Resumo: This paper does a brief history of the Graduate Regional Program in Development and Environment (Prodema) and presents its objectives, framework and associated Universities. It discusses the foundation in which the Prodema was conceived, mainly concerning the interdisciplinary approach, the association in academic network and the concept of sustainable development. It detaches the importance of the Prodema creation in the Northeast region of Brazil and stresses the issues that motivate the research in the Prodema. Based on the social network concept, the framework, functions and interrelations are presented and assessed from the efficiency standpoint. Finally, it is assessed the outcomes achieved by the Prodema Network, based in which we demonstrate that the Prodema instituted the interdisciplinary in the Brazilian graduate system, which was done by challenging the current institutional paradigms in some northeastern Universities and in the federal public administration.
