CASE STUDY 2 Agroecology in Favelas, Rio de Janeiro Hub, Brazil Strategy Project Direct action Food insecurity driven by inflation calls for urgent responses to protect families in favelas. In Brazil, young innovators are rising to this challenge. In Brazil, over 33 million people face hunger,19 many living in favelas and informal settlements that have nearly doubled in size over the past decade. Despite being a leading agricultural producer – ranked first in soybean and sugar exports – the Brazilian agricultural economy relies heavily on global supply chains. This dependency restricts its ability to shield local consumers from rising global commodity prices, resulting in a 37.5% increase in food prices since 2020, with harmful consequences for vulnerable populations. In the Rio de Janeiro Hub, young people have constructed two keyhole gardens and four mobile greenhouses to enhance local agricultural capacity and encourage intergenerational knowledge exchange. Gardens and greenhouses prioritize traditional farming practices, products and plants – and have supported 60 families across three favelas and trained over 100 regenerative urban agripreneurs through direct action. Their goal is to build 50 keyhole gardens, benefiting over 500 families by 2025. Next steps: Strengthening local food systems through community-supported agriculture is a powerful approach to combatting food insecurity. Additional tactics could include advocating for policy reforms that support fair wages, subsidize local foods, and mitigate vulnerabilities in global supply chains while ensuring fair trade practices to protect local producers. Young people can also advocate for stronger social safety nets and investment in local food infrastructure to create more equitable systems.20 This project began as a dream and has now been implemented in different Hubs across Brazil. Our next steps are to insert technological innovation alongside the socio-environmental innovation that we have already carried out so that more and more hubs and territories have access to our methodology and the impact that can be generated in a territory. We dream of increasingly healthy territories, with food security and environmental awareness for children and adults. João Rocha, Community Champion and Global Shaper, Rio de Janeiro Hub, Brazil Global Shapers Impact Report 24

Global Shapers Impact Report 2025