Sudene

The Superintendency for the Development of the Northeast (Portuguese: Superintendência de Desenvolvimento do Nordeste), or Sudene (Portuguese pronunciation: [suˈdẽni]) for short, is a Brazilian governmental agency created in 1959, during the government of President Juscelino Kubitschek (1956-1961), to stimulate economic growth in the northeastern region of Brazil, one of the poorest of the country, that faces chronic droughts and has a semi-arid climate. Sudene was created by suggestion of economist Celso Furtado, one of the leading intellectuals of Brazil, who was the agency's first director.

Premise

Furtado's premise was that the semi-arid climate of the Northeast was an environmental reality against which it would be very unproductive to fight – despite governmental action to take water to that region – and that state poverty reduction programs should thus aim at using the existing natural advantages of the area – namely, its availability of labor – and promote industrialization instead of the region's traditional economic focus, which was on agriculture and livestock.