Mocorongo Circus

Education, Culture and Communication

PSA has its origins in healthcare provided onsite to riverside communities in Western Pará, with an educational approach. One of the oldest projects is the Mocorongo Circus (and represents the happiness of PSA’s full name, the Health and Happiness Project). The Mocorongo Circus promotes health, environmental and community citizenship education, among other topics.

Mocorongo Circus Pillars

Arts Education

The clowns of Mocorongo Circus are teachers, doctors, agronomists, journalists and other professionals who form PSA teams. Using traditional Amazonian legends and stories, circus activities include theatrical performances, group dynamics, and cooperative games that address topics such as health, education, sustainable land management, entrepreneurship and community management, among others.

In addition, whenever possible, the project holds workshops to train community agents so that they may promote educational performances themselves, creating their own community circuses and educator teams.

Participatory methods

The Mocorongo circus features the residents themselves, who collectively create teaching materials, sketches, songs, poems, and plays through activities proposed by the PSA team. The result is a final performance that shows all that has been learned, and which shares this information with the entire community through a unique and meaningful language.

In addition, whenever possible, the project carried out workshops to train agents from the communities themselves, so that they can carry out educational performances themselves, creating their own community circuses and teams of popular educators.

Popular Culture

The culture of the forest people informs the recreational and educational activities of Mocorongo Circus, aligned with the reality of the communities and creating meaningful lessons and learning.

The circus is also a showplace for local talent and performances. Mocorongo Circus maintains information on local artists and talent and helps to promote their work through the recording of CDs, and production of music videos and documentaries.

Lands of Learning

Access to education while aligning education to the reality of traditional Amazonian communities is focus of the project’s actions, applied collaboratively with managers, teachers, students and families. Lands of Learning addresses community and environmental education based on the rights of children and adolescents. In addition to extra-curricular activities and teacher training, it supports the Forest Schools, based on students’ own mapping of the knowledge and culture of their communities.

Cabocla Web

A collaborative platform for mobilization, training and support for youth groups in the communities of Western Pará, Cabocla Web encourages socio-educational and cultural actions and activism campaigns in defense of fundamental rights, covering topics such as land/territory, citizenship, gender issues, children and adolescent rights, environmental education, forest preservation and valuing the cultural identity of the Amazon communities (indigenous, quilombolas, riverside).

Mocoronga Communication Network

The popular communication network, established in 1987 by PSA, trains and supports more than 400 young persons, in more than 30 communities in Western Pará to act as “forest reporters”. Supported by a head office in the city of Santarém, affiliate stations produce radio programs, newspapers and community videos, fotonovelas, comic-style books, blogs and digital media.

Youth Entrepreneurship

Inovação e empreendedorismo para ajudar as comunidades a enfrentar o desafio do êxodo rural: estas são as bases da plataforma Beiradão de Oportunidade, na qual jovens das comunidades recebem formação para o trabalho e o empreendedorismo. Depois da formação inicial, ingressam em um curso mais aprofundado e um programa de mentoria. As soluções encontradas pelos alunos para problemas de suas comunidades são transformadas em planos de negócio, muitos dos quais são incubados pelo PSA e instituições parceiras.

Instagram @Saudeealegria

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YouTube

Access the PSA channel

Rádio Mocoronga

Facebook

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Contact

“CEAPS” – The Center for Advanced Studies on Social and Environmental Promotion, a non-profit civil institution founded in 1985, legally represents PSA.

HOW TO HELP

You may support this project in many different ways: by making direct donations, donating materials and equipment, or through volunteer work.

Agência Fervo

Education, Culture and Communication