Q: ’Life in a LIC/NEE city presents more opportunities than

challenges’. To what extend do you agree with this statement with

use of your own knowledge (9 marks)

A: Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, is an example of a city undergoing

rapid urbanisation due to a growing economy. I believe that there
are more opportunities than challenges in this NEE city.

One economic opportunity is the development of education. For

example, in Rio authorities have improved access to education by
giving school grants to poor families to meet the cost of keeping
their children in education. This is an economic opportunity for
families in favelas such as Rosinha because its means there is a
lower nancial burden on their income to provide an education for
their children. Also, if less children drop out of school at 14 due to
cost there will be more educated people in Rio leading to higher
quali cations and more job opportunities in the tertiary ( nance)
sector. This will then help Rio’s economy to produce more than 5%
of Brazil’s GDP.

However, in Rio there are many social challenges that are a ecting
the poorest people such as a lack of healthcare and high
unemployment rate in favelas. The rate of unemployment will lead
people to have very little money. This is a challenge because many
people will work in the informal economy where there is very poor
working conditions and poor pay therefore leading to possible
exploiting of favela people. On the other hand, there are some
opportunities being provided such as self-help schemes that
provide local residents with concrete and cement so that they can
replace home-made shelters with permanent dwellings. These also
often have water, electricity and sewage systems pre-installed
already.

In conclusion, favelas provide many more opportunities than

compared to challenges due to the authorities and government
introducing new schemes and laws to improve the quality of life
inside favelas.
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