In this article we present the theoretical-practical challenges that professionals from different social fields face in their practices of social psychological intervention in communities in various cities of São Paulo. Among the largest challenges are the limitations of social programs offered by public authorities, the difficulties of external agents in developing actions that lead to the strengthening of the community, and the absence of theoretical-methodological references that support the practices of these agents. In order to illustrate these challenges, we narrate the experience of a course on Community Psychology and Psychology of Liberation in which we discussed propositions for community intervention from the perspective of concepts developed by Martín-Baró (1998) and the contributions of Maritza Montero (2004) with the Paradigm of Construction and Critical Transformation. Based on these theoretical references we analyze the relation between State, Programs and Organizations as well as the contradictions existing between a community social practice and the demands from the governmental programs and plans.
community psychology; liberation psychology; social psychological interventions; community empowerment