A few years ago, when people talked about “narratives about favelas,” the spotlight rarely came from within. Today, that logic has flipped — thankfully. Communication from the favela to the world is creating new pathways, breaking stereotypes, setting trends, and proving that the peripheries master languages many are only now learning to decode.
The big shift is simple: the favela never needed a spokesperson — it has always been its own megaphone. The difference now is that this voice crosses borders.
Content born from lived experience, not theory
While many brands try to look “authentic,” the favela simply is.
Creators from the periphery understood, long before the mainstream, that authenticity can’t be fabricated — it overflows. From humor to lifestyle, from music to community journalism, peripheral communication sets the rhythm, invents language, and builds narratives that everyone else rushes to follow.
And it’s not just aesthetics — it’s substance.
When a resident tells the story of their own community, they’re not just informing — they’re belonging. And that sense of belonging attracts audiences tired of sanitized, disconnected messages.
From a phone screen to decision-making tables
This communication has already reached the places it needs to reach: institutions, companies, public leaders, and international forums.
And that’s where everything starts to shift.
A new kind of diplomacy is born in narrow streets
Call it diplomacy, exchange, or connection — the name doesn’t matter. What matters is this: today, favelas create their own international bridges in their own way — direct, emotional, practical, powerful.
Ghana, Brazil, Cuba, Benin, Mexico, Palestine… leaders from all these regions share similar challenges and similar solutions. Peripheral communication made these worlds recognize each other.
And this is exactly where the World Forum of Favelas enters the picture
The Forum is the living proof of this global movement.
It’s the moment when the voices already dominating social media, the streets, and cultural narratives come together in person to build thought, public policy, innovation, and future.
In Rio de Janeiro, from December 11 to 14, the world will witness what favelas have known for decades: the periphery is not the margin — it’s the center.
More than 70 countries will gather to discuss economic, social, cultural, and urban solutions shaped by those who experience the city as it truly is.
It’s a global acknowledgment that the creativity, strategy, communication, and resilience of favelas are essential for shaping the years ahead.
When the future calls, the favela answers.
And the World Forum of Favelas is where that conversation finally begins.
Service: World Forum of Favelas
Dates: December 11–14, 2025
Locations:
12/11: CUFA Madureira – R. Francisco Batista, 01 – Madureira
12/12: CUFA Penha – Estrada José Rucas, 1266 – Penha
12/13 and 12/14: Museum of Tomorrow – Praça Mauá, 01 – Downtown Rio de Janeiro/RJ
Official channels:
@worldforumoffavelas • @forummundialdasfavelas | www.worldforumoffavelas.com
