Data Dashboard, Information Campaigns & Vaccine Demands in Rio’s Favelas

Favela activists knew that they needed evidence and data to advocate for needed government actions, as well as to initiate community-focused education and information campaigns on how to slow down and stop transmission. From July through January 2021, the coalition of favela-based organizations conducted a number of teach-ins and released YouTube videos to spread awareness in the community. 

Brazil has reported almost 10 million COVID cases as of mid-February 2021, with 250,000 deaths. The president and political system have chosen not to mount a federal response, making data collection and testing extremely problematic in the country. There is no clear picture of who has the infection or the location of serious outbreaks, and coordinated planning for treatment and vaccination is minimal. This lack of government response has had a disproportionate impact in poor, informal settings, including urban favela neighborhoods.

In Rio de Janeiro, people living in favelas make up nearly a quarter of the city’s population. Chronic neglect and lack of access to public services put these residents at a greater risk of community transmission, and ultimately death, than other areas of the city. Starting in March 2020, favela community groups organized to take care of one another. This included food drives, community gardens, mask making, and sharing accommodations.

In July 2020, Catalytic Communities, a local NGO, teamed up with a coalition of favela-based organizations to create the COVID-19 in Favelas Unified Dashboard.1 Favela community organizers had started crowdsourcing COVID-related data in the favelas in May, when they saw that city, state, and federal agencies were leaving favelas out of all COVID-related data collection. The data was gathered from many sources, including local clinics and organizations like the Mare Development Network, a group that went home-to-home documenting what was happening. Data and maps from the Dashboard have since shown that more deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded in Rio’s favelas than in 162 entire countries.

Favela activists knew that they needed evidence and data to advocate for needed government actions, as well as to initiate community-focused education and information campaigns on how to slow down and stop transmission. From July through January 2021, the coalition of favela-based organizations conducted a number of teach-ins and released YouTube videos to spread awareness in the community. Teach-ins focused on how to mobilize during a pandemic, how to communicate about COVID, mental health, food sovereignty, solar energy potential to prepare for future crises, improving sanitation, and memory after the pandemic (linked to encouraging a more open discussion of the legacy of slavery in Rio).2

All of these actions culminated in a political campaign called the Day to Mobilize for the Fight Against COVID-19 in the Favelas, which took place on February 10, 2021. On this day, the Coalition released a public demand that the government prioritize vaccine access for favela residents first.3

1 Dashboard: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/8b055bf091b742bca021221e8ca73cd7/

2 Link to four of the videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEXjPPfoNTOrMoHtCDK3Ybw737KDSbBH- 30 More information on the Day’s activities is here: https://www.instagram.com/mobilizafavela/

3 More information on the Day’s activities is here: https://www.instagram.com/mobilizafavela