Page 7 - UmRio Sustainability - Action Plan

PROJECT BACKGROUND

CLIENT OVERVIEW

UmRio focuses on empowering, engaging with, and building confidence in kids and
young adults living in favelas so they can fully develop their talents and pursue
aspirations. Robert Malengreau, a dual British and Brazilian citizen, spent two years in a
master’s degree program at Oxford University researching the role of sports and its
importance in promoting social change and integration. In 2013, he moved to Rio de
Janeiro to start UmRio (One Rio) with Oxford University Rugby Club colleagues. Their
original idea was to use rugby, a sport not commonly played in Brazil, to engage kids in
favelas that would then evolve into the ability to create a safe, positive, and supportive
environment for the children to flourish. One of Robert’s early focuses was to

understand the attraction and ongoing struggle of keeping kids out of local drug gangs.
His research showed that over 90% of those who join drug gangs in Rio’s favelas are
between the ages of 13 and 18 years old. The main drivers of gang involvement include
lack of social mobility and opportunity (44%), financial struggles (23%), a desire for a
greater sense of belonging (12%), adrenaline (7%), and a desire for power (4%) (UmRio
et al., 2023).

In 2013, UmRio began working with children in the Morro do Castro (Castro Hill) favela
in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. The kids were initially very unsure about this new sport called
rugby (pronounced ‘hugby’ in Portuguese), the strange new rules that came with it, and
especially a bizarre oval ball. However, their love for rugby has grown exponentially
over the past 11 years. ‘Morro do Rugby’ (Rugby Hill) became a nickname that the
children adopted as they engaged in this new sport, giving them a unique identity that
they had been able to choose for themselves. This connection to rugby as a sport
provided an opportunity for UmRio to begin then to support the children and
community by implementing their “5 Pillars” development model as a program for
change to promote social justice and reduce inequality for the UmRio kids and their
families as well as the Morro do Castro residents. UmRio’s 5 Pillars are Education, Social
Services, Health, Employability, and Sports. Since UmRio began implementing its
programs, the university acceptance rate of its students has been 8x higher than the
local average, extreme poverty has decreased by 50%, and the school dropout rate has
reduced by 79%. Today, UmRio has over 100 committed employees and volunteers
worldwide and serves over 400 kids, adolescents, and adults who participate in their
continually expanding programs (UmRio (ONERio) – Rugby for Development, n.d.).

www.umrio.org Page 2