The Southeast

Rio de Janeiro
Sao Paulo
Curitiba

Dates - Tours last between 6 and 11 days and are organized according to demand. If you wish us to organize a tour for your group, please contact GYAN at tours(at)youthlink(dot)org

Rio de Janeiro

Rio is famous the world over for its beautiful location, beautiful people, and exuberant carnival. It has also drawn international attention, though, for its social challenges. The informal shantytowns, favelas, rising from the city on steep hills, are both a symbol of the country’s massive inequality and of the endurance of its people. While Rio’s favelas have gained notoriety as sites of drug trafficking and violence, they are also home to an inspiring new generation of youth working for peace and social justice. In Rio, the seminar will visit groups using art and music to fight corruption, cultural performances to give voice to the disenfranchised, and peer health campaigns to give new life to their communities.

São Paulo

With an estimated population of 20 million, São Paulo is a Southern mega-city of mind-bending contrasts. It has the world’s largest private helicopter fleet, yet millions of citizens live in abject poverty. Favelas are built in the shadows of luxury office buildings; one can spend $300 on a meal a few miles from communities of people living on less than $1 a day. Sao Paulo’s role as a hub of international business lends it a distinctly cosmopolitan feel, while its large and diverse immigrant communities allow for an amazing variety of cultural experiences. The intense inequality and rich cultural interactions of this city have given birth to diverse, fascinating youth movements visited in this seminar.

In each city and smaller municipalities in the area, the seminar will meet with successful youth projects working on issues such as

• Health promotion - improving the health of a community as a base for greater social and economic transformation
• Digital inclusion – using donated computers to re-vitalize poor communities
• Peace education – how cultural programs are halting the spread of drug trafficking and corruption
• Youth mobilization – the story of how youth in one small Brazilian city initiated dozens of community projects and changed the face of the local government
• Art for social change – using creative expression, such as capoeira, hip hop, or graffiti, to empower young people, promote political awareness, and facilitate social inclusion
• Entrepreneurship and income generation – how young people are training their peers to start small businesses with a social purpose
• The MST – the movement for land redistribution and community empowerment that has inspired, and infuriated, people around the world

To ensure quality and security we will only visit organizations that are trusted members of GYAN and/or grantees of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

Optional Bonus Trip: Curitiba

Curitiba has drawn international attention for its nature-friendly architecture and eco-utopian design. The participants who choose to extend their trip will have the chance to see the city’s famously efficient public transport system, beautiful parks, and, of course, its youth movements. Among others, we will visit a youth group working to create a more socially aware population by educating media professionals in social issues.

Qualified applicants will be accepted on a First Come - First Served basis. There are still several spaces remaining.
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