Based in Brazil

MAWON

A Non-profit

Organization Details

Born from an experience of a contemporary political context boiling over migration issues, our association aims to promote the mobility, diversity, connections, and integration of Migrants by spreading the culture of each migrant within the host society. We do this through culture and education. Our association reveals a migration experience seen from the inside to the outside: that is the example of an association of migrants, by, about and for migrants.

Composed of migrants and Brazilians, our association offers a plural language based on migrants' life experiences, and connect the cultures of the diasporas present in Brazil through education and culture. Also, strengthening the micro-entrepreneurial initiatives of migrants is one of the possible alternatives to an increasingly competitive labor market, and one of the economic viability strategies for these migrants in order to cope with vulnerability.

Support Needs

We’re looking to improve our digital marketing campaign with:

CrowdfundingDesign (Web or Print)FundraisingImpact Investing andMarketing

Impact Story

In debates about migration and human mobility in Brazil, we propose a differential approach based on the migrant's own perspective, from inside to outside. As a migrant association, by, about, and for migrants, we defend this perspective for a receptive host society and a public policy of integration, when rethinking traditional strategies and models of action. By participating in meetings of national and local networks, it is possible for us to transmit to competent authorities the concerns and difficulties encountered by migrants and try to provide solutions, on a case-by-case basis.

We give access and action to:

  1. Documentation services to migrants in the administrative processes in order to be legal in Brazil. The staff has different language skills to serve migrants, almost always, in their mother tongue, while respecting their cultural values. The service approach is fundamentally centered on the individual, the migrant and his family, who needs personalized and human support to be legal in the host country, in order to be able to work, study and integrate.

  2. Training: Portuguese for migrants and workshop about entrepreneurship to cope with the economic downsizing and the challenges of vulnerability to unemployment; cultural courses for public health and human rights officials to better prepare them to receive and help in a way that meets the real needs of migrants.

  3. Cultural Events : participation or production of cultural events (gastronomic markets, musical, dance or art activities, connecting migrant and local artists) in order to disseminate the culture of each migrant in the cultural agenda of the city of Rio de Janeiro, where domestic and foreign tourists can live the city in its cultural diversity,  and allow everyone to discover the beauties and flavors of the world in one place.