Representatives from favelas in several countries are starting a series of conferences on Monday (Apr. 29) to discuss solutions to their problems, in preparation for the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November. Rio’s gathering is currently being held in Complexo da Penha.

By September this year, conferences will be held in more than 3 thousand favelas across all 27 Brazilian states and 41 other countries—such as Mozambique, Congo, Kazakhstan and Belgium. The idea is to collect proposals and submit them to G20 leaders.

“The favelas make a significant contribution to the country’s development with their workforce. And the ideas that are born in the favela are usually not used by the public authorities, because the favela is not consulted on relevant issues. And now, with the G20, it’s an opportunity for the favela to organize itself and put forward the issues that are of interest to us. It’s a chance for the favela to show it has the capacity to think about the issues that governments are discussing: sustainability, human rights, [reducing] inequality,” said Celso Athayde, co-founder of the Unified Center for Favelas, Cufa.

After the local conferences in the favelas, state and national events will be held in the 41 countries, Athayde pointed out. “We’re going to make these people’s voices heard. Whether or not the heads of state will take them into account is their responsibility. Our responsibility is to organize and demonstrate that the favelas can't just be secondary actors. They need to be protagonists, if the agenda is also theirs.”

*Radio reporter Cristiane Ribeiro contributed to his article.