ideas. Not old ones.
Creating Space and Time
It has always been critical for me to create space and time in my life so that things can happen. Perhaps simply to empty my mind so that something new and transforming would come to me.
Today, in our daily routine of stress, in our fast-paced rhythm of life, it's hard for that to happen. And if we keep this rhythm up it will be very difficult for new ideas and solutions to present themselves. There will be no new input.
When I talk about having space, I'm talking about having time to do absolutely nothing. No planned agenda. Not even something like today's event, although of course this kind of reflection is important. I'm talking about total and utter idleness.
Many ideas have come to me during these times. They did so because I gave them the opportunity. And I'm not talking about one or two days, but longer—like in the past. I find the current rhythm of life today is highly alienating. People just don't stop to think about what they are doing.
Exposure to Diverse Experiences
It is also important to give ourselves the opportunity to come into contact with different ideas, people, cultural manifestations, and geographic spaces. This will make us more creative and more curious.
We must make an effort to talk to different people, meet new people, and come into contact with other realities, books, cinema, and theater. This helps us to see different perspectives. Our confidence even improves, because by knowing about different cultures and ideas and traditions we become more self-assured , more accommodating, and better prepared to deal with the complexities of life and of public policy.
So in my experience, diversity and contact with other realities really helped me to find new ideas, new partners, and new people that truly are changemakers. But we also need to self-reflect. We need to know ourselves better, and what we are made of, because it helps us to walk the right path.
It is important to reflect on our options because it gives us an axis and an idea of what we want to do and how we want to change the world. This is fundamental.
Building on a Base of Citizen Support
When we try to create change, we must have legitimacy and public support because this gives us strength. Furthermore, we need to truly believe in what we do and we need to be undivided in our focus.
Transformation is a difficult task. But if what we are trying to do is seen by ourselves and by others as something important and feasible, it naturally gains strength because it becomes hard to argue against. It becomes hard to place obstacles in our way.
For example, many corporations have very little legitimacy in their society and therefore find it difficult to garner citizen support and make things happen. But if an action or a cause is legitimate in the eyes of society and if the public believes in it, then it carries a lot of strength.
Companies seeking to transform public policies in order to influence laws to favor economic segments must use a different methodology than one relying on corruption because they will have no legitimacy and no social support. But as long as we have legitimate causes behind our interest, we will be strong.
For instance at ABRINQ, I was the president of a company in the toy industry. There was a huge company that held practically 50 percent of the market, a company called ESTRELA, which systematically blocked any initiative of democratization in the sector, along with any broader ideas of operation with employees or consumers.
This is more or less what the U.S. does right now, the biggest power in the world, to whom the participation of all is not interesting because it means having to give up power. But I had the vision of them holding 50 percent of the market and the other companies holding the other 50 percent. During the meetings I would bring up issues that were relevant to all, such as the relationship with employees and consumers, and the idea of Fundação Abrinq defending the rights of children and adolescents, which is something that few people would oppose. I would demonstrate how such ideas would benefit everyone who took part in them—I would try to find common ground.
Birth of Fundação Abrinq
Fundação Abrinq was born, like I said before, in a moment of complete idleness—a moment between reading about many issues in society, particularly with regard to children and adolescents, when I had an idea and decided to test it. First, I wanted to make sure it made sense, so I discussed it with my wife, and then with UNICEF in Brasília. I didn't know UNICEF's chief representative, so it really involved presenting my idea to him and testing it to see if it was feasible.
The person who saw me was Ceaser, who at the time was the Vice President of UNICEF. I told him my idea, which at the time was completely new because it meant involving the business sector with philanthropic actions and with the defense of rights.
This was in 1990. It was something completely innovative, without precedent. There were one or two companies that donated to charities but none that were actually concerned with the defense of rights. There were no initiatives that involved an entire economic sector.
Well, in fact I received great support from UNICEF. I presented my idea to them in detail and asked for their help to convince others.
Then we held a meeting in São Paulo with FIESP and there were about 300 businessmen present when UNICEF made a presentation. We presented a comparative picture of the situation in countries that were even poorer than Brazil. We showed the perspectives for the future and then I asked if it was perhaps the moment for us to initiate some work in this area, and of course, it was very unlikely that anyone would oppose the idea.
A decision was made and I also proposed to UNICEF that they help, not only financially, but by truly engaging in the cause. I wasn't entirely sure about the most effective way to approach and begin dealing with the critical issues. In this way, UNICEF's participation was very important. That is, so that we wouldn't do something unnecessary—perhaps something that had already been done. UNICEF's support was also vital in opening new doors with other people and building bridges with other segments of society.
The Importance of Partnerships
It was also important to choose the right partners that would be able to broaden the initiative and add to it, complementing what we do. Partnerships have always been important, and they remind you what you can and cannot do by yourself, and where you most need help from others.
For example, our idea was good and feasible, but did not have the necessary financial resources. I had to seek other partners who could aggregate their resources—and not necessarily financial resources because the idea is to look for partners who can contribute and who can receive contributions from you in return.
For example, one of the areas we worked in was related to child mortality, due to lack of knowledge in preparing home serum, and we worked with our suppliers—mostly supermarkets—so that they would agree to put the recipe of the serum in their plastic bags, and distribute those in the North and the Northeast. We also got companies that made plastic spoons to put them in the marked plastic bags as well.
Public Support Makes Change Possible
Many things happened, and the foundation grew. The ECA—The Statute of the Child and Adolescent, which was transformed into a significant public policy, did not originate because Senators and Congressmen wanted it to happen, but instead because Brazilian society organized this statute and it reached Congress with such strength and legitimacy that Congress approved it. It was a lesson about how change can happen!
The same thing occurred with a project that was a popular initiative around the issue of electoral corruption. To this date it has removed many senators and mayors from their posts. It wasn't a parliamentary initiative, but one of the public. Knowing that our legislation allows for popular initiatives to reach Congress, a million signatures were collected and presented to the legislators and could not be ignored. Another example today is that of OAB—The Bar Association—which works along the same lines.
Targeting the Production Chain
I'd like to cite another example around the issue of child labor. It is very hard to fight child labor in the rural areas, but taking advantage of the status and legitimacy that our organization had gained internationally, I had the idea of working in a production chain. This meant identifying who benefits from child labor, where the products produced by them went, and finding those who benefited in any way from child labor.
One of the partnerships I established then was with journalists through a magazine called Tensão, in which we conducted a research on four sectors (sugar, alcohol, coal and orange juice) and we reached big companies in these fields with the idea to make them accountable because they had child labor somewhere in their production chain. We had different strategies with each one of them.
For example, with the shoe industry, I had a good opportunity. I knew some people in the industry already, and of course I never accused them directly but instead carefully told them that there was a situation going on involving child laborers—which I was sure they weren't aware of before—and that they needed to take some responsibility and act accordingly. And it was comforting for them that they could count on our help, the help of UNICEF and the ILO, the Council of Child and Adolescent, and of many other partners, who would get the child laborers out of work and put them into schools.
The Power of the Double Carrot
We also used a strategy—I guess it's safe to mention it here—that we call the "double carrot." What does this mean? One carrot says, "If you take action, you will really benefit from it, but if you don't, the other carrot can cause you serious problems."
For instance, regarding the sector that deals with international trade, one carrot would show that the working child who leaves school is then not prepared for the future, and not having developed properly, will probably end up in the streets and be an instrument for organized crime. On the other hand we would say, "Look, if you don't comply and you perhaps happen to fall into the hands of the international media, revealing that you use child labor in your production chain, then the international market will shut its doors to you."
In the case of the automobile industries, I had difficulties here in Brazil. I had to send a letter to the management of the industry in the USA and in Europe, demonstrating the situation and asking to please contact me. When the parent company participated, there were good results, particularly in the case of Volkswagen, when there were unions involved, and we were truly able to influence the automobile industry in Brazil.
In the case of orange juice, we used a different strategy that I developed with Claudio Rossi from Folha. When our research was completed, people from the industry associated me with the leftist political party PT. But again, we talked to them using the strategy of the carrot—essentially a strategy of fear—saying that Brazil was one of the biggest exporters of orange juice and that if this information leaked, the international community would close its doors.
Today, one of the leaders of the industry is now a model. He went very much beyond expectations and if they could, they would build a monument for Fundação Abrinq. There was a great threat that the European Union might boycott the Brazilian orange juice, given a recent lobby from apple juice producers. But when they came to Brazil to do an audit and saw that there was no child labor involved in the orange juice production, the industry was spared of many problems.
Partnerships, Pressure and Public Support Win the Day
Perhaps the most interesting cases were those involving sugar and alcohol. The government at that time was not only the sole buyer of alcohol in the country, but also heavily subsidized sugar and alcohol. I asked Fernando Henrique and Clóvis Tavares, the President of Petrobrás, if the government would establish as a policy—as a condition of purchase and of their public bids—the non-use of child labor.
Everyone thought it was great, feasible etc., but the idea wouldn't go forward in legislation. We got the businessmen together, suits and ties, media, congressmen and we went in front of Congress, with a huge banner written: "Shame! The government subsidizes child labor." It was something completely unexpected and everyone who left the Congress saw us and continued to see us until it became an unbearable situation. Here we exposed the government's inaction to the public—we threw a spotlight on it. This was very important.
On the next day, the Government called us and told us they were willing to include this conditional clause for the purchase of sugar and alcohol and for the bids, prohibiting the use of child labor. The idea and courage was incredible and illustrated how, after all other resources were used, we could still use the power of the idea and strategic partners to cause pressure and change.
Linking Workers, Employers and Unions
PNBE, the dialogue between employees, businessmen, and democracy as a whole, is something very recent. The relationship used to be strictly one-way, due to the dictatorship etc. There was no dialogue.
Then something curious happed to me when I was coming back from Israel in 1987 with my wife and the flight was delayed for four hours. I was there thinking about how Israel had a similar inflation rate to that of Brazil, which they were able to control through a social pact involving various different segments of the market, laborers and businessmen.
I then had the idea of seeing if this might work in Brazil—of getting to know its potential successes and failures. At that time, the idea of joining workers, employers, and the president of the Labor Unions was completely crazy.
But our idea was to organize a trip to Israel to see how they did it and get support from there. I already had the help of the Jewish government. In then end, we established a program here. That was something absolutely innovative for that time. Nowadays we have a dialogue, but we didn't then.
New relationships began to occur after that. We then went to the U.S.A. because of our deficit and used a similar model of copying and adapting.
Exercise Your Curiousity, Build Relationships
Anyway, I'm just recounting some stories because I think that they bring together many things that I told you in the beginning. These partnerships and experiences largely came from curiosity. They were about me wanting to see and know the reality of other people.
I met Lula in 1984 when I was a businessman. I called him and told him I'd like to meet him because I wanted to establish a relationship with him, not just through the newspapers. I called him and we started to build a relationship that grew throughout the years.
With Meneghelli, the same happened. I was the first businessman to set foot in the union he was part of in the ABC. We began to talk and we noticed that we have affinities. And when things began happening I noticed that good relationships were critical.
I've always sought to build relationships even if I didn't have an immediate interest in them. So it is very important to establish a base, or a network of relationships and partnerships in terms of collective interests. This has proven to be important in many episodes throughout my life.
Wielding the Carrot
Regarding the Social Form, I can perhaps illustrate a concrete episode that took place, related to this strategy of the "carrot" (my wife keeps telling me that I shouldn't be calling it that) in the interior of the Rio Grande do Sul with the tobacco industry, because they also had, and still have in a smaller scale, child labor and that benefits many families even.
My plane was delayed and so a meeting that should have lasted for 3 hours could only last 30 minutes. I met all the industries there, the families, and the unions.
The industries said, if we take out the children, we will decrease our income. The whole setting was ready to discuss the matter and I said, "I know that child labor is a very controversial issue. Many people are in its favor, many against it, many say it's good, others say it's bad. However, internationally, there is a consensus that it is not something good and companies that use child labor are repelled by society, consumers, by law. I don't even know if it's good or bad, but that's the way it is. And as you all know the tobacco industry is already controversial enough. So the situation is the following: if you continue with child labor and this is leaks to the international community, you have two choices. One is to end child labor at once, or to leave Brazil. The other choice is to go through a process with the families to decrease child labor." So the meeting finished in 10 minutes.
It is also important that I had a good relationship with the international media. Because when you mention these possibilities or threats it is important that you have tools to back up what you are saying, otherwise you will loose credibility.
For example, remember the Ford scandal, when Ford fired 2000 employees just before Christmas? They sent a letter to the employees' homes just before Christmas. At that time, I called Luis Marinho, the president of the union and I told him that if they knew about this abroad, it would be a disgrace for Ford.
So together we called the international press, we called the families to go to the factories and public opinion was formed. Soon sales began decreasing. So the employees were rehired and the president was fired. Anyway, this articulation again involved the power of public pressure. When the spotlight shined the people were empowered.
Origin of the World Social Forum
My company—Grow—was 25 percent owned by a German company, the biggest German Company in the toy industry, and its representative is Hans Schwabb, the brother of Klaus Schwabb, who is the President of the World Economic Forum.
I always had the idea of bringing a social element into the World Economic Forum, so I tried to persuade it to produce a social and environmental agenda, but I always found a lot of resistance because he'd argue that the market would solve things by itself. He'd say: "Look at the Argentinean situation and Cavallo and Menem, look at how they've transformed Argentina . . . The market will take care of it."
And I'd say: "No. This will blow up very soon!"
He was very conservative. He held great events with great media exposure in the world, preaching this "world view" that the market would lead to the well-being of society and spreading all of these free market ideas that you are all very familiar with.
Anyway, it's important to say that I was bothered by something. Things started to bother me, and things always start happening when you're bothered by something.
So this situation was bothering me a lot. I was in Paris with my wife in one of those periods of doing nothing and during the World Economic Forum I came up with the idea of the World Social Forum.
It is always important to know what choices we have ahead of us. We are capable of doing things and we have so many choices, which we sometimes don't stop to think about, or we are influenced by others' expectations instead of our own expectations. We must recognize that there are opposite sides to every situation—this recognition led me to the idea of the World Social Forum.
Using a Network to Test Ideas
This was an interesting process because it illustrates well what I've just talked about. It is important to have a partner like I do—my wife—in order to exchange ideas and ask opinions. This is fundamental. And you must also ask yourself what your choices are and where you want to be in the world.
And you must recognize that there are other choices, not just one alternative.
In my opinion, the reason why so many people are exploited by so few is because these many people are not getting together, not articulating their needs among themselves and others—because when this happens then things will be certain to change. We even see this happening with organized crime, but not with actions to help civil society.
The idea of the forum is to join individuals and NGOs that don't know each other so that they combine forces, articulate their needs and their missions, and gain political influence.
I talked to my wife, and to Chico Whitaker and his wife, and proposed that we start checking and discussing the idea. I talked to Bernard Caston (see how important it is to have people with whom to share your ideas). I called him up and asked him his opinion. He is a man with great international influence, especially in Europe.
He suggested that the forum be held in Porto Alegre. We decided to check the idea and launch it in June, if everything worked out well in Geneva, where they were holding a big meeting of NGOs before the evaluation of the five years of the Copenhagen Social Summit.
In Brazil, I called Sergio Haddad, whom I already knew from ABONG. I called Cândido from IBASE and others and Maria Luiza from Global Exchange, Chico. I also called the mayor of Porto Alegre, whom I knew through the Laborers Party PT. I told everyone about our idea and explained what it would require. (I even joked that the mayor would have to explain to everyone in the world where Porto Alegre was because it would become the most famous city in the world).
Everyone agreed and we went together again to the ETHOS Institute and decided to invite MST and CUT. We went to Porto Alegre and visited the facilities of PUC there. We saw that the airport was being built and that ultimately our idea was moving forward.
We then needed funds so I talked to Ford Foundation, which I knew from Abrinq. We obtained $100,000. We needed $200,000 in total. So I went to the U.S. and talked to the Brazilian representative of Ford Foundation who was there. I secured the other $100,000 and the rest of the story you all know.
This is an example of how things came together to make an idea happen.
Recent Developments
Just very recently with regards to child labor we are now working with slave work, using the same strategy we used to deal with child labor in the first place. We've established a partnership with an international magazine called the Social Observatory that looks at what companies are doing, praising the good companies and denouncing the bad ones. We are currently working with this issue in the Brazilian steel industry.
We held a meeting with the companies that were denounced, with the Social Observatory, with the unions, the IWO, and the Ministry of Justice, and in three weeks came up with a protocol to monitor and eliminate slave work in the industry. Our goal is to go through many different sectors of Brazilian economy to change this reality.
Last, just another example:
When you go to the doctor in Europe or in the U.S.A and the doctor prescribes that you take five pills for three days, the pharmacist gives you 15 pills exactly. Here in Brazil, if you give the pharmacist the prescription, he will say, here, take two boxes of 12.
Many poor people will only take one box, and the results won't be satisfactory. Others will take the two boxes and throw the rest of the medicine away, or never use it.
So, I talked to President Lula about this and he agreed that it was a problem. I am still pushing to change this situation, first of all by spreading the work, like I am doing here. I mean, 30 percent of the medicine bought by our public health system is thrown away!
We had a meeting with politics and people from the industry. Most resisted, but some became allies, and this process is still underway, because it isn't enough to have good initiatives from NGOs—this should be a public policy.
In order to influence public policies you need to have political power and the great challenge is to figure out how to build this power. You need good partnerships, courage, boldness, legitimacy.
Oded Grajew is a member of Ashoka's 
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