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  • [ December 4, 2025 ] Portrait of a Centenary-Old Favela of Stilt Houses: Belém’s Vila da Barca Resists, Organizes and Fights for Sanitation and Adequate Housing #HousingWatch
  • [ November 30, 2025 ] The Story of Dona Pascoalina, Midwife and Healer of Morro do Borel by Community Contributors
  • [ November 15, 2025 ] ‘There’s No Such Thing as Normal After a Massacre’: One Week After Police Mega-Operation Kills 121 People, Residents From Complexos do Alemão and Penha Speak Out #UPPWatch
  • [ November 13, 2025 ] ‘Human Beings Forget That They Are Nature’: Favelas Teach the Path to the Future at the 2nd Favela Sustainability Festival Civil Society
  • [ November 12, 2025 ] Food Sovereignty and Culinary Heritage Connect with Fight for Climate Justice at the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival Civil Society
HomePolicy Critique

Policy Critique

#Rio2016

History of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police Part 4: Pacifying Police Units

By Patrick Ashcroft • May 1, 2014

Clique aqui para Português This is Part 4 in a four-part series on the History of Rio de Janeiro’s Military Police. Click here for Parts 1, 2, and 3. It seemed as though, between the inauguration of the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) […]

Policies

Community Leaders Reflect on a Decade of Bolsa Família

By Annie Austin • October 25, 2013

Clique aqui para Português In 2003, President Luiz Ignacio “Lula” da Silva launched the Bolsa Família program to promote social progress for impoverished families. This and other programs were implemented in an effort to decrease […]

#GentrificationWatch

Who Called for the São Paulo Social Interest Housing Decree at This Moment?

By Raquel Rolnik • Translation by Tom Winterbottom • July 20, 2013

For the original in Portuguese here. Article by Raquel Rolnik, Special Rapporteur to the UN on Adequate Housing.  Recently, the city of São Paulo presented a decree (54.074, from July 5, 2013) which deals with […]

Policies

The Brazilian Health System and Importing Doctors

By Daniel Becker • Translation by Elizabeth Gladding • July 6, 2013

Many friends have asked for my opinion on the proposal to bring foreign doctors to work in regions of the interior of Brazil and the poorest areas. It’s one of these complex issues where any […]

#EvictionsWatch

Bandeira 1 Calls For Aid Not Demolition After Fire Leaves Hundreds Homeless

By Felicity Clarke • May 24, 2013

At around 11am on Wednesday May 15th, Maria de Conceição, 57, was taking a shower in her wood and corrugated iron home in the Bandeira 1 favela in Del Castilho, North Zone, when she heard […]

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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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Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
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Pastoral de Favelas
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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

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