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Latest News
  • [ November 8, 2025 ] Victory Against Eviction! 200 Year-Old Horto Community Wins Battle to Stay After 40 Years of Resistance #EvictionsWatch
  • [ November 7, 2025 ] Why the Pre-Electoral Opinion Polling Published Following Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Mega Police Operation’ Is Misleading #MediaWatch
  • [ November 5, 2025 ] Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Award-Winning’ Mayor Hollows Out Benchmark Favela Climate Initiatives While Hosting C40 *Highlight
  • [ October 31, 2025 ] Ancestral Wisdom and Community Ties Flourish in a Favela Community Garden: ‘Recovering Our Ancestry… Integrating with Nature’ *Highlight
  • [ October 30, 2025 ] A Massacre! Rio de Janeiro’s Deadliest Police Operation Sparks Mourning, Fear and Outrage in the Favelas, Across the City, Brazil and Around the World Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia #UPPWatch
HomeCerro Corá

Cerro Corá

*Highlight

How Do Favela Youth Access Brazil’s Top Universities? The Role of College Exam Prep Courses

By Thaís Cavalcante • Translation by Tara Mittelberg • July 9, 2019

Clique aqui para Português “The idea of universities for everyone doesn’t exist… Universities should be reserved for the intellectual elite.” These are the words of Brazil’s recently dismissed Minister of Education Ricardo Vélez-Rodriguez, spoken in […]

*Highlight

Maré’s Open-Air Museum: Center for Memory and Identity in the Favela

By Miriane Peregrino • Translation by Elfie Lawson • June 10, 2019

Clique aqui para Português Maré’s Open-Air Museum is a project that promises to bring a new museological perspective to the favelas of Maré, in Rio’s North Zone. A historical tour, sites of memory, and urban […]

*Highlight

If This UPP Were Mine: With an End to Pacification, Residents Dream of Reoccupying Public Spaces

By Luisa Fenizola • Translation by Habib Msallem • March 11, 2019

Clique aqui para Português While the failure of the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) model had already been signaled years ago by residents, researchers, civil society organizations, and Rio’s violence and mortality rates, only in 2018 did […]

*Highlight

The Story of UERJ Affirmative Action Beneficiary Lita Ribeiro and How She Fulfilled Her Dream [PROFILE]

By Mareen Butter • Translation by Leila Lak • February 5, 2019

Clique aqui para Português In this profile, Lita Ribeiro—a resident of the Guararapes favela, mother of two, and affirmative action beneficiary at the School of Social Work at the State University of Rio de Janeiro […]

*Highlight

‘Intimate Favela’: Portraits of the Inner Lives of Favelas and Their Residents [IMAGES]

By Antoine Horenbeek • January 28, 2019

Clique aqui para Português For the project “Intimate Favela,” realized in collaboration with Catalytic Communities,* photographer Antoine Horenbeek was an overnight guest at the homes of individuals and families living in a few of Rio […]

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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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10 Years! Check Out Our Story:

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
    • Reference Articles
  • Communities
    • Central
    • South Zone
    • North Zone
    • West Zone
    • 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
  • For Journos
  • Donate

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