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Abstract
This paper examines the collective experience developed since the mid 1980 in
a rural community of Northeastern semi-arid region - Lagoa dos Cavalos (Russas, Ceará).
The land tenure pattern is based on fragmentation by inheritance, and its formal registration enables a peculiar form of organization that ensures the population certain autonomy in collective decisions on local
development. The goal of this article is to check who has power and responsibility in the process of collective action
coordination, the profile and the role of these actors. The method is based on qualitative research, combining the use
of witness statements, documentary and bibliographical sources. Intentional non-probability sampling was used
for the definition of the actors to be interviewed. The conclusion points that power and responsibility are delegated
to two types of local leaders, who hold the recognition and legitimacy to meet the demands inherent in the work of
collective activities coordination or for mediation between the location, the external advisors and the world, keeping
on autonomy. The external advisors provide technical and political support, and facilitate the access to financial
resources. Both local and external advisors leaders play an important role in local development, but are dependent on
the local organization that has created mechanisms to build cooperation and coordination of action of those involved.