Grounded in its experience breaking cycles of poverty in Salvador, Bahia Street teaches development methods that lead to long-term, transformational improvement in quality of life. Bahia Street programs offer a new perspective to community members, civic leaders, students, and development workers interested in collaborative international development. Bahia Street programs offer practical, hands-on knowledge and experiences that deepen understanding of ways to provide international funding and non-intrusive program support to projects in the developing world.
Principles
Bahia Street implements, within the infrastructure of its own organization, the change that it is expecting to effect in the greater society. While its founding principles come from the field of anthropology, Bahia Street education initiatives integrate the traditional disciplines guiding international development — non-profit management, public policy design, international studies, public health, academic anthropology — in order to create a cross-disciplinary platform in which participants learn about poverty, race, class, and innovative solutions that change the conditions in which poverty exists.
Some lessons based on Bahia Street’s work:
- Apply principles of change to your own organization first.
- Create opportunities for equality by giving away power.
- Know your culture and that of the community in which your project works.
- Understand how your presence in a developing world community changes the nature of the people around you.
- Observe over time, listen to what is and is not said, and approach problems analytically.
Activities
Bahia Street’s educational outreach initiatives reflect the lessons that its leaders have learned in creating, growing, and sustaining Bahia Street over time. These lessons are framed in educational programs developed around learning objectives that promote greater knowledge and understanding and that provide experiences for engagement with local people. Program participants have come from a wide range of experience and professions, and they have come from the US, UK, and Australia. Many of Bahia Street’s activities are done in partnership with other organizations and institutions.
Study trips
Bahia Street runs an annual study trip to Salvador and the surrounding area that is designed to give participants firsthand experience with the culture and experience of the African-Brazilian majority living in Bahia. Study trips include talks by civic activists and practitioners of Candomblé (religion) and capoeira (martial art/dance), as well as field visits to places of historical interest in Salvador, shantytowns, and towns outside of Salvador. A highlight of each trip is a visit with Bahia Street students. Bahia Street co-founder Rita Conceição accompanies each trip, and typical participants range from recent university graduates to retired professionals. Bahia Street will run its 6th annual study trip in 2009.
Academic programs and partnerships
Bahia Street partners with university departments in the creation and implementation of academic programs based at the Bahia Street Center in Salvador. Programs integrate talks and field visits related to poverty, race, class, and international development with the partner institution’s areas of interest.
- August 2007 & 2008: Bahia Street partnered with the University of Washington’s Department of Chemistry in an Exploration Seminar examining climate change, the chemistry of air quality, and local culture.
- Spring 2008 & 2009: Bahia Street partners with the University of Washington’s Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity, leading a class in Brazil on race and identity. More information.
- Spring 2009: Bahia Street is partnering with Chatham University in Pittsburgh on a two-week field study in Bahia for creative writing students.
- Future: Bahia Street has developed a field study program for nursing and public health students to learn about community health care projects in Bahia.
Bahia Street international director Margaret Wilson has also presented papers at several universities in the U.K.
Publications & resources
In November 2007, Bahia Street’s co-founder and international director, Dr. Margaret Willson, published a book about the origins of Bahia Street, Dance Lest We All Fall Down. Bahia Street is continually adding more educational content to its web page as a resource to people interested in learning more about Brazil, poverty, race, class, girls’ education, international development, and other related topics.
Our most-read page: Life in a shantytown
Conferences & events
Bahia Street participates in local and national conferences and gives regular presentations at Rotary meetings, schools, and other venues. Bahia Street’s international director Margaret Wilson has participated in panels on international development at annual American Association of Anthropology Conference. Please contact us if you are interested in hosting a Bahia Street speaker.
Volunteer opportunities
A great way to learn more is to work with us. Please contact our Seattle office if you’re interested in an internship or volunteer position in the U.S. or the U.K. We also have limited volunteer opportunities in Brazil.
