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Latest News
  • [ December 23, 2025 ] Rio de Janeiro Designs First Plan for Social Interest Housing: Popular Council Launches Campaign to Ensure Plan Addresses Real Needs #GentrificationWatch
  • [ December 15, 2025 ] ‘To Lose Your Memory Is to Lose Your Essence’: Vidigal Celebrates Its 85th Anniversary With Cultural Event Inspired by the ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Project *Highlight
  • [ December 12, 2025 ] Brazil’s First National Meeting of Community Architecture Highlights Women’s Leadership and the Power of Self-Built Architecture in Achieving the Right to Housing and to the City #InterventionWatch
  • [ December 10, 2025 ] Youth at the Center of Climate Decisions: During COP30, Children’s Summit Highlights ‘It’s Children Who Feel It Most!’ *Highlight
  • [ December 5, 2025 ] ‘Favela-based Media Are a Pillar of Democracy’: In Rocinha, Climate Justice Takes Center Stage at the 3rd Conference on Favela and Peripheral Journalism #MediaWatch
HomePolicies

Policies

#UPPWatch

Debate Reflects on Rio’s Pacifying Police Units

By Ian Waldron • November 22, 2014

In 2008 the Rio City government began the ambitious project of installing Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) in many of its favelas, today almost 40 in total. Six years later the program continues to be highly controversial. […]

*Highlight

Maré Cracklands: Three Years of Neglect by the Authorities

By Thaís Cavalcante • Translation by Cara D’Rosario • November 11, 2014

Clique aqui para Português The government is proving incapable of facing an enormous and challenging public health problem: drug abuse. State and municipal neglect in  Nova Holanda, one of the 16 favelas that make up Maré, has […]

#GentrificationWatch

Occupation in São Gonçalo Gathers 1,400 People in Four Days

By Henrique Coelho • Translation by Amanda Bradshaw • November 10, 2014

For the original by Henrique Coelho in Portuguese, published in G1, click here. On Tuesday November 4, more than 350 families completed their fourth day of occupation of a 60,000m² area in São Gonçalo, located in the […]

#CommunityMedia

Fifty Years Fighting for Water Regularization in Rocinha

By Michel Silva • Translation by Sarah Jacobs • October 28, 2014

Clique aqui para Português For the original by Michel Silva in Portuguese, published in Fala Roça, click here. Access to clean water and sanitation is an essential human right, acknowledged most recently and thoroughly in a United Nations Resolution in […]

#UPPWatch

The Favela Where I Live Is Bleeding

By Vitor Paz • Translation by Charlotte Livingstone • October 27, 2014

Clique aqui para Português Resident account on the state of violence in the community of Complexo do Alemão. Today I woke up reflecting on what is going on in my favela. I started to realize that […]

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RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
A Project of

About

In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Awards

Special Thanks

Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
World Habitat
Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña
Pastoral de Favelas
Center for CLT Innovation
Global Land Alliance
Ecocity Builders
Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

  • Home
    • Highlighted Stories
    • Understanding Rio
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  • Communities
    • Central
    • South Zone
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    • Greater Rio
  • Policies
    • Public Security
    • Housing
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Health
    • Sanitation
  • Violations
    • Human Rights
    • Housing Rights
    • Police Violence
    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
    • Community Organizing
    • Community Solution
    • Resistance
    • Sustainability
    • Participation
    • Protest
    • Culture
    • Responsible Tourism
  • Content Map
    • by Community Contributors
    • by Int’l Observers
    • Series
      • Anti-Racist Series
      • Energy Justice Series
    • Event Reports
    • Video Stories
    • Photo-Essays
    • Interviews/Profiles
    • Research & Analysis
    • Reviews
    • Listicles
    • Opinion
    • Reference
    • Podcasts
    • Translated Articles
  • About
    • Timeline
    • Our Reporting Policy
    • License
    • Feedback
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