Photo: Matheus Affonso – @AFFONSODALUA / Reproduction
By Arcasi and Andreza Jorge
This article aims to present the initiative related to the “Month of Philanthropy that Transforms”, carried out by Redes da Maré in partnership with Rede Comuá. Throughout September, we planned and organized training in Political Advocacy aimed at residents of the group of 16 Maré favelas, located in the north of Rio de Janeiro. For us, thinking about philanthropic actions that are capable of impacting in the medium and long term the history of inequalities that we experience in the group of Maré favelas is urgent and structuring for the change we want in the world.
In this training process, we had 25 course participants gathered in 10 meetings, held in the Parque Maré favela, with a workload of 30 hours in person throughout the month of September. In designing the course program, we sought to build an educational proposal that would include residents who already participated in collectives and initiatives in Maré territories and also those who were interested (even if without prior experience), which could stimulate autonomy and foster knowledge about the mechanisms access to rights.
The selection process was carried out based on an open notice, the objective was to build a plural class, in which the level of education, age, gender and race were diverse, providing a collective and non-hierarchical environment for knowledge production. We also included in our proposal and publicity that we would have a “Play” space for children with a team of educators, which allowed mothers, aunts and grandmothers access to the training space. We immediately identify motherhood as a process involving mothers who live in favelas and who are involved in struggles for rights for their children and the entire community. The children's space featured aspects related to the themes developed in the course that were adapted to the age of the participants. This initiative was an Advocacy action in itself, considering that it democratized participation and produced an adjacent training space for the children present, in addition to creating engagement in issues related to the rights of children and adolescents, care work and parenting. In fact, the group participated in the construction and dissemination of a public debate between candidates for Guardianship Council 11 -which serves the territory- which included the participation of the “Observatório de Conselhos” (UFRJ) and “Minhas” (which promoted the campaign A Election of the Year). Thus, it was possible to add knowledge, experiences and incident practices.
The course program featured a diversity of themes that was worked on by a team of teachers with different trajectories, areas of knowledge and identity markers. As a course methodology, guest teachers held classes in pairs, which allowed exchanges and different approaches to the same topic. We prioritize the participation of teachers from peripheral areas, especially from Maré itself, as a criterion for thinking about Political Incidence in micro and macro contexts of localized action. We highlight that offering stipends to course participants boosted participation and established itself as an investment in the territory itself. The course established a process of recognizing Maré activists on different agendas, exchanges between favelas, understanding demands, networks of joint action, creating bonds, belonging and the interest they demonstrated in continuing with the training meetings.
According to Edith Medeiros, one of the course participants and a fellow in the Political Incidence sector at Redes da Maré, “actions like this in a favela context are a way of mobilizing and instrumentalizing residents, as it involves them in the struggle processes and search for rights.” It was exactly this perspective that inspired us to carry out this training in line with the values of the Comuá Social Justice Network to strengthen initiatives by Maré residents and their political advocacy practices, often already developed and engaged by them at local levels, regional and national.
About the authors:
Arcasi is an Ameduca, resident of Nova Holanda, mother of Valentim and a scholarship holder from the Political Incidence Sector of Redes da Maré.
Andreza Jorge is an activist, created by Maré and researcher at the Political Incidence Sector at Redes da Maré.
