The power that comes from within: female leaders of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas in times of pandemic

This paper aims to present how the female leaders of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro/Brazil have been protagonists in coping with the demands arising from COVID-19. The city has approximately 2 million residents living in 763 favelas. There is no strategic planning on the part of the government with coordinated actions related to the specificities of these territories — producing an escalation of demands due to the living and health conditions of the residents. It is in this multifaceted reality, with urgencies and emergencies, that we highlight the role of community by strengthening the local support networks that are built like webs inside the favela and beyond. Our statement is based on a qualitative study involving 111 such women, distributed across 105 favelas. Correlating their practices, 97% say they support health promotion through the strengthening of popular participation towards community development and defense of rights, and mobilization of health services to meet these populations’ needs, among other actions. With the presence of public agents in these places restricted in times of pandemic, these women often take up the duties of the local authorities to ensure food security, good communication among local residents on health standards, hygiene measures, assistance to the most vulnerable, etc. Perceived by community members as replacing the role of government agencies, they develop a particular way of doing politics. Calling upon resistance and solidarity, they transform this micro-power into effective changes to cope with the inequities and in benefit of citizenship and the other residents of the favelas where they live.