Categoria:#EnglishVersion

The strengthening of local journalism and community communication initiatives is an important, crucial step towards the development of communities and the defense of democracy.

In recent years, especially at the COPs (Conferences of the Parties of the United Nations Organization) and at a number of domestic and international climate debate forums, much has been said about the importance of getting resources to the communities and territories that are most affected by the extreme effects of climate change. However, the biggest challenge is to make sure that they reach the grassroots groups, movements, and territories.

Social justice, with all of its many nuances, is not just a term, but a beacon for the tireless work of the social movements and community-based associations. These organizations, movements and collectives work daily for the assurance of rights, very often basic rights, such as housing, food security, land and territory; obviously, their daily struggles are constantly crossed by the markers that push the people comprising these organizations to fight. Although they are at the forefront of defending, protecting and/or developing their territories, they are sometimes excluded, sometimes remov...

In September 2024, the Comuá Network, along with its member organizations, will celebrate yet another Transforming Philanthropy Month, with the participation of strategic partners and funders. This is the second year that Comuá dedicates a whole month to promote debates and reflections on socio-environmental justice and community philanthropy practices.

One of the major gaps and challenges to the strengthening of civil society organizations engaging in the fields of socio-environmental justice and human rights in Brazil has to do with funding, as there are only a few international and local philanthropic institutions supporting this field with a focus on the institutional development of grassroots organizations, social movements and community leaders.

According to a mapping of independent donor organizations carried out by the Comuá Network in association with the ponteAponte consultancy service, there are currently 31 organizations in Brazil supporting initiatives in the field of socio-environmental justice

Philanthropy is presented as a strategy that turns the idea of donations into a notion of social investment capable of driving transformative actions for communities and groups in vulnerable situations. Despite its recent contributions to democracy, philanthropy is permeated with colonial aspects in terms of the distribution of resources around the world, which poses challenges to the beneficiaries. This is what we understand from the article "Is the Decolonization of Philanthropy Moving Forward?", written by Allyne Andrade e Silva and Graciela Hopstein, for Comuá Network.

I ended 2022 with a health scare and I have spent the majority of 2023 so far preoccupied with the notion of collective care and solidarity in movement building. As part of my exploration, I have been reading Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey where she argues that rest should be a form of radical political resistance and that “To uplift rest from a community care ethic is to interrupt the dominant culture while giving power back to the people where it belongs.” While Hersey’s message is specifically targeted to black communities in the United States and rejects society’s hust...

A diverse, multifaceted movement aiming to promote greater visibility to the agendas and practices of community and social justice philanthropy in Brazil   By Graciela Hopstein   In September 2022, the Comuá Network organized the Philanthropy, Social Justice, Civil Society and Democracy Seminar to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Around it, the Network managed to mobilize 220 participants, who attended the seminar in São Paulo during the two days of debates, 360 people online, 110 organizations, 50 speakers, in addition to 35 institutional supporters and 6 funders who sponsored the event dir...

Celebrating World Environment Day and LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, a reflection on how community philanthropy for socio-environmental justice supports LGBTQIA+ people facing climate change.   By Yasmin Morais and Mica Peres   An estimated 12% of all Brazilians, or about 19 million people, identify themselves as LGBTQIA+, however, contrary to what we might assume when presented with the demographic data of a population, this is not official data produced by a Brazilian government agency such as the IBGE (in English, Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). This estimate is the result of a ...