Photo: Inter-American Foundation
Rede Comuá and member organizations were present at the meeting of grantee organizations of the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), in Olinda
By Jonathas Azevedo
“Every time I take a step, the world changes place.” Siba
Between October 16th and 19th, Rede Comuá participated in the 2024 Inter-American Foundation (IAF) Grantee Meeting, held in Olinda, Pernambuco. Initially scheduled for 2020, the meeting was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, when we were slowly returning to (supposed) normality, an online meeting was held. It was only in 2023, after three years of waiting, that a new in-person meeting was possible.
Amid the hills and the history of Olinda, more than 70 people from around 30 organizations met for four days around a program that included exchanges, experiences, moments of self-care, with a touch of cirandas, poetry and cultural activities. With the presence of people from the north to the south of the country, the meeting brought together community-based organizations, quilombola associations and donor organizations independent of philanthropy with the purpose of facilitating links, (re)establishing connections and fostering exchanges and learning. Despite the differences between the organizations present, the meeting served, above all, to emphasize what unites us in our missions for social transformation committed to the fight for rights. In other words, more than a meeting of/for grantees, meeting spaces for community-based organizations from the most different corners of the country are (and need to be), above all, a space political.
Throughout the meeting, we were invited to look at our organizations as living organisms, subject to constant change and that live and resist, despite adverse circumstances. In the experiences (visits we carried out to organizations supported by the IAF in Pernambuco), we were introduced to other examples of organizations that “lived and resisted”. In my case, I had the opportunity to visit the Women's Space Group, an organization of black women from the community of Passarinho, supported by Casa da Mulher do Nordeste and which carries out a set of agroecology activities, women's rights, appreciation of ancestry and black culture, crafts, art therapy and, above all, training and political organization of black women. In addition to promoting community articulation initiatives for access to public policies in the territory, such as Ocupe Passarinho, the women wrote a political letter, a document that is reviewed annually and brings together the community's political commitments and aspirations. We thus saw first-hand the materialization, through the actions of the Espaço Mulher Group, of the famous phrase by philosopher and activist Angela Davis:
“When black women move, the entire structure of society moves with them.”
The experience at Grupo Espaço Mulher was, then, much more than a visit. It was to experience the construction of an alternative political project for a country truly based on the power of the territories. And this is nothing new in other territories and communities in different parts of the country, especially in the outskirts. There is a range of organizations, collectives and movements, led mostly by historically marginalized populations (such as women, indigenous people, quilombolas, among other groups), that already have clear agendas for the transformation not only of their neighborhoods or communities, but of the entire A country. A Rio 2030 Agenda, an initiative organized by Casa Fluminense, is a clear example of this.
The meeting of community-based groups, as in the meeting of IAF grantees, takes on yet another dimension: a call for traditional, mainstream philanthropy that refrains from supporting the construction of political agendas and defending access to rights. The messages, then, become evident: it is necessary to support grassroots organizations with operational, flexible and multi-year resources. It is necessary to strengthen spaces for political and leadership training. It is necessary to trust in the work and capabilities of organizations. It is necessary to support articulation and advocacy initiatives promoted by them in their struggles to defend and achieve rights. It is necessary to promote spaces for active listening with these groups, valuing their autonomy, knowledge and ancestral practices.
After long years with our rights under constant threat from far-right and autocratic governments, it was community and grassroots work, often carried out by minority groups, that built and strengthened the trenches of resistance. As one participant at the meeting said,
“telling one’s own story strengthens change processes”.
Therefore, the history of these organizations needs to be told and celebrated. May philanthropy no longer run away from this call and this fight.
Jonathan Azevedo He has a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Universidade Federal Fluminense and specialized in Humanitarian and Development Aid from PUC-RIO. In 2020, he completed his master's degree in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Jonathas worked in the management, monitoring and evaluation of projects and building partnerships in Brazil and Haiti. He has experience in projects focused on human rights, community articulation, violence reduction, among other topics. He is currently a program advisor at Rede Comuá and is a member of the administrative board of Doctors Without Borders Brazil.