Peripheral inhabitants of Amazonian cities face a combination of environmental and climate problems. To avoid reinventing the wheel, the VCA Brazil’s Urban Engagement coalition, formed by the organizations Rede Interação and SOMECDH, created a platform for urban communities to share solutions to their climate problems. The platform also serves as a knowledge database that other […]
When Colombian youth leader José Antonio Minota walked into the Casa de las Memorias museum in Cali, he arrived not only as a workshop participant. He also came as someone determined to reclaim a civic space where young Afro-descendant people like him are too often invisible. Armed with music and stories of resistance from his […]
New research reveals a systemic and invisible injustice: women and low-income families across the Global South are paying the real costs of the climate crisis; not governments, and not the corporations most responsible for emissions.
Safety and security of human rights activists and people who work in civil society organizations has always been a key consideration in programming. Yet, it is one of the most misunderstood and neglected when it comes to budgeting and availing resources for activists to support themselves. Having worked with activists and frontrunners of social change […]
Manabí, on Ecuador’s Pacific coast, has been designated World Region of Gastronomy 2026 by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT). This prestigious title is a first in the Americas. But the recognition is more than a title – it honors the knowledge and dedication of women cooks, farmers, and fishers who […]
During this year’s Pride in La Paz, Bolivia, two Hivos colleagues received a special award in recognition of our long-standing commitment to LGBTIQ+ rights in the country. “As Hivos, we actively contributed,” said Eliot, who accepted the award along with Lorena. “We set up a large stage and put Pride flags along the entire route. […]
As a young woman with a disability, Keylin Ivani Escalante Vargas has faced many barriers to education, employment and basic health care services. Joining the We Lead program was transformational for her because it gave her the tools to fight for her rights. Keylin is one of the Feminist 30 Under 30, a campaign that […]
Agro-extractivist settlements in the Brazilian Amazon combine agriculture with the sustainable use of forest resources, creating livelihood for local communities while conserving nature. With climate change and nature-harming activities threatening their way of life, the inhabitants of the Amazonian Agro-extractive Settlement Project (PAE) Lago Grande, are standing strong. A coalition of around 155 communities is […]
In Colombia, being a human rights defender is very risky business. In 2024, the country tallied the highest number of murders of human rights defenders in the world. According to Front Line Defenders, 157 cases were recorded, together with 88 documented attacks and a worrying 90 percent impunity rate. Those who defend the land, natural […]
Some Indigenous communities in the Amazon live in remote areas, where access to news, information and essential services can be limited. While a handful of powerful families with ties to politics and the agro-industry (and other companies that put profit above nature) monopolize the Brazilian mainstream media, the independent media platform Tapajós de Fato speaks […]
Piracema is an ancient Tupi language word for the season when fish swim long distances upstream to find calm waters where they can lay their eggs. It inspired the name of the VCA program’s coalition Na Piracema das Mudanças Climáticas: women and young people in the Brazilian Amazon “going against the current” to address social […]
Indigenous peoples are the original inhabitants of the Brazilian Amazon, comprising about 180 groups (and 305 groups in the whole of Brazil), each with distinct languages, traditions, and social structures. Together, they total around 1.7 million people, or 0.8% of Brazil’s population. Indigenous peoples and their lands form an important protective shield for the flora […]