Girls at Curumim sexuality education class. |
Grupo Curumim is an organization in Recife, Brazil that is aimed at strengthening the civic engagement of women, young people, and adolescents by promoting human rights, comprehensive health, sexual rights, and reproductive rights, with an approach centered around ethnic, racial, and gender equality, social justice, and democracy. IWHC has supported Grupo Curumim since 1994.
"I feel I am a very powerful person, because of my knowledge. Before if
somebody came to ask me something about sexual health, I would not be
able to say a thing. Now, when people come to me and I see somebody
talking, and I'm not a part of the conversation, but maybe I know the
answer, I’ll talk, and show the right side and people are not staring at
me...they are surprised because I know, I'm such a young person, but I
have information." --youth participant in Curumim training program
In 2011, Brazil’s Health Minister, Alexandre Padilha, and Minister of the Secretariat of Policies for Women, Iriny Lopes, congratulated Grupo Curumim for its important work in improving the quality of attention at delivery, especially by training birth attendants in rural areas of the country. The tribute took place on November 24, 2011 during the opening of the 14th National Health Conference, held in Brasilia. During the ceremony, Grupo Curumim’s representatives were given a “birth attendant kit”, symbolizing the commitment of the Federal Government to distribute these kits to birth attendants across the country and link them to National Health System.
Projects
- The Midwife Program (Programa Parteira) proposes and shapes public policy on health to include childbirth at home attended by traditional midwives as part of the comprehensive healthcare for women in Brazil. The project has already worked with some 2,500 midwives, be they traditional, indigenous, quilombola, or traditional healers and over 3,000 professionals in the public health system in all regions of the country. It was also involved in preparing and publishing educational and informational materials, such as the “Livro da Parteira” [Midwives’ Book], the Manual “Trabalhando com Parteiras Tradicionais” [Working with Traditional Midwives], videos, signs, and fliers.
- The Youth Program (Programa Cunhatã) conducts activities for the ongoing development of young people to exercise their citizenship, fostering their participation in spheres for social oversight of policies and services. The activities are based on political training with emphasis on the health and human rights of teenage and young women. The program works with 13 young activists and educators, who form Cunhatã Core Group of Young People and, each year, new groups of approximately 50 young people, ages 13 to 25, are trained, 80% of whom are female (in public school or out of school).
- The Communication Program (Programa Comunicação) aims to democratize information and facilitate relations between Grupo Curumim and the media and thereby be able to place on the public agenda issues related to social justice, gender equality, and improving the quality of life of women. Communication activities are carried out by coordinating with local and national networks and, institutionally, strengthening relations between the projects, partner entities, and society in general. The press advisory service permanently monitors the media and identifies issues related to the women’s movement.
- The Program for Quality in and Humanization of Comprehensive Healthcare for Women (Programa Qualidade e Humanização da atenção integral à saúde da mulher) is a benchmark in Brazil for humanizing obstetric care and has already trained over 3,000 professionals in Pernambuco and Brazil to care for and provide guidance to women victims of violence, including for legal abortion, reaching 30% of the professionals in the municipal health system of Recife.
To learn more about Curumim and their projects (in Portuguese):
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Grupo Curumim 
