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  • [ June 10, 2025 ] Groundbreaking Oral History Project—‘Favela Climate Memory’—Launches Final Exhibition, Fostering Emotional Connection Between Climate, Nature and Community [Video] *Highlight
  • [ June 7, 2025 ] ‘Being a Black Woman Running a Museum Means Facing the Past, Eye to Eye… It’s Reparation in Motion’: Sinara Rúbia’s Full Speech at Brazil’s 1st Seminar on Anti-Racist Museums *Highlight
  • [ June 5, 2025 ] ‘A Museology That Doesn’t Serve Life Serves No Purpose’: ‘Unconventional’ Favela Museums Lead First Seminar of Rio de Janeiro’s Social Museology Network *Highlight
HomeWhat’s a Favela?

What’s a Favela?

#CommunityMedia

Turano Favela is a Wonderful Place [IMAGES]

By Carla Regina • Translation by Ben Bildsten • January 8, 2020

Clique aqui para Português For the original article in Portuguese by Carla Regina published in Agência de Notícias das Favelas (ANF) click here. For its republication in Agência Pública, click here. This article received the […]

*Highlight

Childhood and Collective Learning in the Streets of a Rio Favela

By Gizele Martins • Translation by Leila Lak • September 10, 2019

Clique aqui para Português For the original article in Portuguese by Gizele Martins published in Portal Aprendiz click here. The streets shaped my childhood more than any other place. The streets are a major communal […]

*Highlight

Seminar Disseminates Urban Policy Approaches from Perspective of the ‘Potency of Peripheries’

By Luisa Fenizola • Translation by Cheyne Bull • April 16, 2019

Clique aqui para Português On Tuesday, April 2, the seminar “New Paradigms for Urban Policies from the Perspective of the Potency of Peripheries” took place at the Favelas Observatory in Complexo da Maré with the support […]

*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 […]

*Highlight

7 Fantastic Afro-Brazilian Women and Their ‘Everyday Politics’ [PROFILE]

By Marcela Lisboa, Thamyra Thamara de Araújo • Translation by Joana Chetwynd • January 22, 2019

Clique aqui para Português For the original articles in Portuguese by Thamyra Thâmara de Araújo and Marcela Lisboa published by Agência Naya on Medium, click here. To listen to the full interviews in Portuguese, click here. […]

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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.
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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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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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