This paper aims to present how the female leaders of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro/Brazil have been protagonists in coping with the demands arising from COVID-19. The city has approximately 2 million residents living in 763 favelas. There is no strategic planning on the part of the government with coordinated actions related to the specificities of these territories—producing an escalation of demands due to the living and health conditions of the residents. It is in this multifaceted reality, with urgencies and emergencies, that we highlight the role of community by strengthening the local support networks that are built like webs inside the favela and beyond. Our statement is based on a qualitative study involving 111 such women, distributed across 105 favelas. Correlating their practices, 97% say they support health promotion through the strengthening of popular participation towards community development and defense of rights, and mobilization of health services to meet these populations’ needs, among other actions. With the presence of public agents in these places restricted in times of pandemic, these women often take up the duties of the local authorities to ensure food security, good communication among local residents on health standards, hygiene measures, assistance to the most vulnerable, etc. Perceived by community members as replacing the role of government agencies, they develop a particular way of doing politics. Calling upon resistance and solidarity, they transform this micro-power into effective changes to cope with the inequities and in benefit of citizenship and the other residents of the favelas where they live.
This article discusses the concept of empowerment in health promotion, and the importance of evaluation in this context. It does so through the analysis of a territorial intervention
This article aims to reflect on the challenges affecting people experiencing homelessness in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, due the COVID-19 pandemic. Participatory research was carried out to identify data related to sociodemographic profile; strategies for survival; health and social care support; and access to services during the pandemic. The research methodology was co-designed with NGOs and people with lived experience of homelessness and involved conducting semi-structured questionnaires with 304 participants in 2020. The results highlighted the worsening of the situation of extreme vulnerability and poverty already experienced by this population before the pandemic. Key strategies led by Third Sector organizations to reduce the spread of the virus, to minimize the financial impact of lockdown, and to increase emotional support and information on COVID-19 were presented. The conclusions show the complexity of issues affecting these groups and the need for urgent response from public policies and Government support to guarantee their rights, dignity, and respect during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
An innovative geographical approach: health promotion and empowerment in a context of extreme urban poverty line. It is difficult to adapt integrated approaches to multiple organisational changes. Evaluation and communication are not easy to establish and implement in practice. Actors in community development have a different approach to evaluation. Proper adjustment of communication to various population groups remains to be found.
Este artigo tem como objetivo refletir sobre quem são e o que fazem as mulheres publicamente reconhecidas por sua atuação social e política nas favelas do Rio de Janeiro. O estudo assume o ponto de vista histórico de que esta mulher de favela que se expressa e se manifesta como ativista social vem se construindo, principalmente, a partir da década de 1990. Do ponto de vista metodológico, o estudo parte de um mapeamento utilizando entrevistas semiestruturadas com 100 mulheres de diversas favelas, todas identificadas e reconhecidas como lideranças comunitárias. Os resultados apontam que a partir das evidências e sinergias reconhecemos o crescente protagonismo feminino nos territórios segregados socioespacialmente. Esse se dá a partir de sua atuação enquanto sujeito político coletivo, que age no enfrentamento cotidiano das iniquidades que acometem os espaços populares e na afirmação de uma sociedade democrática e participativa. Palavras-Chave: mulher; feminização do poder; favela.
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