Through peer workshops, community discussions and social media campaigns, Coletivo Mangueiras highlights the relationship between reproductive rights and girls’ education.
In Brazil, rising poverty, racism and lack of reproductive health care keep girls from learning. Black, Indigenous, quilombola and LGBTQ youth face the brunt of these education barriers — and they are the ones organising and demanding change, including our grantee partner Coletivo Mangueiras.
Operating in multiple states in Brazil, the youth-led organisation campaigns for equal rights and access to sexual and reproductive health care. Through workshops and community discussions, Coletivo Mangueiras supports young women in learning about their reproductive rights and taking collective action.
Their digital campaigns, often centred on sexual health and reproductive rights and their link to education, have reached more than 1,000 people online and equipped young women with the legal knowledge to advocate for themselves and inclusive education. One young woman continued her education through her pregnancy by requesting accommodations she learned about through Coletivo Mangueiras.
We spoke to Stefanny, 27, Yasmin, 26, and Joiciane, 23, about their work and why reproductive rights are integral to girls’ education in Brazil.
How does Coletivo Mangueiras provide resources to young activists who want to amplify their stories?
Stefanny: Mangueiras is a youth collective, so our work already amplifies our voices. By occupying decision-making spaces, national and international conferences, and establishing dialogues with decision-makers, we are amplifying the stories of youth activists.
But in addition to the young voices that are already part of the collective, we amplify the voices of others as our construction takes place horizontally and collaboratively. Our workshops, for example, are prepared and facilitated by us for other young people, built on a perspective of exchange that makes our political action like weaving embroidery: we are the embroidery resulting from the weaving of many voices. And all of them are young people.
In our political action, we are finding the hands and voices that will lead the collective in its future.
Tell me about the workshops you’ve held in your community, what kind of discussions they have sparked and why they have been important for your advocacy.
Joiciane: I held a workshop in Barra do Bugres, in the state of Mato Grosso, on building the Autonomy of Black Girls and Women and Access to University. The focus was 12 years of basic education and experiences in the field of sexual and reproductive rights during this period. We chose this theme because a public university is located nearby, but I noticed many girls who completed high school were not entering university.
During the workshop, a girl asked: “Don’t I have to pay to go to university? That’s why I never went after it.” I suddenly understood that these girls’ experiences were marked by limited access to information, especially about the importance of continuing their studies, sexual education and bodily autonomy.
And it is important to link this topic to sexual and reproductive rights.* In school and at home, conversations about sexuality are neglected. But, having full access to reproductive rights allows us to make informed choices about our bodies and lives.
Tell us a bit about your advocacy efforts: how has Coletivo Mangueiras used national and global platforms to fight for gender equality?
Yasmin: Over the last decade, we have been facing the spread of religious fundamentalism in national politics, with direct attacks on girls and women’s bodies.
Our advocacy actions take place at different levels: at the municipal level with political training for advocacy — understanding that to change the world, we need to change our community.
Stefanny: At the national level, we use cyberactivism as a strategy for domestic and international advocacy, in addition to participating in decision-making spaces, such as EFLAC (Encuentro Feminista Latinoamericano y del Caribe) to strengthen alliances and build global advocacy strategies.
How has Malala Fund’s grant supported your organisation’s work?
Yasmin: We can hold in-person meetings for the collective, which allows us to train project implementers and is important to our engagement post-2020. We have also been able to strengthen existing dialogues and create new ones in decision-making spaces. In 2023, for example, one of our members participated in the 15th annual EFLAC in El Salvador. We’ve also been able to internally train our members, expand our activities and mobilise our political alliances, building real conditions for our advocacy and activism.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned/taken away from the workshops, community discussions and social media campaigns you have run?
Joiciane: Information about our rights does not reach everyone equally. This is particularly evident for those who are socially, financially and educationally vulnerable. To be effective, any educational or awareness-raising action needs to consider the structural inequalities that limit access to information.
This led me to adopt an intersectional approach in my work as an activist. For example, in workshops I held, many people did not even know that they were entitled to basic public benefits or services, which led me to include more accessible explanations that were targeted to the specific needs of each audience. Advocacy and community action cannot be generic. They need to be planned with sensitivity to inequalities and focused on empowering the most vulnerable groups.
This interview was condensed and edited for clarity.
