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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
HomeUNESCO

UNESCO

*Highlight

Campaign Calls on UNESCO to Recognize Favelas as World Heritage [VIDEO]

By Luisa Fenizola • Translation by Cerianne Robertson • June 23, 2018

Clique aqui para Português The Chilean non-governmental organization committed to improving housing in informal settlements, TECHO, is today active in 19 countries across Latin America. In Brazil, where it is known as TETO, the NGO works […]

#GentrificationWatch

Mayor’s Proposed ‘Slavery and Freedom Museum’ Stokes Debate and Skepticism

By Claire Jones, Lisa Hollenbach • September 13, 2017

Clique aqui para Português While Rio’s oldest favela, Providência, marks 120 years since its founding, the city has been undergoing a broader moment of historical reckoning, considering how best to utilize the past in order to […]

Civil Society

New Blacks Cemetery Celebrates 20 Years of Historic Preservation

By David Robertson • January 22, 2016

Clique aqui para Português Rio’s Port Region has received a lot of attention in the years leading up to the Olympics with massive infrastructure projects such as the construction of a light rail system, numerous new […]

#GentrificationWatch

Pedra do Sal Quilombo Celebrates Ten Years with Procession and Bid at World Heritage Status

By Beth McLoughlin • December 14, 2015

Clique aqui para Português A ceremony was held on Saturday, December 12 at Pedra do Sal in the Port Region to celebrate ten years since the site was recognized for its historic importance as a […]

Reviews

Essential Reading on Rio’s Favelas [Book Review]

By Nyasha Weinberg • March 18, 2014

Rio is a fascinating and multi-layered city. For visitors and students, unravelling the complex relationships between the sun, sand, samba and enduring crime and poverty in the city can prove difficult. Fortunately, the books available […]

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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

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