By Fernanda Lopes
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization – WHO declared the disease caused by the new coronavirus (Sars-Cov-2) a pandemic. On April 3, 2020, the Baobá Fund for Racial Equity – the first and only philanthropic fund that mobilizes people and resources, in Brazil and abroad, to exclusively support projects and actions to promote racial equity for the black population in Brazil, mobilized to publish and widely disseminate the Notice of Emergency Donations to Combat Coronavirus. At that moment, when we were asked why we would issue a notice, we explained that, in our assessment, the notice would allow us to map individual or organizational initiatives that sought to respond, in the best way, to the most immediate needs of the community, assuming a lower risk of focus support on groups with more access to the philanthropic ecosystem.
Another aspect that we highlighted and which at the time was little understood: it was clear that the black population would be especially affected by the health and economic crises. Overexposure to the virus was derived from less access to information, actions and inputs for prevention, care and health treatment; the impossibility of experiencing social distancing or incorporating the experience of home office to the work routine. That is, for the Baobab, in addition to preventing infection, illness and, perhaps, death, we could not restrict support to the donation of basic food baskets, the main philanthropic action at that time. At stake was the right to live with dignity. There were many famines.
We argued that, if we were able to prioritize groups potentially more exposed to infection, stimulating preventive actions; If we had a simple form, requesting a situation analysis and a realistic action proposal drawn up based on the main needs and gaps identified; if we made the selection criteria explicit; If there were an efficient communication, mobilization and engagement strategy, we could receive proposals aimed at guaranteeing the basic right to food and prevention, associated with educational actions, combating false information and news and even generating income.
The reports of some of the leaders supported individually in the Black Female Leadership Development Acceleration Program: Marielle Franco about all the activities they were carrying out in their communities, it strengthened us in the defense that it would be strategic, in addition to supporting organizations, to also open the call for individual support. If these people had community action or commitment to the collective, if they were members of civil society organizations or social movements, they could implement their action plans with more freedom and agility, including forming partnerships, and this could be an important added value.
This assessment was very correct. In two weeks after the launch of the notice, 1037 proposals were received, presented by individuals (651) and organizations (386). The selection considered coherence, consistency and synergy of the proposal in relation to the objectives of the notice, while the relevance criterion was evaluated, primarily, based on epidemiological data. The transfers of R$ 2500.00 (two thousand and five hundred reais) were made in three batches. The period between sending the proposal and the donation varied from 12 to 33 days.
Among the selected proposals, 215 from individuals and 135 from organizations. The initiatives included actions aimed at the black population in general, peripheral communities, the elderly, the homeless population, prostitutes, transvestites and transgender people, quilombolas, indigenous people, migrants and refugees, children enrolled in the first years of the basic cycle. Acquisition/manufacture and distribution of prevention supplies (masks, personal hygiene or cleaning products); acquisition/distribution of basic food baskets or lunch boxes; Production of content and dissemination of information about Covid-19 were the main activities carried out in the territories covered, whether urban or rural, central or peripheral, with an increasing number of confirmed or unconfirmed cases.
One of our concerns was to contribute, in some way, to “breaking” the virus transmission chain and thus prevent new infections, hence the timely launch of the notice; the commitment to reducing bureaucracy in the process; the systematization and analysis of information made available by grantees in reports and case studies to support future decisions and adjustments in the institutional response to the pandemic or to produce and share knowledge with members of the Philanthropy Network for Social Justice and other actors.
In general, grantees indicated that they had received information about the notice through their personal networks, friends and partner leaders, groups and networks made up of collectives, NGOs and associations. The application form and reports were considered simple and intuitive. Some recommendations were presented to us regarding the importance of prior guidance on collecting demographic data from indirect beneficiaries (gender, age, race/color); increasing the time for implementing activities, executing resources and providing accounts; general guidelines transmitted in meetings or other means, other than just by email, to grantees.
At the notice to support early childhood in the context of the pandemic, launched in July 2020, 56 initiatives were selected. Donations were exclusive to individuals. As we do with common notices (outside the emergency context), we had general guidance meetings before contracting; we provide technical assistance to review action plans before starting implementation; the deadlines for executing resources and rendering accounts were longer; everyone was informed about the importance of detailing the sociodemographic characteristics of the beneficiaries of their actions. Furthermore, we negotiated with funders that, after analyzing the reports and carrying out case studies, there will be a second wave of support with a view to expanding the scope of actions and/or number of beneficiaries.
Without exception, the grantees indicated that they had achieved the expected results and highlighted that by being supported by Baobab were recognized as “trustworthy”. Greater community mobilization and partner engagement were highlighted as unexpected results. There were also reports that, after being selected, carrying out the activities and mobilizing partners, they felt prepared to compete in other calls for proposals, several of which were successful. With the support of Baobab Fund, individual grantees and organizations reported having benefited, primarily, black people. Among those who received individual support, 80.5% indirectly benefited between 100 and 500 people; 18.3% benefited 501 or more. One percent did not report. Among the supported organizations, 67% benefited between 100 and 500 people; 32.1% reached 501 people or more; the rest did not inform us.
The systematization actions of investment measures carried out by the Baobab Fund In this context, they counted on the support of Philanthropy Network for Social Justice, within the scope of the project Baobá Fund and the emergency response: systematizing information and producing knowledge, inside RFJS Support Program. With special attention to emergency notices, the challenge was to guarantee the full execution of the notices presented above, ensuring analysis and systematization in this context as key pieces to support decision-making processes, whether with regard to donation or fundraising, while a health emergency of international importance had been declared.
The effort undertaken to seek more information about the actions carried out; establish spaces for listening and valuing achievements and small changes triggered by projects and, at the same time, disseminating good practices and lessons learned; in addition to being recognized by the grantees as the commitment of the Baobab Fund with a differentiated philanthropic approach, made it possible to improve our work and decision-making processes and demonstrate, to private social investors, our efficiency as a grantmakers.
In a context of worsening poverty, restrictions on access to goods and services, the expansion of socio-racial inequities and the mortality of the black population due to systemic racial violence and complications linked to Covid-19, the support of Philanthropy Network for Social Justice to strengthen the capabilities of the Baobab in systematizing information, producing evidence to support decision-making processes and also disseminating knowledge was, in addition to being timely, very strategic.
