ISER (ABOUT US)


For thirty-eight years, ISER (the Institute of Religious Studies) has been an active player in the field of Brazilian NGOs and civil society organizations, remaining faithful to its mission of promoting development with social justice and environmental responsibility.

Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ISER works within a framework which combines high-level research with realistic plans for action. Our most frequent partners at ISER are other NGOs, local governments, universities, agencies dealing with religion or social development, and churches. More recently, private companies seeking to practice “responsible business” have also developed projects with us.

Our permanent objectives are to encourage exchanges, to incite different social groups to participate in both public and private policies which ensure rights, and to strengthen civil society organizations.

The hallmark of ISER lies in the defense of fundamental values, in participatory democracy, and in religious and political pluralism. The analyses we publish and the social actions we undertake all exhibit a consideration for cultural diversity, in addition to containing a spiritual dimension.

ISER is currently involved in four key areas: Strengthening Civil Society Organizations; Public Security and Human Rights; Environment and Development; and Religion and Society. 

In addition to working in the aforementioned areas, we operate both a data-processing center, as well as a center for monitoring and evaluating our programs.

 

AREAS OF ACTION

 

UNDERSTANDING AND STRENGTHENING CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS


Civil Society Organizations represent an increasingly important sector in the Brazilian and international public arenas. Such organizations make effective use both of financial resources and of social capital and local knowledge. Ultimately, strengthening social organizations is a way of consolidating democracy and of standing up for the dynamics of inclusion.

ISER has been researching this very theme for over twenty years and conducted original studies in the eighties and nineties on the progression of NGOs in Brazil, compiling the first such database of the non-profit sector. Today, ISER is recognized for the consistency of its databases and for the preeminence of its research on private actors which participate in or have an effect on public policy in Brazil. 

ISER also deals with assessment requests which aim to measure the efficiency of projects, missions, private-initiative social projects and public policies. More than just a service, ISER offers a strategic partnership with the project teams and organizations which we evaluate. 

Using a methodology custom-tailored to the individual case in question, our assessments produce relevant information, provide performance indicators and monitors, and offer suggestions about the planning of future actions for the organizations who use our services.

The types of projects and assessments we produce include: appraisals and assessments vis-à-vis the participatory process; organizational and project evaluations; databases and analyses regarding the third sector and the four key areas outlined above; social-demographic community surveys; qualitative and quantitative research studies according to the needs of our partner institutions.

SEEKING TO MAKE CITIES SAFER AND TO SAVE THE YOUNG AT RISK


URBAN VIOLENCE, PUBLIC SECURITY AND CITIZENSHIP


ISER is one of Brazil’s leading centers for research and evaluation in this area. We have produced information and conducted consulting studies for domestic government bodies such as the Ministry of Justice and the Secretary of Public Security of Rio de Janeiro State, for international organizations like UNESCO, as well as for other NGOs tied to social movements, such as Viva Rio.


The primary objectives of such research include: evaluating the economic magnitude and social costs of violence through analysis of numerous sources and through the improvement of database reliability; surveying the causes of violence and its impacts upon the lives and values of citizens; assessing and monitoring ongoing public policies; estimating the impact of violence upon minorities and upon selected groups; and formulating incentives.

Additionally, ISER promotes and establishes links with civil society at large in an effort to reduce the impact of violence and criminality.

We are also active partners in the national campaign for the disarmament of the civil population and in the defense of citizens’ and minorities’ rights.

Projects which we have undertaken in this specific area include: general research and planning; consensus building between different groups on security and citizenship; group and police training; and research and development of teaching materials oriented around themes of human security.

 

PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT


THROUGH SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES



The Environment and Development Program at ISER is in accordance with the guidelines of UN Global and National Agenda 21 (which we helped to define) and the principles of the Earth Charter. Both documents point to the need for consensus between governments and society, as well as between different social groups. At ISER, we see sustainable development as long-lasting economic prosperity leading to social justice, achieved through environmental balance.

One of our permanent objectives in this area is to empower those organizations which work within the framework of sustainable development, as well as to understand how environmentalism can contribute to development and social inclusion.

Sixteen years ago, ISER led and published the research series entitled “What Brazilians think about the Environment and Sustainable Development,” a study which quickly became the most important public research project on this topic in that it was both national in scope and systematic in its approach (using longitudinal data analysis).

Since the UN Conference on Environment and Development, which took place in Rio in 1992, we have been strategic partners with other NGOs, local governments and businesses seeking to implement concepts and programs articulated in Global and Local Agenda 21.

ISER was chiefly responsible for building up a consortium of NGOs entitled “Partnership 21,” and we produced two of the six national documents which served as the basis for Brazilian Agenda 21; we also defined the methodology of the national opinion poll conducted in 2000.

In this field we help local and city governments, civil society organizations, and businesses to implement programs in responsible business,  Local Agenda 21, and environmental education. Moreover, we typically conduct surveys for such groups and process data for them, in addition to providing them with research, all in an effort to help them design and guide their future courses of action.

Recently, ISER acquired a plot of Atlantic Forest (an endangered biosphere) in Miguel Pereira, a county within Rio de Janeiro State, and we are currently developing activities in the area which combine forest conservation, organic planting, and local development. The long-term goal of this initiative is to transform the area into a school site, a beacon to inspire similar initiatives in sustainable undertakings.

 

WHEN DOES RELIGIOUSNESS MAKE A DIFFERENCE, AND WHAT IS THAT DIFFERENCE?

RELIGION AND SOCIETY


This is one of the most traditional areas in which we work, the original focus of an organization which arose from the collective reflection of Christian sociologists and theologians in the seventies when an important issue facing Brazilian society was that of the relationship between “faith” and politics, between ethics and social action. We still maintain links of solidarity with church agencies and continue to receive support from this network.

One of the most salient expressions of our institutional history lies in the publication which we have maintained for over twenty-five years, the Journal of Religion and Society, still considered the most important journal in this field in Brazil. It is also due to these historic ties that we remain on the board of ANPOCS, Brazil’s main association for sociologists and anthropologists working at the post-graduate level, which brings together the most significant works of religious sociology.

In this area, our current focus lies in attempting to understand the intersection between religiousness and social transformations; this issue of the importance of the religious variable in Brazilian society is one which attracts churches, social movements of various denominations, and other important actors on the national stage.

Our pluralist and non-denominational perspective allows us both to cooperate and foster dialogue with different churches and organizations in the field of religion, and to grant helpful subsidies in order to formulate social policies and programs.

At ISER, we conduct research, denominational censuses, assessments, and program evaluations for various churches and organizations interested in religiousness. Our research is considered authoritative and is the subject of constant perusal and frequent citation in the mass media.

We have recently come to collaborate with the IBGE (the organization which conducts the Brazilian national census) in analyzing their data, and in the creation of indicators which can monitor the evolution of the religious profile of Brazilians. We are also continuing to develop various research programs about youth and religion.

 

THE BRIEF HISTORY OF AN NGO WHICH CHANGED HISTORY

ISER TURNS 35


To understand the history of ISER is to understand the very history of social organizations in Brazil since the seventies, when the main concern at the time was both to democratize Brazil and to strengthen a society which for years had been in the hands of a long authoritarian regime. ISER is representative of the historic role which the nation’s churches played in the democratization of the country and in development efforts, as well as the way in which the non-profit sector witnessed widespread growth and became increasingly autonomous, both from the church and from the State.

A brief history of our institution:

1970: In Campinas, theologians, secular church employees and religious scholars interested in promoting research and thought in the fields of culture and religion, create the group which would later become ISER.

1980s: ISER grows and broadens its horizons. ISER becomes directly involved with urban poverty, expanding its focus to include new themes such as health and the environment. Additionally, ISER creates alliances in the cultural sector through publications and the production of videos. Together with fellow NGOs, ISER founds the Brazilian Association of NGOs (ABONG), which remains today one of the main organizational networks in Brazil.

1990s: ISER reaffirms its pluralist and innovative style of action. Through its work, it seeks to create new ties of solidarity between mainstream citizenship and the increasing marginal sectors of Brazilian society. It is also in this period, during UN Conference 1992 in Rio, that ISER leads a massive inter-religious vigil for peace, uniting world leaders and local communities representing various religious traditions.
This initiative also contributes to the creation of the main movements and projects for peace, aimed at increasing citizenship and human rights in Brazil, particularly in Rio de Janeiro.

During this decade of profound change in Brazil, ISER adopts the conceptual framework of sustainable development and becomes involved with another main organizational network, the Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements. During this period, ISER accepts the challenge of working in areas outside of the traditional domain of NGOs, such as urban violence and public security.

21st Century: Today, through the four key areas outlined above, ISER acts in perfect consonance with the ideals and rights promoted for all by resolutions of UN summits, by Brazilian civil organization networks, and by countries which cooperate with us in efforts towards development.

We are a dynamic organization, ever adaptable to changes which could affect our work, thereby making it more effective and efficient.

The Institute of Religious Studies – ISER
Rua do Russel, 76
22210-010 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Phone: (55.21) 2555-3782
Fax: (55.21) 2558-3764
Email: iser@iser.org.br
Web: www.iser.org.br


Partner Organizations (in the last 10 years):

ICCO – Interchurch Organization for Development Cooperation (Netherlands)
EED – Church Development Service (Germany)
Ford Foundation
Heinrich Böll Foundation
UNESCO
BID-Inter-American Development Bank
World Bank
Johns Hopkins University
Church of Norway
Church of Sweden
World Council of Churches
CNNB – The Brazilian Catholic Bishops’ Conference
Compassion do Brasil
Ministry of the Environment
City Government of Rio de Janeiro
National Environment Fund
Brazilian Bio-diversity Fund
IBAMA- Brazilian National Agency for the Environment
National Research Council (CNPq)
Greenpeace Brazil
WWF Brazil