Project
Cocôzap

Project Team
Gilberto Vieira, Project Director, data_labe
Clara Sacco, Project Director, data_labe
Vinicius Lopes, Project Coordinator, data_labe
Victoria Oliveira, Project Coordinator, data_labe

Project URL
https://cocozap.datalabe.org/

Project Reviewer
Juliana Marques, Fundação Getulio Vargas

Project Overview

Gilberto Vieira

Cocôzap is a mapping, advocacy, and citizen participation project on sanitation in favelas,1 created by the non-profit data_labe. Its sphere of action is the Maré favela complex, a densely populated region in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, home to around 140,000 residents. Through a WhatsApp platform, local residents2 can report and document sanitation issues, which are then cataloged in a secure database and later georeferenced on an online map covering the locality. The absence of official information makes this process a potential catalyst for improving sanitation structures, enabling mobilization strategies and supporting public policies aimed at favelas.

The operational mechanics are as follows: a cell phone number made available on WhatsApp receives images, videos, and reports that highlight issues of solid waste, sewage, lack of water, and other problems related to the lack of basic sanitation, outlining the challenges that characterize daily life permeated by inequalities in access to public services. A new database is under construction, providing complementary diagnoses to conventional official indicators.

The multifaceted team that brings this project to life includes young researchers, designers, internationalists, producers, journalists, all residents of favelas and peripheral areas of Rio de Janeiro. The project was born in 2018, in partnership with Casa Fluminense and Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré, and seeks to build not just an avenue for denunciations, but a broad forum for dialogue on basic sanitation, water supply, and waste management in Maré and other favelas throughout Brazil. Over the last five years the project has been experimenting with different formats and methods of community management. These experiments depend on funding and regularity of support for continued implementation. 

Our aim is that discussions stimulated by Cocôzap generate an impetus for more grounded policies, supported by evidence from those who experience the extremes of the local reality. In addition to the database, the project holds regular meetings with residents, schools, health centers, and neighborhood associations to disseminate the complaints channel and establish an ongoing dialogue about the community's health issues.3

Also, official documents are generated, compiling the data collected and outlining public policy proposals, such as the "Maré Sanitation Charter" and the "Popular Plan for Monitoring Sanitation, Health and the Environment in Maré." The project also supports the production of reports, published in the community newspaper and in widely circulated sources, which share the stories of residents, bringing to life the data collected by the project.

Funded by international philanthropic foundations, such as the Heinrich Boell Foundation in Germany, the Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, the UK Embassy, and the Casa Socio-Environmental Fund, Cocôzap has already blazed a remarkable trail. In addition, it has established partnerships with national and international universities through research and collaboration projects. In 2021, it received recognition from the Banco do Brasil Foundation as a social technology.

Cocôzap has solidified its position as a guiding light for other organizations and groups in Rio de Janeiro, developing a methodology for replicating the project in other locations under the concept of "Citizen Data Generation." In this process, residents and users of a given territory are invited to contribute to the collection and use of information about their own community to formulate demands and suggestions for public policies.

Project Review

Juliana Marques

Cocôzap is a community-driven initiative based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, weaving together themes of race, human rights, urban infrastructure, and public services, specifically centered around the critical issue of sanitation. Developed by data_labe in collaboration with Casa Fluminense and Redes de Desenvolvimento da Maré, these community-based organizations merge citizen science with advocacy. 

Maré, housing about 140,000 people across 16 favelas, faces issues of state neglect and data scarcity. Embedded in the community, Cocôzap emerged in 2018 as a response to these challenges, integrating policy monitoring with advocacy for racial, social, and environmental justice.

Using a WhatsApp number, Cocôzap monitors water supply, waste, drainage, and sewage issues in Maré favelas. Reports can be made via WhatsApp by sending location, photos, and videos. The project's website hosts a “Complaints Panel,” a platform for georeferencing complaints. A group of “Cocôzap Ambassadors,” residents from different parts of Maré, helped disseminate and consolidate the tool. They walked the region for four months, collecting complaints to ensure data representativeness. Complaints were recorded in a spreadsheet, and the locations were plotted on Google MyMaps.

I could not locate any publicly available information about where submitted data is stored and how it is preserved for future use. Personal data encryption and anonymized phone numbers secure complaint submission. The Complaints Dashboard is an application hosted on Heroku, a PaaS (Platform as a Service), and further details are accessible on the project’s GitHub page.

Cocôzap also makes use of data visualization and offers structured ways to engage with the data collected. The spreadsheet containing categorized and geolocated complaints is available in a machine-readable format. The graphs and tables show raw complaint numbers and a percentage of the total, facilitating the visualization of prevalent issues and aiding in the investigation of their underlying reasons. The project team is also developing a new database for cross-referencing with external data sources. Methodologies are documented in reports available in PDFs and on the website.

Additionally, the platform offers valuable infographics illustrating data on waste disposal, water distribution, and sewage management in Maré; a 5-episode podcast series; news coverage; documents like the Maré Climate Rights Charter; and Medium posts — all under a CC-BY license. Available in English and Portuguese, the website prioritizes accessibility. Monthly stakeholder meetings foster citizen engagement. 

This combination of social and digital technology holds significant potential for replication across various locations and initiatives. That's why the methodology has been systematized and is being disseminated to other organizations in the city and beyond. The project's success is further evident through the national and international funding and media recognition.

A future next step might involve enhancing rights literacy through educational resources and discussion prompts derived from their findings. Engaging schools to involve children and parents could broaden community outreach. Maré's youth creates impactful narratives using data. Also, employing image processing for submitted photos could enrich data analysis and data explanation in storytelling tools. But even in its present form, this inspiring project exposes public neglect's impact on marginalized communities, advocating for change.