Brazil: Free laundry & volleyball in the favelas

Supporting favela communities

In 2008, Unilever laundry brand, Omo, launched a new project in Heliópolis called Brincar. It improves kindergarten play areas and educates teachers about the role non-structured play can have in developing children’s social skills and leadership abilities. Working in partnership with the Sidarta Institute for Education and Development, the project is active in eight schools, reaching almost 1 000 children.

This is the latest contribution by Unilever to improving life in the favela, following the creation of a community laundry and volleyball centre.

Omo offers cleanliness

Maria Diva Souza Silva is a mother of eight and long-time resident of Heliópolis. Her job as a laundry coordinator has made a huge difference: “It has improved my life in many ways. I have a job and I can do all my family's laundry in two hours for free,” she explains.

The Omo Community Laundry is a temple of cleanliness in the middle of Heliópolis, a notorious favela that is home to 150 000 of São Paulo’s millions. Around 1 000 local women regularly come to the bright blue building to register for free two-hour slots to use one of the 36 washing machines.

Launched in March 2004 on land donated by the Municipality, the laundry is fully funded by Unilever. It is run by a local community group known as UNAS. Juliana Carvalho, Omo Brand Manager, explains that the project saves users the cost of electricity and water. It is more than just a laundry, doubling as an informal community centre which provides women with a place to meet and catch up with the latest news. There is a small play area and garden for the children.

Rexona & AdeS offer a sporting chance

The laundry is not the only way Unilever is helping the community. Heliópolis is also home to one of Rexona-AdeS’s Volleyball Programme centres.

The centres aim to use volleyball as an educational tool to improve the lives and outlook of low-income children and youths by introducing them to the values, vitality and joy of sport. The programme is funded by Rexona and AdeS and developed in partnership with the Paraná state government, the Compartilhar Institute and the Institute of Sport and Education, an NGO founded by famous Brazilian volleyball player Ana Moser.

Over 34 000 children have attended more than 45 volleyball centres in communities around Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Paraná states since the programme began in 1997. Rexona also sponsors a professional women’s volleyball team.