Knowledge transfer on urban violence: from Brazil to Haiti

Abstract

Increasingly, urban violence is a problem in the world, and traditional development models are sometimes inappropriate to rapidly changing urban contexts where the sense of ownership and appropriation of common space is key to effective programming. Faced with the relevance of the traditional North–South model, the growing importance of South–South Cooperation (SSC) as a form of development cooperation generates positive ways forward in overcoming the limitations of the existing model. This paper outlines the experience of Viva Rio, a Brazilian NGO that works through a community participatory framework that is unique in style and Brazilian in origin. Viva Rio has addressed urban conflict in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, by drawing on principles and techniques developed in Rio de Janeiro and strategically applying them to the Haitian context. The paper describes this experience and develops it into a framework of knowledge transfer. It describes Viva Rio’s modalities and how it has been productive because of its ability to adapt to on-the-ground realities.