The role of the Brazilian Articulation of the Semi-Arid (ASA) and the One Million Cisterns Program (P1MC) in the semi-arid Potiguar
ASA. P1MC. Coexistence with the semiarid region.
The Brazilian semi-arid region is one of the most populous in the world. However, much of the population still does not have access to water. Public policies and government programs aimed at this region are still far from promoting decentralization for the democratization of access to water. Historically, state action, when present, tried to prioritize the construction of large works of water reservoirs, which ended up strengthening the so-called "drought industry". At the end of the 1990s, in the midst of a great period of drought in the Brazilian semi-arid region, several civil society entities come together to create the Articulation of the Brazilian Semi-Arid (ASA). The institution was to coordinate actions to coexist with the Semi-Arid region among them and to democratize access to water, which was done mainly through the implementation of the One Million Cisterns (P1MC) Program. The proposal provided for the construction of cisterns to capture and store rainwater, with the objective of human supply. This action has been the object of numerous academic and political debates that seek to highlight the limits and possibilities of this policy. Thus, the objective of this research was to carry out an analysis of the P1MC public policy already in place and, in the implementation phase, with the purpose of understanding its capacity as strategies for coexistence with the semi-arid region for farmers, farmers and rural dwellers. Apodi-RN. The research has a qualitative nature, with semi-structured interviews with the technicians linked to the Coordination of ASA Potiguar, as well as with the beneficiaries of the P1MC public policy. The results indicate the program is dependent upon rainfall in the region. If there is little or no rainfall the P1MC is less effective therefore it is necessary to promote access to water for beneficiary families in other ways. It was also found that the P1MC Program contributes to the reduction of the painfulness of women's work, since it is no longer necessary to go to other localities to obtain water for consumption by the family; The P1 + 2 Program also contributes to maintaining small crops in the beneficiaries' homes; The implementation of the Programs provided greater organization, as it promoted the creation of Community Associations in communities that did not have.