Brazil Livelihood Program – VCU.br

Brazil Livelihood Program – VCU.br



VCU.br is a community media livelihood program in Sáo Paolo, Brazil, that gives young people from favelas (slums) the skills needed to set up media businesses. The project is run in collaboration with Casa Das Caldeiras, a Sáo Paolo NGO. The first batch of ‘favela media entrepreneurs’ graduated in April, 2010.

Livelihood is a key focus point for Video Volunteers; the creation of financially viable and sustainable community media programs is crucial.

Brazil is the perfect location for such a program. It has one of the most diverse community media scenes in the world and yet little focus on community media as a way to generate income. Video Volunteers wants to fill this gap.

The program works with favela youth who already had media training. The aim is to give these youth the skills they need to compete in a competitive media market. They need to be entrepreneurs.

The model that emerged at the end of the 1st years is one of a community media collective where the entrepreneurs pool their resources and work together on pursuing clients and executing projects. This collective is working successfully to generate a large percentage of its members’ incomes.

In addition to continuing VCU.br with Casa das Caldeiras, Video Volunteers plans to integrate its learnings on “creating a media industry at the base of the pyramid” into the activities of other media NGOs in Brazil so that community media in Brazil becomes more sustainable overall. In this way, the entrepreneurial zest that exists in every slum and village in the world can be harnessed to generate livelihood.

Read more on the Video Volunteers site about our Brazil program:

Blog Posts:

Click here to watch the Brazil VCU.br graduates’ final films made for clients.