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Celebrating our history
Christian Aid started working in Brazil in the 1970s to promote justice and equality for all.
We worked to tackle the root causes of inequality by collaborating with a small but strategic number of social movements and faith-based partners.
We are proud of all the accomplishments of our team, local partners, donors and supporters in Brazil over the past 40 years.
Looking to the future
Christian Aid is exiting from Brazil as part of a change programme to deliver greater impact globally. Inspired by our new global strategy, Standing Together, we are deepening our interventions in fewer countries and living as good stewards within our means.
In future, our presence in Latin America and the Caribbean will be led by a regional programme which includes a few projects and partners in Brazil.
Three decades of working with social movements
This report explores how Christian Aid Brazil has operated within the changing social and political context of the country, its partnerships with social and ecumenical movements, the operational model that it developed, and how it contributed to the work of partners.
Find out moreHighlights of our work in Brazil
Since 2012, Christian Aid in Brazil supported over 8,960,000 people to live with dignity. Our programme brought together experts on gender and inequalities from social movements and faith-based partners working at local, regional, and global levels.
Gender equality
Some groups have been particularly excluded in Brazil, such as women, LGBT+, indigenous people, black people and quilombolas (descendants of escaped slaves who fled to many different parts of Brazil).
Addressing gender inequalities has been an essential part of the Brazil programme. 85% of our funds were dedicated to address gender inequality.
Faith in action
We’ve actively promoted theological thinking and practical tools for churches and faith-based organisations working on key development issues such as access to water, LGBT+ rights and gender-based violence.
Please send a big hug to the people who support Christian Aid. Tell them that God will give them back twice!
Key achievements
We have a strong record in promoting and securing the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights of the Brazilian people. Examples include:
Land rights
30,528 people are protected and an area of 983,100 hectares of the Amazon and the Atlantic forests are preserved due to the successful suspension of three large infrastructure projects.
‘I must say something to you: please send a big hug to the people who support Christian Aid. They do believe in God, don’t they? So, tell them that God will give them twice!’ (Edilson, Quilombola local leader)
Inclusive markets
With Christian Aid's support, our partner MST (Landless Workers’ Movement) transformed the COPPAT – rice cooperative – into Brazil and Latin America’s biggest producer of organic rice, producing 26,455 tonnes per year of organic rice.
In 2015, the cooperative agreed with the local government of São Paulo city to provide 1k tonnes of organic rice for school meals in a contract worth £626,000 annually.
Overcoming gender-based violence
- 27,000 women, children and LGBT people at risk from gender-based violence were protected by faith-based organisations. ‘Without the safe house, I would be dead’ (a woman assisted by the safe house, name kept under protection).
- 150 parishes were directly engaged with preventing gender-based violence as a result of an innovative booklet on biblical teaching. It was actively used by church supporters in Scotland, and was called ‘Loving one another’.