Written 1996
Associação Projeto Roda Viva The Roda Viva Partnership
Working Together to Enable Rio's Poor Children and Youth
To Gain Full Rights as Citizens of Brazil.
The harder she and her colleagues worked - as teachers, social workers, community activists -
the more depressing it was to Wanda Engel Aduan, high school principal in one of Rio's most
violent and drug-ridden favelas (squatter settlements), every time another young person was
killed in a drug-related shoot-out or surrounded by vigilantes, or lost to crime. It was clear that
they were sticking their fingers into a dam that was about to collapse. Something different had
to be tried. The only way out, they concluded, was to mobilize people
from all different sectors and walks of life and develop the political will to solve this prcblem.
From this initial group of ten activists has grown a lean but highly respected organization in the
field of children's rights in Brazil - Roda Viva, which means "Living Wheel" in English,
"connecting the spokes to the center"- After nine tough years of trying to sell the idea of
partnership to a divided society, it has now caught on like wildfire. At the end of 1993, Roda
Viva launched the Interaction Program. In the three largest regions of the city, the Interaction
program has mobilized local governrnent, businesses, community organizations, the church
and the media to assess the problems in each district, catalogue the services and make
agreements to avoid duplication, and find support for what was missing.
Their work has been so highly valued that the Mayor appointed Wanda as Secretary for Social
Development for the entire city 18 months ago and she has continued to support and expand
the Interaction Program from that position. Talented Sonia Maria da Silva, formerly Program
Director, has succeeded her to lead Roda Viva. The Federal Government, under its new
President, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, is strongly supporting this approach and it has a good
possibility of spreading to other cities in Brazil, which need it just as badly.
Roda Viva needs support 1.To build capacity among local community groups to provide the services identified as
missing by the Interaction program (after-school tutoring, sports programs, adult literacy,
health services, and community workshops on health, education and legal issues). 2. To document the problem of how they got different groups to work together in the
Interaction Program through the production of a case study to use in disseminating the
experience in other Brazilian cities. 3. To provide workshops for their own staff and for community groups on starting and running
micro-enterprises to enable the youth and parents of children to become economically self-
sufficient, and for NG0s and community groups to generate income to help support their
programs. 4. To begin a program of small grants to NGOs and community-based organizations in the
Interaction Program that would allow them to expand and extend their reach and help
replicate successful programs.
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Written 1996