Often, the day-to-day rush of those who lead a social project in the periphery (Brazil’s low-income communities) is focused on putting out fires. It is the food parcel that was delivered late, the roof of the headquarters that needs repair, or the health clinic with no doctor. We solve the problem in a practical, direct way, but while we are in the territory doing the hustle, we leave a chair empty there in the city center, where the laws are made and the budget is divided up.
Occupying spaces such as the Municipal Councils and the City Council is not about becoming a politician; it is about ensuring that those who feel the pain of the territory are the ones who help choose the remedy. When we are not there, we allow people who have never set foot on our street to decide how we should live.
What are these spaces of participation?
Social participation sounds like a difficult technical term, but it simply means having a voice in the decisions that affect your life. In Campinas, there are several mechanisms for this:
- Municipal Councils: These are groups made up of representatives of the government and civil society (such as you) to oversee and suggest where public money should be spent. There is a council for almost everything: Health, Housing, Education, Youth, and even the Hip Hop Council.
- Local Councils: These are smaller bodies, such as the council of the health clinic in your neighborhood. It is the closest place to hold the unit’s management accountable.
- Public-Policy Advocacy: This is the technical name for the act of a leader bringing the reality of the street into the office. It is turning the complaint about the pothole in the street into a proposal to improve the whole neighborhood.
Popular participation in councils is the foundation for building more effective public policies.
Caixeiras das Nascentes sing songs of welcome and greeting to the new Councilors https://cms.campinas.sp.gov.br/novidades/numa-bonita-celebracao-novo-conselho-municipal-saude-campinas-toma-posse
Moving from the territory to the decision table
For a leader to stop being merely an executor and become a Transformation Leader, the adoption of strategic steps is recommended:
Mapping of Thematic Councils: Identify the bodies related to the project’s area of activity (sports, housing, social assistance).
Identification and Connection: Seek information at sub-city halls or health units about the dates and agendas of local council meetings.
Data-Based Management: When occupying these spaces, the leader should present real evidence from the territory, numbers of families served, photographic records, and local assessments.
Strengthening Networks: Collective action amplifies the impact. When multiple leaders occupy councils simultaneously, the voice of the periphery becomes an element impossible to ignore.
Leave the executor mode and move on to the Transformation Leader mode.
Map your interest: If you work with children, your place is the CMDCA. If you fight for housing, it is CONCIDADE. In Campinas, the full list is on the website of the city.
Access the information: Most councils have open meetings.
- Health: The CMS meetings take place monthly and the contact is by e-mail at saude.cms@campinas.sp.gov.br.
- Education: Keep an eye on the open calls for nominations (such as the 2025/2026 one for the CME).
Go with data, not just complaints: Document how many services you provide, what the biggest bottlenecks in your neighborhood are, and bring photos. The knowledge of the territory is a most valuable technical datum.
Don’t go alone: Build a network with other leaders from the territory. If five collectives occupy a council, the periphery becomes impossible to ignore.
The Housing Bottleneck: An example of necessary advocacy
A clear example occurs in the struggle for decent housing. Although the effort to organize community work groups is essential in the face of Brazil’s housing deficit, which according to official data has been decreasing, the figures point to another growing challenge: inadequate housing.
When the decision-making chair is empty, the opportunity is lost to put on the agenda solutions to problems that the periphery knows well, such as:
- Building Inadequacy: Homes without basic sanitary infrastructure or with excessive overcrowding.
- Infrastructure Inadequacy: Lack of efficient sanitation and garbage collection.
- Land Tenure Inadequacy: Lack of legal security and legal ownership of the land (as in the green areas of Distrito Campo Grande and Parque Oziel, for example).
Occupying decision-making spaces allows the leader to go beyond the delivery of housing units and to start demanding integral urbanization and Technical Assistance (ATHIS).
Connection with Territory and Social Impact: The voice that asserts itself
The empty chair results in the silencing of territorial demands. The impact of a leader who occupies spaces of power is multiplied: while in the territory the action benefits specific groups, in the Municipal Council it has the potential to transform public policies for thousands of citizens.
For the Quebrada em Movimento Hub, transformation leadership is that which uses the knowledge of territoriality as a powerful management tool. The knowledge of those who experience the gaps in the public system needs to migrate from the waiting lines to the planning tables.
The importance of agency in decision-making
Solutions that seek real impact need to unite bottom-up mobilization with structural public policies. The feeling of bailing water out with a sieve often stems from the absence of the peripheries in the places where strategies are drawn up.
The Quebrada em Movimento Hub works to support leadership development, providing the tools needed for territorial action to expand into public-policy advocacy. Occupying decision-making spaces is understood not only as a right, but as a vital strategy for the survival and development of the territories.
References
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PREFEITURA MUNICIPAL DE CAMPINAS. Numa bonita celebração, novo Conselho Municipal de Saúde de Campinas toma posse. Campinas: Secretaria Municipal de Saúde, 2024. Disponível em: https://cms.campinas.sp.gov.br/novidades/numa-bonita-celebracao-novo-conselho-municipal-saude-campinas-toma-posse. Acesso em: 2026.
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PREFEITURA MUNICIPAL DE CAMPINAS. Conselhos Municipais de Campinas. Campinas: Secretaria de Gestão e Controle, [s.d.]. Disponível em: https://campinas.sp.gov.br/secretaria/gestao-e-controle/pagina/conselhos-municipais-de-campinas. Acesso em: 2026.
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CONFEDERAÇÃO NACIONAL DE MUNICÍPIOS. Déficit habitacional cai, a falta de moradia e aumenta o número de moradias inadequadas. Brasília: CNM, [s.d.]. Disponível em: https://cnm.org.br/comunicacao/noticias/deficit-habitacional-cai-a-falta-de-moradia-e-aumenta-o-numero-de-moradias-inadequadas. Acesso em: 2026.