This paper deals with the implantation of the Integrated and Sustainable Development Program in Manguinhos, a low-income, densely populated urban area, through the combined action of partners from different public sectors, private activities and civil society. The program was intended to give support to intersectorial projects and actions of health promotion focused on the local population. The evaluation took as main references the implantation of programs at community level, where was pointed out the significant role played by mobilization, constitution of a new setting of interaction and collective action, involving local leaderships, in establishing a common agenda. On this basis, the authors discuss the evidences found related to associative life and the dynamics involved in setting up a Regional Forum. The analysis revealed the impasses in the local policy process affecting the relationships and the collective actions vis-à-vis a situation in which there is a lacking of intersectorial initiatives and action. Both the mobilization and the organization of the population - together with overcome a state of high-level violence and the current pattern of sociability, unclenching a process where more effective measures in health promotion can be found in Manguinhos.
Evaluation; Health promotion programs; Community initiatives on health promotion