The paper aims to understand the major challenges and the limits of development policies with international cooperation in tackling inequalities in local areas of the State of Bahia, from a case study on management of the Community Development Project for the Rio Gavião Region, 1997-2006. The research was carried out following a qualitative approach, configuring single case study. It seeks to understand the management of the development from the actions carried out in the Gavião Project. To meet the research objectives, data collection followed two steps, the first was to collect and analyze secondary data and then to collect from primary sources, with the completion of 15 interviews with key actors in the project and the region. The study of the theoretical pillars is anchored in studies on development and management. Focused on community development, the Gavião Project was conceived and enforced by the Company for Regional Development and Action (CAR), representing the Government of the State of Bahia and by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The results of his research indicate that the challenges of management development programs require an inter-dialogue between the different organizations involved in the project, despite the difficulties of the realities of structural conditions analyzed. It concludes the need to review the principles of management development programs as a form of participative management, inclusive and focused on the empowerment of people.
Management; International Cooperation; Development; Pró-Gavião