Country Context

Brazil has one of the worst income distributions in the world. This contributes to high rates of unemployment, social inequality, exclusion, and violence at the interpersonal, community, and institutional levels. The Brazilian Ministry of Health (MoH) reports that more than 90% of victims of homicide in 2003 were young men between 15-29. Brazilian male youth in low-income communities are at risk of being killed on a daily basis, and are also the most likely to commit acts of violence, including homicide. 100,000 young people every year are known to be sexually exploited, and 30% of adult women have experienced violence from their intimate partner. Brazilian youth in poor communities have very little awareness of their rights and their responsibilities to a secure, healthy and harmonious development.

The Project

ChildHope is working in partnership with 4 local organisations on a 3-year initiative (2006 –2009) aiming to enable Brazilian youth from low-income communities to access their rights to a life without violence. The project promotes prevention activities, positive community relations, and supports young people to participate in decisions affecting their lives.

This initiative is training and supporting young people from 4 low-income communities across Brazil to come together in a national youth network, to prevent youth violence. Activities include:

• Training and follow-up on rights and responsibilities in relation to violence, health (including sexual and reproductive health and HIV/AIDS), and education.
• Cultural events organised in the communities to raise awareness on the importance of engaging youth in actions to demand their rights to protection from violence.
• Youth will be trained and technically assisted on producing radio programmes to reach out marginalised young people at risk of violence, from urban and rural areas, belonging to all ethnic and religious backgrounds.
• Bringing a youth-rights perspective to the Government’s National Plan for the Prevention of Violence.
• Establishment of 4 Local Youth Commissions to focus and advocate on violence prevention and monitor public policies; addressing the needs and rights of homosexual, disabled and HIV and AIDS affected youth.

Challenges and lesson learnt so far

• Securing commitment and participation of young people at all stages of the project is a key and challenging task. Poverty and multiple needs of the youth constitute clear obstacles to overcome.
• Working in diverse locations has meant constantly communicating with all involved so that there is a common understanding of the objectives and activities of the project and that experiences are being shared.
• Making the link between violence and health has broadened the perspective of the project, and shifted its focus to more positive prevention activities.
• Being located across the country means that some of the groups have different relationships and constraints with government representatives or bodies. This has to be accounted for when designing and implementing awareness-raising activities.