Empowering communities: Leveraging research to strengthen voices and advance rights in Rio de Janeiro's favelas

 

In the favelas, or slums, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, inequalities manifest themselves daily in the lack of access to decent housing, health and education for the residents. A recent project, the Active Citizenship and Access to Justice initiative, studied how legal empowerment approaches can address existing and new forms of insecurity. Community members and organizations successfully used the results of community perceptions and public data to identify priority action areas to improve social conditions. By integrating legal strategies into their advocacy, community members were also better equipped to demand justice, exemplifying the transformative potential of legal empowerment at the grassroots level.   

In this new phase, the project will seek to consolidate progress and expand access to human rights in the territories of Jardim Gramacho, located in the city of Duque de Caxias, Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro State, and the favelas of the Tijuca neighbourhood, North Zone of Rio de Janeiro City. It will strengthen the capacity of community leaders to use tools and mechanisms for accessing justice and defending their rights while seeking to mobilize the executive, legislative and judicial sectors of Rio de Janeiro to become more receptive and committed to ensuring rights in these territories. Targeted communication and advocacy efforts will also be made to promote the participation of community representatives in broader forums across Brazil to discuss rights violations, thus amplifying the voices and visibility of historical inequalities affecting residents of Rio’s favelas.