WHO WE ARE
An inside-out perspective
Mawon was founded in 2012 to promote rights and assist in the socio-economic integration of migrants and refugees.
Through an articulation based on education and culture, we carry out projects that aim at the effective integration of people, valuing multiculturalism, self-esteem and financial autonomy.Our cultural approach and intercultural mediation is our differential in our work.
We are members of municipal (COMPARM), state (CEIPARM) and the National Forum of State Councils and Committees for Refugees and Migrants (FONACCERAM) committees, where we can pass on the concerns and difficulties encountered in the daily lives of migrants and refugees to the competent authorities.
MISSION
Transform the journeys migration into legal, safe and culturally rich experiences.
VISION
For a world without borders.
VALUES
Mobility
Connections
Diversity
Integration
Why is our performance important?
Source: OBMigra
+1.3 million
of migrants residing in Brazil
24.4%
of increase in the annual number of new registered migrants in 10 years in Brazil
+300.000
asylum requests in Brazil in the last 25 years
Video produced by Lab Oi Futuro about the experience of Mélanie Montinard, co-founder of Mawon. Since 2017, the social business has accompanied migrants from different parts of the world during the process of immersion and reception in Brazilian culture.
Know our story
Mawon was born from the own migration experience of the Franco-Haitian couple who, after the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, had to leave the Caribbean country to follow the winds of life that took the couple to Rio de Janeiro.
Like anyone wanting to live in a new country, Mélanie and Bob have overcome many language and cultural barriers. They made numerous round trips to the Federal Police in which a document was always missing, leaving the couple without documents and unable to see their rights in Brazil. So that no one else has to go through these difficulties, they founded Mawon.
Video produced by Canal Futura in 2017 telling a little about Bob Montinard's story.
Formalization of Mawon
Portuguese classess with own resources (Gardenia Blue)
2017
member ofCEIPARM
launch ofResidency Application Booklet for Haitians, in partnership with IOM
Training ofHealth Agents
Public Notice WinnerRio Institute(Portuguese and entrepreneurship classes)
Participant in the Acceleration Program Ekloos Institute
Acceleration WinnerStartup Farm and Oi Futuro
2018
2019
acting model
Operating since 2012 as one of the main associations on the subject of migration in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Mawon gained a new format in 2018 from the acceleration program Ahead Labora Oi Futuro + Startup Farm.
What does Mawon mean?
Mawon comes from the Haitian Creole word that has a strong meaning in Haiti's political history: the marronage - a name given to describe the escape of a slave from his master's property in America, the Caribbean or the Mascarene Islands in colonial times. The fugitive himself was called brown or black, nèg mawon.
Today, UNESCO recognizes this “marronage of slaves” in Haiti on the date of 23/08 as the International Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
We believe that every migrant is a nèg mawon in achieving their life project.
We are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
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