What is this toolkit about?
Figure 1 – The imagination at work: Children enjoying playing drums in the favelas
This toolkit is a practical guide based on research conducted in favelas of Rio de Janeiro. It draws on the experiences and accounts of people living, working and acting in the favelas, and, in particular, on the work of two bottom-up organisations – CUFA and AfroReggae. They offered the basic model of bottom-up social development found here, but lessons from other favela-based organisations are also included.
The toolkit comprises two main sections, containing four toolboxes. The first section is about context.
Toolbox 1 contains three tools to understand the context of communities:
The second section is the core of the toolkit and comprises three toolboxes that contain the model of work of favela-based organisations.
Toolbox 2. Focusing on individual and communities
Toolbox 3. Using culture and the imagination
Toolbox 4. Acting on frontiers