management policies. During a one-week workshop in April 2008, 22 catadore/as were trained in PV technology, storyboard development and post-production editing as a strategy to improve community networking opportunities and to stimulate awareness and education of recycling programmes in their muni- cipalities. Following the collaborative production of four PVs (over a period of 10 months in 2009), three focus groups were conducted with local governments and catadore/as in Maua, Ribera ̃oPiresandDiademaoverthecourseof4monthsin 2010. The methodology applied in each case study was the same; however, the contexts differ, reflecting the dynamic nature of the situations and relationships in each municipality.
The focus groups were intended to provide the opportunity
g for collective self-reflective inquiry of the lived realities of the catadore/as
g to demonstrate the capacity of the cooperatives to provide recycling services
g to strengthen dialogue between local governments and recycling cooperatives
g to highlight pressing issues
g to encourage support for infrastructure and remuneration
from government for the service provided.
The focus groups were organised with local government, with one or two catadore/as representing their group, and the executive members of the Participatory Sustainable Waste Management (PSWM) project (including the author). In all three of the focus groups, various representatives from local government were present, including those involved in social and economic development, waste management and engineer- ing services and, in one case, the mayor (Diadema). The focus groups were structured into four stages
-pre-video interviews
-watching the videos
- focus group discussions
-post-focus group interviews focused on the methodology
and impact of PV.