DONA MARTA SHANTYTOWN SEEN NEXT TO RICHER HOUSING IN RIO DE JANEIRO, 2000-05-15 (photo)

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-LIFE-BRAZIL-FAVELA - The Dona Marta shantytown or "favela" rises alongside the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Botafogo. A six-year-old project named Favela-Bairro or "Slum-Neighborhood" is now aimed at transforming Rio's slums into making everyday life more livable. With financing from the Inter-American Development Bank and the city, developers are building sewage systems, day-care centers, installing public telephones, lighting and setting up work cooperatives. One in five of Rio's 5.4 million residents live in slums, where crushing poverty and the absence of even basic services make conditions some of the worst in Latin America. Ironically, many slum dwellers live often a stone's throw from trendy neighborhoods like Botafogo, Ipanema and Copacabana. The program, started in 1994, has attracted more than $600 million in funding and has transformed more than 70 of the city's bigger favelas, bringing basic services to nearly 50 percent of Rio's slums.