History

It was born from the dynamic of encounters between teachers of different courses and campuses of the Universidade Federal do Tocantins, who got together via the proposal and execution of projects approved in national announcements. These projects were based on the convergence of research interests and extension actions by the teachers involved in the project presented hereby. As an example of this dynamics, we mention the Lato Sensu Postgraduate Course in Public Management and Society, approved by MTE/Senaes/N°744439/2010. This Lato Sensu Course was a result of the collaboration between the Universidade Federal do Tocantins and its Nucleus of Solidarity Economy located in the campus of Palmas (Nesol/UFT/Palmas); And the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and its Grupo de Análise Política de Inovação (GAPI). Its origins refers to the year 2009, more specifically to the specialization course in Public Management and Society, then in its 3 rd edition, offered by the Universidade Federal do Tocantins, at the Palmas campus. The specialization course was proposed and coordinated by Professor Dr. Edi Benini of the Administration course and linked to Nesol - Núcleo de Economia Solidária.

Among the propositions of the specialization course it is possible to identify the origins of the concerns of the teachers involved with many of the issues that would originate the proposal to create the Master Program in Popular Demands and Regional Dynamics. The third class of the specialization course in Public Management and Society started in 2009 in Palmas - TO. The course was initially designed to meet and train public sector professionals committed to improve government actions and the consequent well-being of the population, as well as to civil society leaders, researchers and citizens engaged in the discussion of the collective interests of society in general, in the perspective of social emancipation. Discussing Public Management, from the perspective of civil society, meant to give attention to the public interest and to the means for its effective actions.

The discussions held in the campus of the UFT of Araguaína among professors of the courses of Geography, Biology, Languages and Management of Cooperatives, were added to the objective of structuring a proposal of APCN, capable of converging research interests with the various social issues presented by the aforementioned municipality. As a result of the two fronts mentioned, the Master Program was structured around discussions involving the conceptual framework of social vulnerability. Two complementary assumptions must be considered for understanding what is seen as social vulnerability. The first one refers to what is perceived as a risk to physical integrity or social losses due to changes or permanence of situations understood as unfavorable; as an example, one can mention conflicts of external origin to the individuals. The second is referenced as the capacity to structure responses that social groups or individuals present before the changes and contexts that the social and natural environments impose. The result of this situations can be translated as a feeling of helplessness, fear and insecurity in the face of the risks of living in society (Monteiro, 2011, 33).

In addition to these conceptual discussions are the results published in the Atlas of Social Vulnerability for Brazilian municipalities, published by the IPEA in the year 2015. These results are supported by the so-called Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), which seeks to identify vulnerability beyond the absence of monetary resources:

"The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), built on indicators of the Human Development Atlas (HDA) in Brazil, seeks to highlight different situations that indicate exclusion and social vulnerability in Brazil, in a perspective that goes beyond the identification of poverty only as insufficient monetary resources. The SVI is a synthetic index that gathers indicators of the block of social vulnerability of HDA, which, presented through cartograms and structured in different dimensions, serve as support for the identification of portions of the territory where there exists overlapping of those situations indicative of exclusion and social vulnerability in the territory, in order to guide municipal, state and federal public managers to design public policies more attuned to the needs in these territories. Complementing the Municipal Human Development Index (MHDI), the SVI brings sixteen indicators structured in three dimensions, namely urban infrastructure, human capital and income and work, allowing a unique mapping of exclusion and social vulnerability for the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities (according to the Demographic Census 2010)" (Atlas of Social Vulnerability in Brazilian municipalities, Ipea, 2015, p.12, our translation).

Considering variables such as urban infrastructure, income and work, we can say that the northern region of Brazil presents indices quite distant from what would be considered adequate. What are the mechanisms for reducing this vulnerability? Is it possible to structure and even tailor public policies based on the demands of the populations of the region?

We have noticed that the discussions that resulted in the definition of the concept of vulnerability make it possible to understand it as a solid referential for discussions to be carried out on a university campus located in the extreme north of the state of Tocantins, in the municipality of Araguaína. This city is located in the northern region of Brazil, 375 km from the capital Palmas. And it has geographic boundaries that bring us closer to regions that present conflicting social dynamics, namely, southern Pará and southern Maranhão, perceptible from two vectors of analysis.

The first of these vectors concerns the historical and notorious efficiency deficit in the public policies directed to the northern region of Brazil. Variables such as health, education and public security still account for a significant portion of the issues that afflict the population living in this region. The campus of Araguaína is located at 235 km from the municipality of Araguatins. The city of Araguatins is the most populous municipality located in the region of the state of Tocantins, known as Bico do Papagaio. This area became nationally known for the intense agrarian conflicts in the 70ʼs and 80ʼs and that still persist today. Regarding the proximity to nationally recognized low HDI regions (south of the states of Maranhão and Pará) the Araguaína campus is located at 123 Km from the city of Estreito - MA, on the border between the states of Tocantins and Maranhão, and 174 km from the municipality of São Geraldo do Araguaia - PA, on the border between the states of Tocantins and Pará.

The second of these vectors refers to recent migratory movements observed in Brazil. Municipalities in the northern region are established as attractive labor powers due to their high economic growth in relation to the average observed for the other regions of Brazil. As an example, one may cite Araguaína in Tocantins, and Marabá and Parauapebas in Pará. Also very close to the campus of Araguaína is the municipality of Imperatriz, in Maranhão, and it also has attractiveness in relation to migration, and also for its economic growth. As well, we should highlight the progress of agribusiness, the recent creation of Federal Universities, among which we can mention the Universidade Federal do Tocantins (UFT) and the Universidade Federal do Sul e Sudeste do Pará (Unifesspa) and the various problems of the municipalities mentioned.