CUFA (Central Única das Favelas) is a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Celso Athayde, a music producer and community organizer born in Favela do Sapo, founded the organization in 1999 with rapper and social activist

MV Bill MV Bill, real name Alexandre Pereira Barbosa (born January 3, 1974), is a Brazilian rap singer, actor, songwriter and co-author of the best-selling book ''Falcão - Meninos do Tráfico''. The initials "MV" stand for "Mensageiro da Verdade", Port ...

. Beginning Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with a motto of "fazendo do nosso jeito” (doing it our way), it is dedicated to empowering the impoverished to identify and solve the social problems that affect them most, becoming their own best advocates for change instead of simply being assisted by government and non-profit programs.

Description

CUFA was founded in 1999. Since then it has grown to include presences in all twenty-seven states of Brazil, where it develops community spaces and projects in education, environment, culture and sports, alongside educational classes such as computer training. These programs help teach life and professional skills to teenagers, giving them alternatives to crime, and bring their perspectives on favela life to the outside world. Since 2009 CUFA has developed branches and social projects in several countries including Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Chile, Germany, Haiti, Hungary, Italy, Spain and the US.

References

1999 establishments in Brazil Non-profit organisations based in Brazil Organisations based in Rio de Janeiro (city) Organizations established in 1999 {{Brazil-org-stub