Leadership networking for health promotion

Introduction: the research project “Capela em Ação and the integrated and participative management of public policies” was designed to evaluate the managerial model of the subprefecture of the Capela do Socorro, located in the south of São Paulo city, Brazil. This project took as its basis the principles of the “Healthy Cities”. One of the phases consisted of the analysis of the social players and the social networks of the microregion.
Objective: the identification and plotting of entities for the improvement of the management of the enhancement of the quality of life.
Methodology: semi-structured individual interviews were held with key informants to map the social networks by the plotting of local leadership. The sampling chosen was delimited by the “snowballing” technique.
Results: a total of 247 local leaders were identified who represented 342 associations. The two sexes were equally represented. The majority of them was concentrated  (56.2%)in the 40-59 year age-group and had lived in the district for above 20 years. A classification of the main objectives of the associations concerned revealed a predominance of those related to the improvement of the suburb. Few of the entities work together to plan and accompany local government policies. The relationship between the groups was widespread but loose. The majority (78.4%) of those interviewed knew of the Project; however the large majority of them (67%.3) did not participate in any action. Of these latter, 35, had never been invited to participate and 98 of them said that the project produced good results, especially concerning urban infra-structure.
Conclusion: it is the clear that the region has many leaders who relate to each other on the basis of different proposals. Though, they could not be dynamically integrated into the Project. Many leaders could not be taken into account at variance with the Project´s original ideal.