The IT crowd in the slums

Marcos is a typical young man from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. School didn't work out for him. By the age of seven he had a job as a sentry for drug dealers in the favella. At the age of twelve he started using the drugs he was helping to distribute. At the age of fourteen he himself was a fully-fledged dealer. He ended up in prison first when he was seventeen and then two years later at the age of nineteen. Marcos was on a course to become part of the shocking statistics for Rio slums, until he found CDI (Centre for Digital Inclusion) and began training at one of their centers.

In the worst slums of Brazil violent deaths for youths between the ages of 15-24 are higher than in Israel and comparable to statistics for Iraq. For many young people growing up in these slum areas a life of crime appears to be the only option. Served by a chronically substandard education system and with deeply entrenched poverty, social investment is critical to the slums. One social enterprise that is leading the way for social investment into the favellas is CDI. For fourteen years now the organization has been pushing forward digital inclusion among the poorest people in Brazil by setting up community computer labs in slums all over the country. These labs become hubs for training, education, job seeking and continued social investment.

The method employed by CDI is to begin by partnering with grass-roots organizations within the slums. These community groups offer a viable route into these dangerous and unpredictable areas and provide the infrastructure within which CDI can establish their computer centers. CDI provides the community centers with free computers and software. They then give training to local people to become instructors in the centers. CDI also provides educational methods for classes within the computer labs. These computer labs then become learning and resource centers for local residents. There are many other small internet café businesses in Brazil. However many of these 'LAN Houses' are illegal and have short lifespans. They are also unhealthy environments for young people due to the uncontrolled access to pornography and violent computer games. The CDI centers are legal and provide safe environments that encourage learning and self-improvement.

CDI is committed to making its centers sustainable. For this reason people using the centers pay for internet access and courses. However the rates are set at affordable prices for the communities they serve. This increases the determination of the centre's clients to make use of the skills they have learnt. The CDI centers are also focused on encouraging entrepreneurship in their clients. People who come to the centers can use the computers to learn to write resumes and hunt for jobs. However they are also encouraged to take on projects of their own. One great example that I came across was a favella that had a terrible problem with rats. Babies and young children were constantly getting sick from the bites and scratches of the rats. A group of teenagers used the video equipment in the class to make and edit a film exposing the problem. They then showed this footage to the local authorities, who would never usually venture into the slums. This was evidence enough for the local authority to clean up the problem thus making a big difference to the community.

It is this sort of social innovation that is desperately needed in slum settlements. People don't simply need access to technology, but also the tools by which they can use technology to create life-changing improvements. Encouraging entrepreneurship in people promotes high self-esteem and enables them to imagine a better future for themselves and their families. Marcos, our protagonist at the beginning of the article, now works as a CDI educator, teaching technology in the community and helping others to find the same opportunities and even become the next wave of social entrepreneurs.

Photo credit: Lisa Cyr