Exactly two decades ago, I received an extraordinary invitation: to help bring to life a foundation that was being created with the mission of strengthening the fight for human rights in Brazil.
For a lawyer who focused on litigation involving Indigenous and socioenvironmental rights, that meant taking on the enormous challenge of changing my role: from working directly in defending rights to funding groups and organizations at the forefront of some of the most fundamental struggles for Brazilian democracy.
Twenty years later, as the Brazil Human Rights Fund celebrates its 20th anniversary, I have decided to end my term as its executive director. As I often say, I have been with the Brazil Fund since “day zero” and have had the privilege of witnessing and participating in a collective construction that transformed that idea into a solid and recognized institution in the field of human rights.
Between that invitation and this farewell, the Brazil Fund has grown and transformed itself. The foundation that we started building 20 years ago is today a consolidated institution, with a presence throughout the country and recognized for its work in the field of human rights and social and socioenvironmental justice philanthropy. This is a story built by many people and organizations, worth remembering as we celebrate our journey and think about what is yet to come.
The Brazil Human Rights Fund is a collective creation, envisaged and conceived from the courageous and innovative vision of a remarkable group of activists: Sueli Carneiro, Sergio Haddad, Darci Frigo, and Oscar Vilhena.
Those leaders identified a crucial gap in our country: there was a need to build an organization in Brazil that would directly support, with financial resources, the basis of civil society devoted to the fight for human rights. Twenty years ago, social movements and grassroots rights groups operated primarily on a voluntary basis. It was therefore essential to create a genuinely Brazilian mechanism to finance their efforts, decentralize funding, and deliver it to those who had little or no access to other sources, thus strengthening the human rights movement.
As a tribute to the men and women who were and continue to be historic figures in the fight for justice and democracy in our country—our founders Abdias do Nascimento, Margarida Genevois, Rose-Marie Muraro, and Dom Pedro Casaldáliga—the Brazil Fund was created in 2006, with the support of the Ford Foundation and with the mission of channeling national and international funds to support social movements and autonomous organizations working for the protection of human rights in our society. Our goal was to strengthen local voices and strategies, developed in the real day-to-day of the territories; highlight the importance of the work of human rights organizations for the lives of all of us, in protecting fundamental rights and advancing democracy; and raise awareness among other sources, both in Brazil and abroad, about the importance of bringing more funds to this field.
We began that journey by launching our first public call for proposals, which aimed to fund 20 projects over the course of a year. In the early days, we managed resources of around R$1 million (approximately US$ 200,000.00) per year. Over time, the Brazil Fund has grown, expanded its partnerships, and broadened its reach. Two decades later, we make more than 550 grants per year and have grown our capacity to get funding to the territories by more than 25 times.
Today, we have exceeded the milestone of 2,500 grants, totaling more than R$140 million (approximately US$28 million) to human rights groups, collectives, and organizations across Brazil. Our budget has also substantially increased: we currently manage over R$70 million (US$14 million) per year, maintain an endowment fund that started at R$6 million and now amounts to R$50 million, and our own headquarters, purchased in 2019.
This growth was accompanied by the expansion and improvement of our grantmaking methods. We started with a single general call for proposals per year, focused on fighting institutional violence and discrimination, and progressively established specific calls to directly support projects on priority human rights issues. In addition to public calls, we introduced invited grants, emergency response lines for the protection of threatened people and territories, and a small grants initiative for movement building and participation in civic spaces. Throughout this journey, we have refined our own methodology, based on simplified and streamlined processes. This methodology enables us to deliver funding to those who face the greatest barriers to accessing traditional financing mechanisms, always with unwavering respect for their autonomy.
In order to enable this growth over the past 20 years, we developed permanent mechanisms to mobilize and raise national and international funds, with actions aimed at expanding our local donor base, as well as identifying new partners in the private sector, in the field of corporate philanthropy, and in national and international foundations and agencies.
This capacity has also enabled us to respond to critical moments and new demands in the field of human rights. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we provided massive emergency support to ensure the survival of grassroots and rights-based organizations. During the droughts and wildfires of the Amazon and the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, we provided rapid response funding to strengthen the resilience of groups and solidarity networks. We have also broadened our focus to include the individual and collective all-encompassing approach to security of human rights defenders, with emergency responses in situations of serious threat and structural support aimed at integral security. We supported affected communities in the Rio Doce basin in their struggle for full reparations following the Mariana dam collapse. Additionally, we began sharing knowledge and supporting social movements in establishing territorial funds.
I can proudly affirm that, for the past 20 years, the Brazil Fund has supported groups, collectives, and organizations that work to strengthen and structure civil society in defending priority human rights issues, including those that are not necessarily the most discussed, or even the most popular; those that do not receive the most attention from donors in general, but which are certainly faced with our most persistent inequalities and violence.
We are present where vulnerability is the greatest and silencing is imposed. We are funding groups in every corner of the country, in cities, in the countryside, on waterways and in forests, in peripheries, in central regions and in the most remote areas, with a special focus on those who have little or almost no access to other resources.
Our presence goes beyond financial support. We provide technical assistance, and training focused on structuring and strengthening rights-based groups and organizations. We create networking opportunities for exchanges and connections between organizations, with a view to expanding and strengthening the ecosystem for the defense of human rights. Furthermore, over the years, we have consolidated strategic communication efforts. As a result, we have become a benchmark in the field, promoting visibility on the role of civil society in defending human rights and fighting for the advancement of democracy for all. We are now a relevant player in the field of Brazilian philanthropy, practicing and developing a philanthropy focused on social and socioenvironmental justice. We have also been networking with other funds with similar characteristics to ours, in an intentional and strategic move to promote this differentiated way of doing philanthropy and social transformation in our country.
Over these 20 years, the Brazil Fund has also witnessed many changes in Brazil and the world. We have advanced on many aspects, for sure, including achievements that have profoundly transformed our country, such as racial quotas and the Maria da Penha Law (Brazil’s landmark domestic violence law), to cite just two examples where civil society played a key role. The Brazil Fund supported many of the organizations that enabled these and other changes throughout this period.
However, we are going through a very complex moment, both nationally and globally, marked by accelerated changes in the geopolitical context, the rise of authoritarianism, environmental destruction, and climate emergencies. We are faced with wars, increased extremism and hatred, racism, misogyny and xenophobia, the erosion of fundamental guarantees, and the emergence of new forms of human rights violations. Meanwhile, the public policy agenda for human rights in our country still faces difficulties in addressing structural problems and building consistent and systematic responses.
It is in this context that I affirm that the mission that gave rise to the Brazil Fund remains as necessary as ever. For us, there is no real democracy without an autonomous, vibrant, and strengthened civil society, capable of defending its own rights, organizing itself, challenging power, setting the agenda for public debate, and demanding dignity. And we know that defending human rights in Brazil remains a high-risk activity: people are threatened and lose their lives doing this. This is a very serious reality that we need to address with absolute gravity.
It is precisely because the challenges remain and renew themselves that the Brazil Fund needs to continue renewing itself, strengthening its capacity to respond to the transformations of our time without losing sight of the mission that guided its creation.
This week, with deep awareness and great pride in what has been accomplished so far, I end my term as executive director at the Brazil Fund. The decision to leave at this time is also part of this journey. It stems from my conviction that, as the Brazil Fund celebrates its 20th anniversary, it is important to make room for new perspectives and new leadership, capable of guiding the foundation through the challenges of the present and the future. It is also a gesture of unequivocal commitment to the Brazil Fund’s mission and of profound confidence in its ability to remain vibrant and innovative, with strategic continuity aligned with its vocation and capacity to contribute to a better future in our country.
I am grateful to each and every person that contributed to what has been accomplished over these past 20 years: the members of our governance bodies, our Board members and advisers, who themselves are human rights activists and who shared dreams and devoted themselves to making this project a reality; our international and national funders, as well as their teams, who have committed to strategic causes and operated respectful partnerships throughout this time; the individual donors who have given and continue to give, demonstrating their deep confidence in the relevance of our work; and all women and men who have formed and continue to form our wonderful team, with their unconditional dedication and excellence in their work, but above all, their commitment to human rights, ethics, and the essence of the Brazil Fund. Last, but not least, I would like to thank the human rights defenders and their organizations and collectives who trusted the Brazil Fund and shared with us their projects and ideas for a more just Brazil for all people. Your work is the very reason for our existence!
In closing, I would like to celebrate the appointment of our new executive director, Allyne Andrade, whose institutional vision and leadership will strengthen our many struggles for human rights, preserving our core essence while addressing contemporary challenges. I also want to celebrate the appointment of Gislene Aniceto as interim deputy executive director. Their work renews my radical belief in the potential of our institution.
Having always been open to dialogue and attentive to the different perspectives that contributed to our work, I carry with me the certainty of the relevance of collective action and the lessons I learned standing up for the most essential struggles of our country throughout these years. I am deeply grateful for everything I have experienced and learned while leading this Foundation. I am confident that, together, we have made the Brazil Fund a real instrument at the service of human rights in our country and a consolidated mechanism for the advancement of Brazilian democracy. As I step down, I am fully convinced of the relevance of the mission of the Brazil Human Rights Fund, proud of everything that we have built over these 20 years, and optimistic about everything that is yet to come.
Thank you very much.
