NGO Founder From Rio Favela Heads to Columbia University

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign, twenty-one-year-old student and “favelado” (favela resident) Daniel Calarco will be heading to Columbia University this August to study International Relations, Human Rights, and Business.

“When you grow up in a favela, it’s so hard to find the motivation to know you can make it,” comments Calarco, who grew up in the favela communities of Vintém and Vila Aliança in Padre Miguel and Bangu, in Rio’s “Zona Oeste” (West Zone).

“People from Zona Sul (Rio’s more affluent South Zone) have this impression that they can achieve goals. You go to a good school, you work hard and then everything will be fine.” He adds. “But in a favela, this isn’t the case. For example, Marcus Vinicius was a boy who was shot by police going to school in Complexo de Maré.”

Calarco continues: “So people say to us, “go to school and study hard so you can get somewhere” and then you get shot by the government for trying to go to school — the same government that is telling you to go to school.”

Growing up without much support and opportunities outside of his immediate family, Calarco has seen firsthand the problems that can impede children from favela communities from accessing the education and jobs that are available to wealthier Brazilians.

“It’s a very unfair city,” he adds. “I had to move to student accommodation in Flamengo because I came back to Bangu during the federal intervention, and the government had shut down the lights of the whole neighborhood and started shooting people.”

It was a difficult decision for Calarco to move out of his community, but not one that he’s taken lightly. “Sometimes you have to leave the favela to be a favela leader.”

In 2010, Calarco was selected for Pedro II College in Realengo, a federal government-funded public school that provided opportunities to young people from deprived areas of the city.

Then, after excelling in his studies, Calarco received a scholarship in 2015 to take a course in Politics, Law, and Economics in the Yale Young Global Scholars program.

“Once I got back from Yale, people started to listen to me more, because my English improved, and I started to have access to the international community in Rio de Janeiro,” Calarco continues. His access to the international community has also been supported and mentored by Australian expatriate Amber Johnston of Alchemy Strategy.

“So I founded an NGO, to try and share a small part of my experience with other people from the favela.” Calarco founded and runs the “Observatório Internacional da Juventude” (International Youth Observatory) which is led by young people from his favela community and offers training, advice, and research to promote and protect the rights of young Brazilians.

“If you are from a favela, you have to share at least a small part of your experiences with the young people there,” he states. “Young people from the favelas need role models, someone to tell you that you can make it.”

Currently studying at FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas), Calarco is hoping that his semester at Columbia will enrich his understanding of the complex issues involved in NGO management and social change.

“At Columbia, they have this amazing intersection between human rights and enterprise,” he comments. “I’m interested in learning about this meeting between human rights and business. Because in Brazil, we can’t be waiting for the government to save us. They have no resources and no will.”

He continues, “So we have to start to think about other stakeholders that can engage with the favelas, such as private enterprise. We all need to engage with each other. NGOs won’t save the day; the enterprise won’t save the day; the government won’t save the day. However, if we all engage with each other and work together, then we can create some really good projects in the favelas.”

He concludes: “That’s why I’m going to Columbia, to gain a more international perspective on how other countries handle these problems.”

Calarco credits his parents with giving him a strong moral framework of hard work and integrity. “People trust me because of these values my family gave me. I’ve worked with them all my life since I was a child. And when you work at a street market, you have to be there on time at 5 AM, and you have to understand the value of money, the real cost.”

“Going to Columbia is not just about me. It’s about the example I can provide for the community,” he adds. “We have to understand that our pathway is not just about us. It’s about the people who came before us and the people who are going to be after us.”

Calarco concludes: “I wouldn’t be here if a lot of people hadn’t supported me, and so I’m doing this for the next Daniel growing up in a favela who dreams of going to Columbia University.”