Focus on the favelas

BRAZIL-- A market research agency is arming teenagers from the slums – or favelas – of Rio de Janeiro with PDAs to survey their neighbours.

Mobile Metrix was formed by former Peace Corps volunteer Melanie Edwards, and uses local teenagers instead of trained fieldworkers to gather information because local residents are often suspicious of visitors.

Edwards says in this report in the Christian Science Monitor that one billion people around the world do not have birth certificates, driving licences or voting registration forms and are living “invisible” lives below government radars.

The firm's latest study tested local knowledge on Dengue fever to help local authorities determine the size of the problem in the favelas and to find out how much residents know about preventative measures. Many, according to the results of the survey, were unaware that mosquito repellent existed and could be used to prevent the disease.

Author: James Verrinder

Related links:

Interview: Out of the shadow of America