Maira Villas-Bôas Vannuchi is the workers education manager of StreetNet International. Before that, she held the role of organizer for the Americas in the organization for 6 years. Prior to that, she worked with StreetNet between 2011-2013 on the World Class Cities for All Campaign in Brazil. She was a founder with many other comrades of the União Nacional de Trabalhadores/as Camelôs, Ambulantes e Feirantes do Brasil – UNICAB (National Union of Workers Street Vendors of Brazil), today the Brazilian member of StreetNet International. Graduated as a sociologist, she has a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning – IPPUR at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro-UFRJ. Before that, she held the MA Globalization and Labour at TISS India under the ILO Global Labour University-GLU program. She has worked in Brazilian Civil Society Organizations, at the Social Observatory Institute of the Brazil TU Center (Central Única dos Trabalhadores – CUT) and is a militant of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Teto –MTST, a housing movement, in the popular education sector.

As a member of an international organization of workers in the informal economy (StreetNet), street vendors, I believe I have an important perspective for IFWEA.
Workers in the informal economy live in conditions of much greater vulnerability and
precariousness compared to workers in the formal economy, in addition to organizing themselves in their own way. Therefore, thinking about workers education for the sector requires knowing their day-to-day work in order to think of ways to overcome the obstacles placed in their way, as well as their matters of interest.

Furthermore, my experience with popular education work, with Brazilian roots and all the knowledge disseminated by master Paulo Freire, in addition to grassroots work with social and trade union movements, brings me knowledge about popular and democratic education, which builds critical subjects capable of transforming themselves and their reality. Contributing with this perspective could be very useful for IFWEA.