Child day care centre Baby Lonia

 Leonardo M. Dias, Strategic Sustainability Advisor; Cathy, Project supporter, Tania Carvalho, project manager, Ivan de Jesus Costa, Pacified Communities Coordinator at Rio de Janeiro Government
Leonardo M. Dias, Strategic Sustainability Advisor; Cathy, Project supporter, Tania Carvalho, project manager, Ivan de Jesus Costa, Pacified Communities Coordinator at Rio de Janeiro Government

Services:

  • Sustainability strategy
  • Project co-creation, implementation and Q&A
  • Coalition building / collective impact facilitation
  • Promotion

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Context:

More than 11.4 million Brazilians live in deprived areas, known as favelas, according to the Brazilian Statistics Institute, IBGE - that’s more that the whole population of Portugal - but in reality there are far more than that. Where inequality, violence, housing, health care, education and citizenship are major problems, many people do not have papers and are not included in official statistics. Deprivation is one of the biggest social problems in one of the most socially unequal countries in the world.

In Rio de Janeiro State, according to IBGE (Brazilian statistics institute, 2012) more than 2 million people (around one in eight) live in deprived areas, locally known as favelas. In reality more are living in these precarious conditions, because many do not have a birth certificate or other basic documentation and are not included in statistics data. They are the invisible and one aim of the Social Technology methodology I have developed and implement, is to bring visibility to these people. I am achieving greater impact working with local grassroots leaders, improving efficiency and maximizing results. 

In Babilonia and Chapéu Mangueira communities, women take care of children and in many cases fathers are absent. In this context, it's important to have a place where children can stay during the day while their mothers are working. In addition to child education, it's preventive risk management because the day care centre can avoid the risk of children becoming involved in drug trafficking when they spend the whole day on the streets.

Local leaders estimate that more than 1,500 children live in these communities. There are just two day care centres which together can cater for 100 children.

Challenge:

Ms. Tania Carvalho and Babylonia team were looking for funds to keep the day care centre open. Carrefour is one of their partners but they were not sure if they would keep supporting Baby Lonia. My contribution was to prepare a part of an event to engage Carrefour to renew the alliance with Baby Lonia. In reallity Baby Lonia team knew exactly what to do, and I co-created a part of the event with them.

The result was that Baby Lonia team was able to engage Carrefour to continue their sponsorship and their project is ongoing, but still needing funds to extend their premises. We are working on that.