Brazil

Download a summary of our Brazil strategy, outlining how we are approaching the goals summarised on this page, and shorter two-page handout. We invite you to share your feedback, which should be directed to the email address below.

Goals

Zero violence in the lives of young children growing up in favelas in Rio de Janeiro and Recife

Rio de Janeiro is the city with the largest number of homicides per year in Brazil (2,333 in 2010). Recife is the city with the highest per capita homicide rate in Brazil (90/100,000). Most of the violence occurs in the 1,000 favelas, which are home to around 227,000 children 0 to 8 in Rio, and 97,000 in Recife. In addition, these children also experience high levels of violence within their homes. The combination of these two types of violence (in the community and in the home) has extraordinary impacts on children’s brain development, learning potential, health and future adult behaviour. 

Safe and affordable housing for young children growing up in cortiços in Sao Paulo

Families that live in cortiços want to be close to services, escape from violence and fear in the favela, and reduce costs and time of commuting to work. Rental costs are often inflated and families endure sub-standard living. The little research available suggests that between 50,000 and 150,000 young children are growing up in cortiços. They get tuberculosis and respiratory illness from poor ventilation. They are abused and neglected because of the stress of overcrowded housing and constant threat of expulsion.

Quality home visiting programmes for rural children under 3 living in the state of the Amazon

The Amazon has a population of 3.3 million people, of whom 136,000 are under 3. 74,000 of these children live outside of the capital Manaus, and are spread across a physical area larger than Peru. They fare substantially worse than the national average on most social indicators: 40% do not have access to piped water; 72% of pregnant women have less than 6 ante-natal visits from healthcare professionals; one in four do not have birth registration; 30% of 4 to 6 years old do not go to pre-school; and 95% of 0 to 3 year olds do not go to nursery school.

Feedback

Do you have comments on our goals in Brazil? Please contact our programme officer for Brazil, Leonardo Yanez: leonardo.yanez@bvleerf.nl