Technology and Empowerment

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CDI - Rio de Janeiro

This morning, bright and early at 8 am, Dad and I headed over to the center of Rio de Janeiro to meet up with Maurício, director of CDI - Europe, and Marisa, one of the RJ metro area coordinators, to visit two EICS (Citizenship and Information Technology Schools). Right now, CDI is having its semi-annual international meeting in which coordinators from all the countries in which CDI operates come for a retreat, of sorts. CDI is also in the process of strategic planning for the next ten years so the meetings have been rather intense. Scheyla Maia, Rodrigo Baggio’s incredible executive assistant, worked her magic and organized for us to tag along and visit the schools.

Before I get into relating our experience, here is some background on CDI:

CDI was created in 1995 by Rodrigo Baggio, a young social entrepreneur from Rio de Janeiro. The idea for CDI grew out of an attempt to create a virtual network to connect young people in wealthy areas of Rio with those in less fortunate areas. Already in 1993, Rodrigo created a network called JovemLink, or YouthLink, while he was teaching at an IT school for teenagers. The project didn’t work out as planned because the youth in the favelas and poorer neighborhoods had essentially zero access to technology. Consider: back in 1993, most people in the U.S. weren’t even accessing the internet regularly. I think we were still using floppy disks that actually flopped. So the creation of a social network in and of itself was way before its time, much less the creation of a network to link communities in a developing country.
Rodrigo’s first idea as a solution to the problem was a “technology drive” to collect used computers and hardware and donate them to an organization in one of the favelas. The drive was hugely successful, but it soon became clear that the root of the problem lay not in access to materials, but in knowledge of how to use them. So in the favela Santa Marta, Rodrigo and others partnered with a community organization to create an IT school. Thus, the precursor of CDI. The demand for such schools grew so quickly in just one year that Rodrigo founded CDI officially in 1995.
Since its inception, CDI has won numerous awards and accreditations including Ashoka, Skoll Foundation Schwab Foundation, Clinton Global Initiative , CNN Principal Voices and others.

For your reading pleasure, here is a brief translation of CDI’s Homepage

The Committee for the Democratization of Information Technology is a non-profit non-governmental organization that, since 1995, has pioneered the work of promoting social inclusion using information technology as an instrument for the construction and exercise of citizenship.
Through the Escolas de Informática e Cidadania (Citizenship and Information Technology Schools) - EICs, created principally through partnerships with community organizations, CDI implements educational programs in Brasil and outside the country, with the goal of mobilizing excluded segments of society toward transforming their own reality.
The organization develops projects that attend to low-income communities, people with special needs, individuals with psychiatric conditions, young people in vulnerable situations, indigenous populations, prison populations, and others.
CDI believes that the dominion of new technologies doesn’t only create opportunities for work and income, but also makes possible access to sources of information and social spaces that foster the collective search for solutions for problems faced by the communities.
The goal of CDI is to promote the social appropriation of technology for diverse publics, using it as a tool to stimulate active citizenship and entrepreneurship, fomenting the political, social and economic development of the countries in which the organization operates.
In conjunction with this purpose, we promoted freedom of choice and we work with copyrighted as well as free software, seeking to offer the students the possibility to use whichever tools that are most adequate to their necessities.

And a little bit about their Politico-Pedagogical Philosophy:
The work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire served as a reference point for the formulation of CDI’s philosophy as, like Freire, CDI believes that true education should be oriented toward conscientization and societal transformation, looking toward the construction of a fairer and more “brotherly” world.
Through promoting consciousness-raising and reflection in the EICs (schools), CDI intends to facilitate the identification of true root causes of social problems and the awareness that the society in which we live - unequal and exclusive - was historically constructed and transformed by the action of human beings.
While the students, with the guidance of the professor, deconstruct and unveil the world around them, coming to understand themselves as historical subjects, the students also discover the possibilities of technology, which becomes demystified, and ceases to be perceived as a magic formula that will solve everything. As such, it becomes clear that transformation is only possible if the individual is at the forefront of the process of change.

So, given that background, here is what we did.

School #1: Morro da Providência

The first school we visited was in the favela Morro da Providência, right near the entrance. To enter the favelas you have to be with a familiar or trusted face - in this case, our taxi driver and Marisa, who “accompanies” (monitors, in a sense) the school here. Or, if she is not the actual monitor, she is recognized and they knew we were coming. The school is located in a community center with the acronym ICP that contains other services like day care, health services, financial counseling, and a library. Mario, the professor at this EIC, has been teaching technology classes for 13 years and is one of the best professors in the CDI network (according to, well, everyone).

The CDI curriculum ranges from basic to advanced for a course of four-month duration. The class we visited was in the last week of its basic course. Because Mario is so familiar with the methodology, he has tweaked it to best serve his students. So for example, instead of teaching each application separately (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Internet, Email), he integrates the elements and moves from surface-level to deeper/more complicated engagement. When we visited the class was supposed to be learning email but we took up their whole class asking questions and conversing! I hope it was as enriching for them as for us…

What is completely mind-boggling is that the people in this class - who are completely diverse in age, background, expertise, national/regional origin, etc. - all learned how to use the computer from scratch in just four hours per week, for 16 weeks. In other words, in just four hours they learned how to, for example, use Powerpoint, research a topic on the internet, download photos and images, compose the text on Word, and develop a presentation on an issue important to them or their community. Some of the students showed us their Powerpoints, which were better quality than some I’ve seen at UM (and in the professional world, according to Dad). Dad was really funny because when he asked how long it took to learn, and they told us, he exclaimed that he and many of his colleagues still doesn’t know how to use it correctly!

The topics ranged from the environment to violence to mistreatment of the elderly to the importance of God in the mortal world. They were really beautiful and touching and you could see the pride on each person’s face when we complimented their presentations. Maurício was also explaining to the group that in the UK (where he works), there are 4 million “digitally excluded” people. He also was half-joking that it is more difficult to teach technology there because people are very individually focused, whereas in Brasil people are more willing to help each other, work together in groups, converse about issues, etc. So the people in the class were like, “Cool, South America is going to export knowledge and culture to the North!” (Because the typical refrain is that development is lagging in the southern hemisphere because of a technology and knowledge gap).

I ended up chatting with two really funny girls - women, really, but not much older than me - who decided to take the class together because they heard about it through the day-care coordinator of one woman’s son. One of them was talking about how before the class she had never touched a computer and was afraid to turn it on! She said she also was ashamed of her lack of knowledge and didn’t believe that she could possibly learn to use a computer “this late in life” (even though she’s probably barely over 30). Now, she is fluent in Powerpoint, learning to navigate the internet, reading newspapers online, and connecting with other people around the world. Dad asked her what the most difficult or frustrating part of learning technology was. Her unexpected answer was, “Overcoming my fears of making mistakes and building up my self-esteem.” So cool! Both girls also agreed that without an amazing professor like Mario, who constantly encourages, supports and guides, learning would have been much more difficult or even impossible.

EIC #2: CRIAM
In the state of Rio, rehabilitation of juvenile offenders falls under the responsibility of the Departamento Geral de Ações Sócio-Educativas - DEGASE (General Department of Socio-Educational Actions). DEGASE operates five minimum-security, semi-“free” centers called CRIAM’s - Centro de Recurso Integrado de Atendimento ao Menor (Center for Integrated Resources for Attending to Minors, more or less). Youth who stay here have the privilege of leaving the centers for cultural or edcuational purposes, and the idea is to link the youth inside with the community outside. In Brazil, juvenile offenders are considered in need of “rehabilitation” and “social insertion” instead of punishment. In reality, many end up passing through a revolving door of petty crime and detention centers, or spiraling from petty to heavy crime with each stop in the centers. Their course depends on their own personal choices, family circumstances, opportunities (or lack thereof) for employment and lots of other factors. Some do get rehabilitated - as our experience hopefully showed - but the situation is basically an incubator for marginalized, frustrated and hopeless teens.

The CRIAM we visited is on the outskirts of Rio, about a 45 minute drive, and I forget the name because my “life notebook” has become mysteriously buried in the bagunça (crazy mess) of my suitcase. The EIC here is run by another amazing professor named Valdinei, who is about thirty, has a young daughter, studied law in the past and is currently studying Literature and Arts. His assistant professor, currently in CDI training, is named Vanderson. Vanderson actually got involved with the EIC because he was serving time at CRIAM (or possibly he still is, but I think his sentence already ended and he is just teaching now). Here is his story, as he told it to us:

Vanderson grew up in Complexo do Alemão, one of the big favelas in Rio and the setting for a recent film called “Tropa de Elite” (“Elite Squad”) directed by José Padilha movie trailer here .
When he arrived at CRIAM, he heard about the computer classes and starting going. Valdinei noticed that while most of his students were surfing the internet and chatting on MSN, Vanderson was looking for jobs and educational opportunities. He was even researching how to take the public exam to join the Marines. After a while it became clear that Vanderson was skilled not only in technology but also in teaching and mentoring. He started emulating Valdinei and helping the other kids in the class. In January, CDI secured a sponsorship from the Companhia Vale do Rio Doce Foundation (CVRD, one of the biggest mining companies in the world, and based in Rio) for an experimental hip hop / technology class and to pay Vanderson’s salary and training for nine months. So Vanderson is going through the entire basic to advanced training at CDI, both on the hard and software and in its pedagogy, with a view toward opening opportunities for him to get hired at other EIC’s in the future.

Vanderson talked about how learning technology opened up his world and gave him a choice of life path: to return to Complexo do Alemão, crime, and a dead-end lifestyle, like many of his friends, or to choose what he called the path of “happiness”: spreading to others the opportunity that he was given and expanding their minds as his was. He is a natural teacher, with an enthusiasm and warmth that breaks down the other kids’ barriers. CDI sought to train and support him because he is a “mirror”, a role model, for the other kids; he is one of them, and he symbolized the possibility for all of them to choose a different route and seek a better future.

The hip-hop / technology class mentioned above was a creative solution to the problem of the kids being rather disinterest and having trouble getting “hooked in” to the IT classes. Part of the problem is that many of them only have a very basic education and thus are pretty functionally illiterate. Another is that it was difficult to find topics that related to their life experiences and engaged their enthusiasm. So, the idea to link hip hop and technology was born. Hip hop encompasses four “elements”: Rap (lyrics), DJ, graffiti, and b-boy (what most people know as breakdancing, but there are differences). The four-month course utilized the first three elements, using rap twice (at the beginning and the end). The boys first wrote the lyrics and music about their lives, the only rules being no glorifying sex, violence, drugs, etc. Then they learned how to record and mix the music using the computer. For the graffiti segment, they used both hand-drawn designs and digitally manipulated images to create templates for graffiti, then painted the cement walls surround the interior “courtyard” of the CRIAM. Finally, they wrote another song at the end reflecting on the course itself. I have the lyrics to the songs but left them at home - later I will copy them onto the blog. For the graduation celebration, they performed their songs complete with DJ and recorded a short video.

During this course it was discovered that one of the boys, Tiago Jacó, has an amazing voice. Valdinei and Vanderson heard him singing backup vocals and starting asking him to sing solo. One of the coordinators of the school wanted to encourage his singing, so she arranged for him to take voice lessons at a school called CantArte in Laranjeiras, a nice neighborhood in Rio. A week before we visited, he had his first recital in the neighborhood. As he told it, it was “in a chique neighborhood with lots of important people like judges!” He was glowing as he told us about it. Then he offered to sing for us, spur of the moment, without any tone reference or preparation. I almost cried…this kid’s voice is so naturally gorgeous, perfect pitch, full of emotion…and he just came out singing, sitting in a circle in a little technology lab for people he met only minutes before. He also sang the rap songs they had written and it was obvious the pride he had in singing his own composition, his own words and expressions and experiences translated into music.

After he sang we started chatting about his life story, where he came from and how he got to CRIAM. He grew up in Cidade de Deus / City of God, the favela where the eponymous film was made in the early 2000s. He was arrested for robbery with a weapon (I’m not sure if that means a gun or just any weapon, like a knife). He told us about how when he was about 12 or 13, he used to go with his mom to sell stuff on the touristy, fancy beaches of Ipanema and Leblon (where all the soap operas are filmed). He realized quickly that if he spoke a little English he would be able to sell more stuff. So he got a notebook and started hanging around some other guys who knew a little English and would have them write down the English word next to the Portuguese ones. But then he realized that he didn’t know how to pronounce the English, so he got his hands on a phonetic dictionary. Laughing, he told us the first sentence he ever learned to say in English: “Please sir, will you give me your empty can?” (because aluminum cans are a lucrative business here in Brazil). Now, he just discovered a new online social network called LiveMocha (www.livemocha.com) where you create a profile detailing the languages you speak and want to learn, and connect with other people at varying levels of fluency. So he goes on there and practices English for hours a day, completely self-motivated.

After our optimism-fest, the boys showed us their dorms, and reality began to set in. They sleep in metal bunks, four to a room, with a separate shared bathroom. They keep their areas very clean but there is no hiding the metal and cement that dominates. And aside from the computer lab, there is literally nothing to do. They used to have a soccer ball but it broke, and there was no cash in the budget to buy a new one. So the boys made paper kites and decorated one of the rooms with them. It was heartbreaking to see these kids, obviously so bright, sitting around with nothing to do and wasting their minds. Valdinei was telling us that he has about 1000 books in boxes that just arrived and that he wants to set up a library, but first they have to figure out a system for regulating check-out and maintenance. So right now the kids just chill all day. It’s really rather depressing. And idleness is not a “socio-educational” treatment - these kids need opportunities to learn, acquire skills and build up hope. Otherwise they will just hop over the wall, like so many do, and run back to their old lives working in the drug trade.

I guess what really stood out from this visit, though, was optimism and hope in the face of desolation. CDI grew out of a dream and the persistence of a hardworking entrepreneur and team. And the partnership model, as with Room to Read, helps to ensure sustainability and community engagement. Everyone who attends the classes wants to be there; perhaps they aren’t expecting as intense of an experience as is delivered, but it is pure personal motivation that drives each student to learn the intricacies and tricks of technology. Seeing the immense change in these people’s lives proves that technology is, as CDI states, a vehicle for change. But the most important part is that, once again, people have been given a choice - to embrace a new skill, a new outlook, a newly realized capacity to affect change in their lives, communities and the world…or, to not. But I think that at least the small glimpse we had, combined with the infectious enthusiasm of the folks at CDI and the renown it has earned in the social entrepreneurship world proves that the model is working.

Yay Southern Hemisphere! Come teach us gringos something new!

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Photos

The building where the school is
Oh by the way, the school is powered entirely by SOLAR PANELS!!!

Another view
with the neighborhood in the background

At the CRIAM
Me, Valdinei, Vanderson, Maurício, Tiago Jacó, and Dad, Marisa taking the photo