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Latest News
  • [ 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
Homesexism

sexism

Favela Qualities

The Role of Parents in Rio de Janeiro’s Education System

By Raven Hayes • October 6, 2016

Clique aqui para Português Suzanna da Silva remembers her school experience as unstable. “I was about 10 years old. From there I started going to school. I would study half of the year; the other […]

#ParticipationWatch

Entering the Scene: Empowerment and Community Mobilization through the Theater of the Oppressed in Maré

By Anna Cash • September 27, 2016

Clique aqui para Português Theater of the Oppressed (TO) is an internationally celebrated participatory form of theater invented in Rio, in which there are no spectators, just spect-actors. TO was originally created by writer, director, and politician […]

Favela Culture

Unconventional and Inspiring, Rio das Pedras Dance Class Empowers Women

By Juliana Ritter • July 19, 2016

Clique aqui para Português “The women here are warriors,” say countless residents of Rio das Pedras, a favela neighborhood in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, and Flavio Moraes’ dance class is one of the […]

*Highlight

Social Media Reacts to Brutal Gang Rape of Teenager in Santa Cruz

By Felicity Clarke • May 27, 2016

Clique aqui para Português The brutal gang rape of a 16 year old girl by 33 men in a favela in Santa Cruz in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro has generated widespread horror […]

by Community Contributors

Where Black People’s Dream Is Not to Be Black

By Yasmin Thayná • August 21, 2014

For the original by Yasmin Thayná in Portuguese, published on her Facebook wall then by Brasil Post click here. I went out to buy my father a belated Father’s Day present and thought I was going […]

Posts pagination

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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

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  • Organizing
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  • Content Map
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