Brazil
A Window of Opportunity: Moving Towards an Anti-Racist Future
A conscientização e o entendimento do racismo como sistema de opressão e não de forma casuística ou episódica, significa trazer essa dimensão nitidamente para quem é liderança institucional no país, juntamente com a pressão da sociedade que não deve parar.
Translation: "Raising awareness and understanding of racism as a system of oppression and not as something isolated or disconnected means placing it front and center before those in positions of institutional leadership in the country, along with pressure from society that must be unrelenting."
Daniel Teixeira, Executive Director, CEERT, from an interview with Instituto Ibirapitanga
The year 2023 marked the beginning of a more progressive federal government in Brazil under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. A new window of opportunity emerged for foundations and civil society organizations to partner with the government in advancing policy agendas that center on racial equity. This change has given us the opportunity to help strengthen collaboration across sectors to ensure racially affirming education.
Working alongside long-time advocates, we dedicated our attention to protecting the Quota Law, which reserves seats for Black and Indigenous students in Brazil's public universities. With major implications for equitable access to higher education on the line as the law was up for renewal, we supported organizations like Instituto Ibirapitanga to deepen work around affirmative action and Instituto de Referência Negra Peregum (Peregum) to mobilize around and advocate for the law. Thanks to the unwavering dedication of countless advocates, policymakers, and individuals, the Quota Law was approved and signed into law in late 2023.
We know that advancing anti-racist policies can't just happen at the higher education level. This new window of opportunity is a chance to drive progress in implementing policies and practices that affirm racial equity at all levels of education from PreK to K-12. To make this a reality, we are actively engaging from the school and the community level, where education happens, to the state or municipal secretariat level, where the structure is set, and finally to the national level, where new policies are debated and created.
- At the community level, we're collaborating with Indigenous and Quilombola communities through organizations like Fundo Casa Socioambiental (Fundo Casa) and Coordenação Nacional de Articulação de Quilombos (CONAQ) to support their leadership in advancing an anti-racist education.
- To elevate learnings to the municipal and state levels, we are working through partners with PreK-12 education secretariats and seeking ways to promote racially affirming education. Our partners in this work — including Ação Educativa, Cidade Escola Aprendiz, Ashoka, and Instituto Chapada — facilitate collaborations across sectors to deliver more contextualized and relevant education for students.
- At the national level, we are working with organizations who have traditionally held influence with the government — like Todos pela Educação and Lemann Foundation — and partnering with them to incorporate a racial equity approach into all aspects of their advocacy. Simultaneously, we are supporting Black and Indigenous-led organizations, including Peregum, CEERT, Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra (Geledés), and Fórum Nacional de Educação Escolar Indígena (FNEEI), to strengthen their own advocacy efforts.
Given the momentum that racial equity-affirming policies currently have at the local, state and national level in Brazil, we have a critical opportunity to use this moment to show that a holistic education is synonymous with one that is culturally affirming and anti-racist.
Philanthropy's Unique Role in Anti‑Racist Advocacy
With the guidance of our Black and Indigenous partners and advisors, we deepened our understanding of the unique role that we can play in shaping a philanthropic sector that looks inward, acknowledges its shortcomings and actively works against racism. In a sector predominantly led by white individuals, we are determined to not only support Black and Indigenous movements, but also motivate other organizations to make racial equity a core part of their work. As we head into 2024, we're excited to dig deeper into a role of promoting conversation and action around a different, anti-racist approach to philanthropy in Brazil. So far, our progress in this space has included:
Pushing the funder sector to take a more self-critical stance on philanthropy.
We supported Grupo de Institutos, Fundações e Empresas (GIFE), Brazil's leading foundation association with more than 150 members who collectively donate $1 billion annually, in the creation of their new strategic plan. Focusing on setting an anti-racist and decolonial agenda in Brazilian philanthropy for the first time, this plan marks a significant step. During the year, GIFE organized two of the sector's most significant events in Brazil: the biannual GIFE Conference and Black Philanthropy Month, both of which unprecedentedly elevated Black and Indigenous voices. voices.
Fostering racial equity-centered collaborations with other funders.
We hope to encourage funders to prioritize racial equity by forming new partnerships and strengthening old ones. We helped to establish a coalition with six funders who focus on education to champion a more equitable education system. The coalition convenes regularly to explore how we can advance this agenda within our organizations and the broader context.
Committing to allocate at least 50% of our resources to support Black- and Indigenous-led organizations in 2023.
As part of meeting this commitment, we supported CONAQ in advocating for the rights of Quilombola communities, Observatório da Branquitude in producing and sharing knowledge on racial identity and power structures and Casa Sueli Carneiro in increasing the visibility of Black thinkers. Beyond increasing our direct investment in these organizations, we hope this work encourages white-led foundations to be bolder in their anti-racist initiatives.
Partner Highlights
160,000
Learners benefitted
Instituto Chapada has directly impacted 30 municipalities in Brazil's northeast region, benefiting 14,000 teachers and 160,000 learners. Their model delivers in-depth professional development for both school and Department of Education leaders. These programs focus on the role of school communities and early literacy in fostering community mobilization in their local areas. Their work supporting the establishment of classroom libraries has been transformational for many teachers and learners who now have access to racially affirming literature that connects them with their ancestry and expands their worldview.
Fundo Casa, an established funder in the environmental field, launched its first open call to support Indigenous education and received an unprecedented number of applications. The quality of the proposals led Fundo Casa to double the number of projects funded from 14 to 28. The overwhelming response to the call demonstrates that education is a top priority for Indigenous communities, and it signals that the philanthropic field could do more to support these initiatives in the near future.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner and education activist for girls, Malala Yousafzai, visited Brazil to advocate for greater ethno-racial and gender equity in education. Malala called upon the government to invest heavily in education, implement policies that promote gender and racial equality, and listen to the voices of Brazilian girls. During the last stop of her journey, Imaginable Futures hosted the Malala Fund team, including its Education Champions, local activists, local philanthropies and human rights funders to learn from one another and connect.
We must act with greater urgency to rid our societies of the scourge of racism, and ensure the full political, economic and social inclusion of people of African descent as equal citizens, without discrimination
In June, five Black-led partners, Geledés, Peregum, CEERT, Observatório da Branquitude, and Mahin Consultoria Antirracista, attended the second United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights' Permanent Forum on People of African Descent session in New York City. The group submitted topics for consideration that were included in the official conclusions and recommendations of the Permanent Forum and spoke out at the event to represent voices from Brazil. Their mobilization invigorated Black activist movements in the country, raised awareness of the issues they defend, and created new meaningful connections for future work.
Up Next
United States
We saw those with lived expertise increasingly gain power and influence to shape change this year, despite facing significant challenges in the early childhood and postsecondary education systems.
Sub-Saharan Africa
We explored the power and potential to achieve real, sustained change when local organizations and leaders drive solutions and when strategy incorporates a gender-responsive lens.