FAVELA
VS COVID-19
Brazil had the second-highest COVID-19 death toll in the world. The president called it "a little flu." The favelas organised anyway.
Science and Health
Digital Media Award
THREE FAVELAS.
ONE PANDEMIC.
NO GOVERNMENT.
In the absence of any state response, the residents of three São Paulo favelas built their own systems. Paraisópolis trained community leaders as first responders. Heliópolis sent doctors into the streets with megaphones. Brasilândia used art and mutual aid to spread information and solidarity.
This is the story of what people do when they are left to face a crisis alone — and what communities around the world can learn from them.
The story began inside Radar, Outriders' cross-border database tracking more than 1,000 local responses to COVID-19 worldwide. When the patterns in São Paulo became clear, the reporting demanded a different form.
"This was essentially a solutions journalism piece. What solutions did residents arrive at in the absence of government assistance? How can these solutions be applied to other areas, and what can the government learn from these initiatives?"- Priscila Pacheco, journalist and author
DRAWN FROM THE GROUND
All people, events and data in the drawings are real. It is journalism.
The choice of comic was not stylistic. Illustrations allowed reporting inside communities without an excessive presence. They gave the interviewees the role of protagonists rather than victims.
MORE THAN A WEBSITE.
DESIGNED FOR WHERE
PEOPLE LIVE.
The multimedia comic published on the web was also designed as a complete vertical story for Instagram Stories — a separate production for each of the three chapters.
BRAZIL · POLAND · SPAIN
"The greatest lesson is that reporting on the ground was very important — because we were able to meet that person who didn't have food in their house, but was still helping other people."- Alexandre de Maio, illustrator