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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
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City of God

Civil Society

City of God’s Money: The Rebirth of Rio’s First Favela Community Currency

By Andrea Cangialosi • November 16, 2014

Joining a renewed global movement, City of God is the first favela in the city of Rio de Janeiro to hold its own local community currency, called the CDD after the acronym for Cidade de Deus. […]

*Highlight

Qualities of Urban Informality: Case Study of Rio’s Favelas

By Michel Jaquet • July 23, 2014

By 2050, around one third of the world’s population is expected to be living in informal settlements.  The processes of informal production have an essential role in growing cities around the world, as rural to urban […]

Policies

A Recipe for Realizing the Potential of Favela Youth: Agência de Redes para Juventude

By Veriene Melo • April 15, 2014

Clique aqui para Português When asked about his experience with education growing up, Fernando–a 21 year-old from the Fumacê favela in Realengo, West Zone–said: “I’ve never liked to study. My mom forced me to go […]

Favela Qualities

Cidade de Deus–Working with Informalized Mass Housing in Brazil by Marc Angélil and Rainer Hehl [BOOK REVIEW]

By Michel Jaquet • April 5, 2014

Clique aqui para Português Cidade de Deus–Working with Informalized Mass Housing in Brazil is a 2013 publication by Marc Angélil and Rainer Hehl, in collaboration with Something Fantastic, presenting a researched-based design study by the […]

#UPPWatch

Peace, Pacification and UPPs in the Favelas [IMAGES]

By Luiz Baltar • Translation by Jake Cummings, Tom Winterbottom • March 31, 2014

Clique aqui para Português I have never accepted the term “pacification,” adopted as a slogan by the government and repeated all over the media. By consensus, peace is a desired state of mind and something […]

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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

  • Home
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    • Sanitation
  • Violations
    • Human Rights
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    • Police Violence
    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
    • Community Organizing
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    • Sustainability
    • Participation
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    • Culture
    • Responsible Tourism
  • Content Map
    • by Community Contributors
    • by Int’l Observers
    • Series
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      • Energy Justice Series
    • Event Reports
    • Video Stories
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  • About
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