Valéria is a «favela» in the city of Salvador de Bahia with a population of just over 50,000, that is suffering from the problems of unemployment, urban violence and the lack of services and infrastructure.
The number of youths in this community who die at the hands of police is alarming. Often they are young people who soon fall into arms trafficking with the illusion of new opportunities in their life.

Among the problems which afflict the community of Valéria, underage labor is among the most serious. Youth crime in the suburbs of Salvador is very widespread and is tied to the fact that the children often spend a large part of their day in the street, where they become involved in drug and arms trafficking. Their very young mothers, generally abandoned by their partner, are obliged to work to maintain both themselves and their children.

There are few government initiatives to solve the serious problems afflicting the community of Valéria. The «favela» is marginalized geographically, not even appearing on the maps of the city, as it is excluded from the government educational services.

The Project

ComoGenteGrande – EDUCATE TO OVERCOME POVERTY

The project, developed in collaboration with the local Association Lar Joana Angelica, aims to promote interventions which have the objective of promoting development and sustainability, for young people as well as adults in the community. For this reason, the intention is to implement interventions and projects that involve children, adolescents, young people and adults according to the needs of the local community.

The main objectives of the ComoGenteGrande project are to allow access to everyone to primary education, discourage underage labor and the abandonment of children, as well as to combat the problems of urban violence, pregnancies at a young age and of unemployment.

Following the principle of popular participation and promoting the Association and the mobilization of young people, the project aims to develop consciousness and sensitize the population also using tools of Art Education and Brasilian Popular Culture in order to value it.