Favelas (slums) are a huge social issue in urban Brazil. Statistics say that about 11 million Brazilians live in slums. Only in Rio de Janeiro there are more than 1000 favelas. Although actively participating in the city economy, they are invisible on digital maps, a significant problem of digital exclusion. The scale of the problem is huge, and asks for a solid initiative capable of inspiring hands-on work.

Afroreggae, a Brazilian NGO focused in social inclusion of favelas’ population decided to bring attention to the problem by delivering an actual solution. Along with local inhabitants, it is mapping favelas in Rio, areas many times inaccessible, controlled by drug cartels. On the top of the maps, local teams are building digital platforms for exposing the emerging economy of their communities.

This is an ongoing, long-term solution, not a short-term campaign. It’s a platform that keeps growing and expanding along time, and PR was the solution for its continuous exposure.

With a very low budget, earned media was the selected communications strategy. After the mapping of the first favela, we ran an orchestrated PR effort aiming big news networks that could amplify the message, at the same time we worked with social media and blogs networks for spreading the word. This way we made to the international news prime time, exposing the problem worldwide and attracting powerful partners - Google has just joined the project and will support efforts for mapping hundreds of favelas in Brazil. Favelas now will be visible everywhere.

We contacted selected journalists and bloggers, one by one, engaging them in the conversation, conquering their interest in the subject and making sure the news were delivered to them as planned. We developed a parallel effort for making to the mass media prime time for public awareness, and at the same time reaching out to the opinion makers of social media for building interest in qualified target.

By showing how to resolve the invisibility of favelas, Afroreggae sent its message for digital inclusion worldwide. Earned media sums up to U$ 1,5 million so far, attracting supporters everywhere.

The local team working on the ground mapping built a digital platform for favela’s business on the top of the maps, developing communications for local entrepreneurs, revamping itself as a digital agency. Impact in participant businesses goes from jump in revenue to expansion.

Eventually, we attracted interest from tech giants. We are now partnering with Google Maps, multiplying the number of favelas covered, getting scale and visibility for greater impact.