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Latest News
  • [ April 30, 2025 ] Sustainable Favela Network Launches Groundbreaking ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Exhibition on May 3, Kicking Off Museums Month [RELEASE] *Highlight
  • [ April 20, 2025 ] ‘No One Wants to Hear How Much We Miss Them’: 20 Years After the Baixada Massacre, Families of Victims Report Poor Mental Health and Demand Psychosocial Support from the State #UPPWatch
  • [ April 14, 2025 ] ‘I Was Up All Night, Like Every Summer’: Storm Deepens Climate Anxiety and Sparks Outrage Among Favela Residents Across Greater Rio de Janeiro, Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia #MediaWatch
  • [ April 7, 2025 ] ‘Temporary’ Housing in Santa Cruz Turns 60: Reflecting on Cesarão, the First Housing Complex, and Favela do Aço #EvictionsWatch
  • [ March 30, 2025 ] Meet Dona Nete: The Acari Artisan Turning Waste Into Fashion and Championing Zero Waste in the Favela *Highlight
Homecaveirão

caveirão

A caveirão rolls through the streets of Acari during a police operation on April 6. Photo - Fala Akari Collective, Facebook
#CoronavirusWatch

After Brief Peace in Quarantine, Violent Policing Returns to Rio Favelas

By Edmund Ruge • April 10, 2020

Clique aqui para Português This is our latest article on the new coronavirus as it impacts Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. For a full two weeks, the global Covid-19 pandemic seemed enough to curb police violence […]

*Highlight

Letters from the Children of Maré Favela: “I don’t like helicopters because they shoot and people die.”

By Felipe Betim • Translation by Edmund Ruge • August 29, 2019

Clique Aqui para Português  For the original article in Portuguese by Felipe Betim published in El País click here. Children from the Complexo da Maré favelas describe the horrors of life in the crossfire, writing […]

#InterventionWatch

Illegal Tactics and Cover-Ups as Civil Police Fire from Helicopter into Maré Favelas

By Edmund Ruge • June 12, 2018

Clique aqui para Português On Monday, June 11, at 6:30am residents of Complexo da Maré awoke to thunderous high caliber rounds. A police helicopter strafed low over rooftops in the favelas of Nova Holanda, Parque União, […]

#ParticipationWatch

Day 4b: ‘Beyond Numbers,’ The Baixada Screams for a Critical Analysis of the Atlas of Violence

By Chloe Villalobos, Gigi Ong-Alok • July 24, 2017

Clique aqui para Português As part of Black July week, the Human Rights Center of the Nova Iguaçu Diocese, and the Fórum Grita Baixada held a panel to discuss the recently published Atlas of Violence 2017, a study on violence […]

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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
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  • Violations
    • Human Rights
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    • Police Violence
    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
    • Community Organizing
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    • Sustainability
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  • Content Map
    • by Community Contributors
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    • Event Reports
    • Video Stories
    • Photo-Essays
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    • Listicles
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  • About
    • Timeline
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