Catalytic Communities

10/20/2026

Flávio Bolsonaro, the front runner in this month’s presidential runoff, is a strong advocate of environmental deregulation who has backed policies that scientists say could hurt the rainforest.

10/14/2026

Massive! Rio de Janeiro’s Sustainable Favela Network Showcases 180 Favela Solutions at 3rd Sustainable Favela Festival

LARGEST EVENT OF ITS KIND ANYWHERE FEATURES ORGANIZERS FROM 150 FAVELAS AND PERIPHERAL NEIGHBORHOODS

🔗 Read the full Release: bit.ly/SFF3ROWRelease

180 ACTIVITIES FOR ALL AGES AND AUDIENCES IN DOWNTOWN RIO: CULTURAL PERFORMANCES, WORKSHOPS, SOLIDARITY MARKET, HEALING SPACE, DISCUSSION CIRCLES, FILMS, EXHIBITIONS

Unmissable! On Saturday, October 17, 2026, Rio de Janeiro’s Sustainable Favela Network will hold its largest ever public event, featuring 180 activities free of charge at the iconic Fundição Progresso cultural center in downtown Rio. Always inspiring, the third edition of the Sustainable Favela Festival: Favelas at the Center of Territorial Solutions will be twice the size of previous editions, with over 2,000 people expected to attend. It is the world’s largest fair dedicated to solutions from informal settlements generating inspiration, sharing opportunities, mutual learning and affection, co-produced by 167 collectives from 150 favelas and peripheral communities across Greater Rio. Everyone is invited to participate, witness, exchange ideas and learn together. The 2026 program is packed! This will be the last year in this format and at this scale, as the event will become smaller and itinerant in the coming years. Don’t miss your chance to experience this powerful network in all its glory!

🔗 Release: bit.ly/SFF3ROWRelease
🔗 Full Program: bit.ly/ProgramacaoFFS3
🔗 Registration is free and mandatory to generate a QR code that avoids lines and guarantees entry: bit.ly/CredenciamentoFFS

10/14/2026

As of September 25, the ‘The City We Want’ Manifesto had received 27 signatures from candidates representing nine political parties: seven on the left, the centrist MDB and NOVO, considered to be on the right of the political spectrum. Produced by the Brazilian Institute of Architects’ Rio de Janeiro chapter (IAB-RJ) in partnership with several civil society organizations, the 1,944 candidates running in Rio de Janeiro in the 2026 elections were invited to read the manifesto and select three proposals from each thematic area to incorporate into their government agendas. There is a total of 53 possible proposals.

The main goal of the urban reform area is to “combat real estate speculation and socio-spatial inequalities, guaranteeing the social function of land and access to adequate housing.” Of the 27 candidates who signed the manifesto by September 25, 19 agreed with the proposal to “prioritize allocating vacant properties belonging to the federal, state and municipal governments to Social Interest Housing (HIS by its Portuguese acronym) through intergovernmental agreements.”

Regarding the goal of tackling the climate emergency, 23 of the 27 committed to “preparing cities for climate change through integrated risk management (landslides, flooding, coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion), prioritizing investments in resilient infrastructure and nature-based protection systems.”

Discover the "The City We Want" manifesto, see its past impacts, and meet the candidates who have already signed it: bit.ly/3T1gdcS.

And be sure to ask your candidate to state their priorities should they be elected: bit.ly/4r7Wuox.

This article is part of a series on the 2026 Brazilian elections, focusing on the perspectives of Greater Rio’s favelas. It is also the first installment of a two-part article on the history of public security failures in Rio de Janeiro since Brazil’s return to democracy: bit.ly/2O3ESse.

Don't miss the full article by Amanda Baroni Lopes: bit.ly/4dy3vJE

10/06/2026

Over the past decade, parliamentary amendments have changed the balance of power between Brazil’s National Congress and the Executive Branch in deciding how Brazil’s public budget is allocated. In recent years, billions of reais from the budget have come under the direct control of federal deputies and senators. Therefore, voting consciously for these representatives becomes even more critical.

Without the necessary controls in place, this can jeopardize democracy as a whole, facilitating everyday corruption and exacerbating the already established difficulty in ensuring the continuity of public policies.

This article is part of a series on the 2026 Brazilian elections, focusing on the perspectives of Greater Rio’s favelas: https://bit.ly/2O3ESse

🔗 Don't miss the full article by Ramon Vellasco: bit.ly/4AMfU6I

10/06/2026

Of the 1,944 candidate registration requests in Rio de Janeiro, 50 self-identified as born and raised in favelas or as favela residents.

In 2022, RioOnWatch conducted an analysis of candidates originating in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Four years later, we did the same for the 2026 elections.

Among the 781 candidates for federal deputy and 1,163 for state deputy registered in the state, 50 self-identified as being from Greater Rio favelas: 26 ran for the federal Chamber of Deputies and 24 for the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly, accounting for 2.6% of candidates.

54% of them were on the Left, 27% in the Center and 18% on the Right. Regardless of where they stand on the political or party spectrum, candidates from favelas increase the representation of favela residents, who want to see themselves in the Chamber of Deputies and ALERJ.

This article is part of a series on the 2026 Brazilian elections, focusing on the perspectives of Greater Rio’s favelas, and provides an overview of candidacies for federal and state deputy from favelas across Greater Rio: bit.ly/2O3ESse.

Don't miss the full article by Amanda Baroni Lopes and Kelly Ribeiro: bit.ly/3TtXV4j

09/28/2026

Residents living along the banks of the Tejipió River, in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife, in Pernambuco state, are demanding transparency from the ProMorar program and calling for the US$385 million investment to translate into permanent solutions, adequate housing and popular participation.

The heavy rains of 2022 left deep scars on Recife. Faced with the urgent need to prevent further tragedies, City Hall, together with the Inter-American Development Bank, approved the ProMorar project, with an investment of R$2 billion aimed at building urban resilience in the Tejipió River Basin.

The plan promised modern nature-based solutions, floodable parks, land tenure and guarantees that families would not have to leave their neighborhoods.

Unfortunately, what residents of the Ipsep, Jardim Uchôa, Caçote, Sapo Nu and Coqueiral favelas have experienced in practice is very different from the promises made on paper. They are calling for answers and action from the authorities, from local to international, responsible for the project.

The movement’s demands include:
1. Guaranteeing Adequate Housing Within the Community;
2. Dignified Resettlement;
3. Fair Compensation and Land Regularization;
4. Effective Flood Prevention Works; and
5. Genuine Participation and Transparency.

Don't miss the full article by Géssica Dias, Luís Emmanuel, Pastor Geazi and Pastor Marcos: bit.ly/4hAiPH3

w/ Pastoral da Moradia e Favela - Nacional, MNDH PE, Instituto Solidare

09/25/2026

As the Rio AI City project, a data center complex slated to be the largest in Latin America moves forward, residents find themselves having to debate the project without opportunities for dialogue and understanding with the City. Described as “one of the world’s first sustainable AI districts,” the company reports an initial energy capacity of 1.5 GW, with RJO1 in operation and RJO2 under construction, and states that the project will use waterless cooling systems. But won’t a project of this scale generate costs for the population?

“The cloud isn’t in the sky, it’s on the ground.” — Fabrina Furtado

The panel discussed the significant additional physical infrastructure now required by the growth of artificial intelligence and its potential effects on resources and communities, especially in areas that have historically suffered from lack of water, electricity and sufficient housing.

“What comes first? The thirst of machines or the lives and basic needs of our populations?” — Maria das Graças

This article is part of our series reflecting on the impacts of mega-events on Rio de Janeiro 10 years after the 2016 Olympic Games: bit.ly/3RTlvBG.

🔗 Don't miss the full article by Felipe Migliani: bit.ly/4yXoP3v

09/23/2026

A collective action held at the Prazeres Community Garden, in the Morro dos Prazeres favela, brought residents and supporters together to restore and care for the space. The event’s program included a workshop on making bait traps for stingless bees, the production of sprouts, a seed exchange, yoga, activities with children and a collaborative meal.

“We’re reclaiming knowledge that we’ve been losing over time… ancient, ancestral knowledge, which is the oldest technology in the world: putting the seed in the ground, having the patience and care to tend to it and then eating what it yields. This is a moment of reclaiming [that knowledge]. To me, the garden symbolizes that… I think recognizing the place where you live is very important, whether it’s recognizing ourselves in our homes or through what surrounds us. I think plants give us that. They make us look at ourselves [through them]. Looking at a plant is seeing ourselves. Watching what we planted grow is also watching ourselves grow.” — Wellington Fyah

“I think I’ve been following the Prazeres Community Garden project since the ReciclAção days, because we started out by holding a few collective actions and encouraging the community to plant. And we wanted to plant Atlantic Forest seedlings… Dio, who’s a really cool guy, took over an area up there that we call Pocinho, which is at the highest point of Prazeres, a space with a natural spring. There was a huge garbage dump there and we held about four collective actions… Then the place started to turn into a garden: the Pocinho Community Garden. That got [Prazeres residents] looking at places and saying, ‘Oh, that’s a vegetable garden!'” — Cris dos Prazeres

This article is part of a series created in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the Digital Brazil Project on environmental justice in the favelas through RioOnWatch: bit.ly/SDSUatROW.

Don't miss the full article by Bárbara Dias: bit.ly/4AL8915

09/22/2026

Building on the experience and leadership of Catalytic Communities and our Puerto Rican partners the Caño Martín Peña CLT in Puerto Rico, the Global South CLT Initiative presented today at NYC Climate Week. Organized by the International Center for Community Land Trusts, the panel 'Communities Should Own Their Future' centered the need to support communities around the world fight displacement due to insecure land tenure and climate risk with our own Tarcyla Fidalgo, coordinator of the Favela CLT Project at CatComm as well as Program Lead for the Global South CLT Initiative.

09/21/2026

Special Invitation: Data, AI, and Climate Adaptation at New York Climate Week 🇺🇸

Instituto Decodifica and Columbia Global Center Rio invite you to the meeting “Data-Driven Climate Governance: Mobilization, AI, and Resilience for Climate Adaptation”, which will take place during New York Climate Week 2026.

📅 Date: September 22
⏰ Time: 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
📍 Location: Columbia University, International Affairs Building, Room 802, New York

During the event, we will present two experiences connecting data and technology to climate adaptation: Flood Portraits (Retratos das Enchentes), by Instituto Decodifica, and the Climate Readiness with AI Project, by Columbia Global Center Rio.

We will also host a discussion on how Citizen Data Generation and AI can strengthen public policies, decision-making processes, and community resilience, followed by a participatory workshop with representatives from different sectors.

It will be a pleasure to have you with us!

🔗 Register here:

How can different approaches to data production and use strengthen climate governance, adaptation, and community resilience? During New York Climate Week 2026,…